Jebao RW powerhead users. Need your advice...

[maddmaxx]

Im calling on the RW owners for some suggestions. I have a standard 220g 72x24x30 marineland tank that is mixed reef. Looking to upgrade to one of the Jebao RW series pumps..

My question is what pump/s would you go with? And what mode would you suggest to use?

options:

1x RW20
1x RW15
2x RW15
2x RW8

what pump/s would you suggest on a 220g mixed reef? and what setting should I be using...

(please note, i do not want any vortech or tunze talk on this thread!!! any debatable comments about those other products, i will contact a mod to erase your comment..I want to go with the Jebao pump/s for a reason. if you want to buy me one of the other pumps, then im game for that. but if your not interested in buying them for me, then your comments are not wanted or needed. I know the pros and cons of these pumps, i know the risks and rewards of these pumps. so again, this thread will not be about debate, im goin wit Jebao regardless. just need some experience users suggestions..!! )

looking forward to your suggestions and why you suggest them. thank you in advance, this will help me greatly with your knowledge of these pumps...

[sfsuphysics]

If those are you options... I'd rethink your options. If you're unwilling to rethink from what I see I would go with 2x RW15... and then hopefully save some money to buy more.

For a tank that size at a bare minimum I would probably do 2 x RW20 and put them on opposite sides. That's a big tank, and being able to get flow moving around there is important, which a single pump won't do, while it will be powerful and would look just fine on an empty tank the reality is all your rocks and corals are going to deflect and block the water and leave dead spots, which is why having multiple pumps and hitting it from different directions works.

Other than that I couldn't tell you exactly what to get without seeing your setup, and where you'd want to place pumps. From experience, I had an 180g tank with 4 of the V pumps (You said no talk of them :D) and it worked fine... up until the time all the corals grew into the empty spaces and really blocked the water flow. My current tank, 375G, I have 2 WP-60s, 1 WP 25, and I threw a T pump in there too just because I realized I was getting some dead spots, which I'll be replacing shortly with RW20 pumps.

Out of curiosity what pumps do you currently have on it that you're looking to upgrade with a Jebao?

[reefgeezer]

I've got 2 RW8s in my bare bottom 75. I don't have any LPS in the tank so a lot of flow is ok. The SPS and Leathers love it. I change the mode every once in a while. I use the pulse mode (W1) mostly. Every once in a while I put one or both in the Else mode. When I clean the rocks I use the full blast mode (H) for both. I have the power and duration at max. I haven't messed with the sync mode.

They would not be enough for your 220 though. The flow will fall off a little. I think I'd buy 2 RW15 at a minimum. 3 RW15s or 2 RW20's would be better. You can always turn them down.

[maddmaxx]

i dont mind ppl calling them vortech or tunze, i just dont want to be pursued to buy them instead. not sure why you say i should rethink my options??? but im looking into the jebaos cause its getting to the point where my house will be finished being rebuilt after hurricane sandy. yes i would love vortechs, but i have to rebuy everything for my house. so i have a certain budget for my tank and these are the pumps i want to go with till im settled and reestablished...

i honestly figured 2x RW20 pumps would be extremely to strong for my tank, but currently i have koralia wavemaker unit (not that smart wave thing, the actually controller) powering two mag8 koralias. well one of them quit on me and im currently only running one of them. so instead of trying to find another pump, i would like to upgrade, and jebao RW series pumps are an upgrade to what i currently have...

as far as dead spots go, there is always dead spots in tanks. cant be avoided. i have a rock wall against the back glass (my personal favorite look), so every couple water changes i take a pump and blow out the rocks and behind the rocks for detritus...

[Matthias7]

I have 2 of the rw15's on my 180 72x24x24 and I can only run them at 40% or else I get a tidal wave. They are more powerful then you think. I may at some point add a small rw4 when I get more coral in the tank.

[Indymann99]

So I have 2x RW-8s on my 48x24x24 (much smaller than your tank), however I cant run the pumps at 100% (or ELSE mode) without it blowing sand everywhere. Currently I am running W1 at less than 50%. W1 at 70% will send water over the side.

So if I were you I would start with 2x RW-15s and add if necessary.

my 0.02

[MarcWeaver]

I have 2 RW-20's on my standard 220, facing each other, and I believe the flow is perfect for SPS coral. I replaced 4 Tunze 6105's and still get better overall tank flow. RW15's would probably work as well, but I have never used them.

As far as the setting, I use them on continuous mode at half power. I haven't messed around with wave mode yet.

[sfsuphysics]

i dont mind ppl calling them vortech or tunze, i just dont want to be pursued to buy them instead. not sure why you say i should rethink my options??? but im looking into the jebaos cause its getting to the point where my house will be finished being rebuilt after hurricane sandy. yes i would love vortechs, but i have to rebuy everything for my house. so i have a certain budget for my tank and these are the pumps i want to go with till im settled and reestablished...

I think you misunderstood me, I say rethink your options as in number of pumps you'll need on the tank, not that you should go with another brand of pump. What you listed is not really that much flow considering the size of your tank. I was giving advice based upon the pump options you listed as being the only pumps in the tank.


i honestly figured 2x RW20 pumps would be extremely to strong for my tank, but currently i have koralia wavemaker unit (not that smart wave thing, the actually controller) powering two mag8 koralias. well one of them quit on me and im currently only running one of them. so instead of trying to find another pump, i would like to upgrade, and jebao RW series pumps are an upgrade to what i currently have...
Well if you're simply replacing a Mag8 then yeah 2x RW20 would be overkill for a replacement. I would simply replace it with a single RW15. Then if you find you need more flow add more pumps, you can always run them lower if they're too much (but you can't make a small pump go stronger :D).

[maddmaxx]

yes i will admit, i thought you meant i should go with other powerheads. sorry for misunderstanding that....

but as far as just replacing them. i dont mind removing the other koralia and have it on standby if needed, and goin with 2x jabeos...

so im guessing your suggesting 2x RW20s for my tank?

[myram]

Definitely go with 2 pumps, that will give you the best flow.

RW15 move a lot of water, the RW20 even more.

[maddmaxx]

well i see the big tanks like 300g or better using the RW20s, i think for mine, since its a mixed reef. that the RW15s might be a better choice in my case but the RW20s can always be turned down like sfsuphysics says...

[garyinco]

Why do you even bother posting here? Just buy whatever you want and then tell us how brilliant you are.

Moving on...

Edit: That was over-the-top harsh. Sorry about that. I deal with a blowhard at work and he is really getting on my nerves. Instead of asking questions, he asks them - then tells you how his ideas are always better. And he has always done everything and it's was better than everyone else. You know the type. Needless to say - no noticeable results. Good luck with your pump search. I run two of the Jebao RW-8's and two of the pumps that shall not be named. One of the Jebao's has never worked right and I'm waiting for them to make good on it. They (fish street) said they would, but I'm still waiting.

[sfsuphysics]

yes i will admit, i thought you meant i should go with other powerheads. sorry for misunderstanding that....

but as far as just replacing them. i dont mind removing the other koralia and have it on standby if needed, and goin with 2x jabeos...

so im guessing your suggesting 2x RW20s for my tank?

Well RW15s I believe are closer to the output of your Koralia Mag8 pumps, so that would be a better direct swap out. But if you feel like you might want more flow in the future RW20s would be a better logical choice.

Honestly it's hard to really tell you what you should do without much information about your tank other than it being a mixed reef. Do you have sand? Does it currently get blown around? Is your tank absolutely packed? Do you have large open areas where you can really push water? Will your pumps be on the side panels? Will they be on the back? Lots of these little details that could justify going one way or another. Also 2 RW15s will be $55 cheaper (from one site) than RW20s so that's another bit to factor in. If you're going to put the pumps on the back wall and push forward or at angles then I probably would go with even small pumps just more of them.

Bottom line is I have a tank footprint that's 6' x 5' and my rockwork and layout is vastly different than what you have. I can give you recommendations based upon flow numbers but that's about it, I often like to keep the GPH flow rate in the 75-100x range, but achieving that from many smaller pumps often works out a lot better.

If you were going to do a 1:1 pump replacement, RW15s are probably your best bet, you can always add more later as necessary.

[maddmaxx]

Ill try to answer your questions for ya to help understand my system. Pics dont really do it justice honestly...

Yes i have sand, it is rather light but currently does not blow around at all...My tank is not packed. From the top of the rock to the top of the tank is about a foot clearance so its not stacked to the very top. I do have several large openenings in the structure and have even more smaller openenings. As far as the base rock goes, its not like i have these big bolders on the sand bed and rocks piled on top of that. In fact i have smaller rocks on the sand then the bigger rocks on top of that to allow as much water to move around under and behind the rock work as much as possible...I currently have my mag8s on the side panels and would like to go with that look. To me using two pumps i get more water movement out of them, rather then having them on the back panel just blowing forward.... I was goin to get the RW pumps from reefbreeders since they are american based and easier to deal with in case of potential problems. Not sure where you were referring to by being $55 cheaper..

My last tank was a 125g and was completely packed wall to wall with corals. So maybe that extra flow from the RW20s may be a nice option down the road...

[BryanS4]

I minds well make this my first post.

I currently have a 125 and 1 x RW20 was way to strong for it. I was running it on the lowest speed in W1 mode and it's was pushing my sand all over the place. I since replaced with an RW15 and run about 40/50% in W1. I'll probably order another one this weekend just so I get more random flow.

I think two RW15's on opposite ends would work great for your tank. It's really dependent on which mode you are wanting to use them in I guess. I'm not sure you could run 2 x RW20's in Else mode with out a huge sand storm, but I'm sure they would be fine in W1 or constant flow at a lower speed.

[maddmaxx]

I minds well make this my first post.

I currently have a 125 and 1 x RW20 was way to strong for it. I was running it on the lowest speed in W1 mode and it's was pushing my sand all over the place. I since replaced with an RW15 and run about 40/50% in W1. I'll probably order another one this weekend just so I get more random flow.

I think two RW15's on opposite ends would work great for your tank. It's really dependent on which mode you are wanting to use them in I guess. I'm not sure you could run 2 x RW20's in Else mode with out a huge sand storm, but I'm sure they would be fine in W1 or constant flow at a lower speed.

well thank you for your first post sir....and i wouldnt run else mode unless i had an apex unit with the jebae apex module. so i wouldnt run RW20s in else mode, im not really familiar with the modes on these pumps either. thats why i asked. isnt W1 a wave that makes the corals sway back and forth right?

[BryanS4]

well thank you for your first post sir....and i wouldnt run else mode unless i had an apex unit with the jebae apex module. so i wouldnt run RW20s in else mode, im not really familiar with the modes on these pumps either. thats why i asked. isnt W1 a wave that makes the corals sway back and forth right?

Yeah W1 even with one pump in my tank makes corals sway back and forth and moves plenty of water at the far end. W1 also has a lot of adjustability in terms of amount of water pushed and length of time pump turns off and on.

[maddmaxx]

Yeah W1 even with one pump in my tank makes corals sway back and forth and moves plenty of water at the far end. W1 also has a lot of adjustability in terms of amount of water pushed and length of time pump turns off and on.

thats something im goin to have to learn as i go.. i dont want a huge wave at all to be honest...

what is mode W2? whats the difference between that and constant flow?

[BryanS4]

thats something im goin to have to learn as i go.. i dont want a huge wave at all to be honest...

what is mode W2? whats the difference between that and constant flow?

W2 is almost like the Else mode of the wave mode, if that makes sense. In W1 you have control over the power, but in W2 it varies between 30-100% power.

Constant flow would be like a normal power head, constant speed which you can control.

It's pretty easy to get to a point where you have good flow but not a big wave. I don't like a wave either, just leave the pluses at a lower setting. The wave comes when you have very short on/off intervals.

[maddmaxx]

W2 is almost like the Else mode of the wave mode, if that makes sense. In W1 you have control over the power, but in W2 it varies between 30-100% power.

Constant flow would be like a normal power head, constant speed which you can control.

It's pretty easy to get to a point where you have good flow but not a big wave. I don't like a wave either, just leave the pluses at a lower setting. The wave comes when you have very short on/off intervals.

can you control the over all peak power on W2? like set it a 60% and it just go from 0-60% everytime. to where as in else mode it can go up to 45% then to 80% then to 55% then to 100%, im guessing W2 you can set a peak power and itll ramp up to that and thats it?

[BryanS4]

can you control the over all peak power on W2? like set it a 60% and it just go from 0-60% everytime. to where as in else mode it can go up to 45% then to 80% then to 55% then to 100%, im guessing W2 you can set a peak power and itll ramp up to that and thats it?

I could be wrong, but I don't believe you can set a peak %. I just did a quick test and it seems to do it's own thing regardless of the settings you have.

[maddmaxx]

so W2 and else are the same thing then. from what your telling me and what ive read there is no difference between the two

[BryanS4]

From what I can tell correct.

I do have the night mode kick on and it runs on constant lowest speed at night which i like. Something different at night for movement.

[maddmaxx]

yea what ever the regular nite mode runs in, is fine wit me...

ive read on another RW post that i believe you also commented on their post. i seen someone say they were running 2xRW20s on the lowest settings on their 220g and it was still to strong, that they had to get the 12v power supply to reduce the power.....

so question for you. when in W1 can you control the flow speed, or just the duration of the wave?

[BryanS4]

When you W1 you can control both duration of wave and flow speed. That is why I personally enjoy this mode the best.

[Eurobeaner]

From what I've seen, w2 is low to 100% but it ramps up instead of w1 which is like flipping a light switch. On. Off. On. Off. As opposed to 20% 30% 40 % and so on. And else mode is "random flow". So it goes to 30% 64% 10% 22% 90% completely random, not just up down and repeat.

[maddmaxx]

From what I've seen, w2 is low to 100% but it ramps up instead of w1 which is like flipping a light switch. On. Off. On. Off. As opposed to 20% 30% 40 % and so on. And else mode is "random flow". So it goes to 30% 64% 10% 22% 90% completely random, not just up down and repeat.

now does it ramp down too? or just straight off then ramp back up again?