Recommend me a Return Pump upgrade to the MightyJet Desktop AIO DC Return Pump (326 GPH).

[DannoOMG]

It came with the Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Lagoon tank that I upgraded to in February. I had an issue with my alkalinity dosing which jammed it up but I have since corrected the problem. I have to take the pump out 3-4 times to clean it cause of the E5 error. (despite no precipitate being on it) I have had enough. I love the little control box it comes with but turning off in the middle of the night is no bueno. The pump has only been operational for over 4 months. lol?

Maybe the initial problem with precipitate burned the motor out I don't know but I don't want to risk it. I have a less power Eheim in there for now and the Mightyjet pump is sitting in citric acid.

My temp dropped 3 degrees last night and I have worked hard keeping 2 acros in this tank and don't feel like having them die cause of something stupid like that.

Picture of tank.

 

[dmmitchell]

I upgraded my IM 20 to the MightyJet 538gph. It’s the next size up. Fit right in the same footprint in the back compartment and definitely increased the flow rates through my random flow generators. Worth a look!

 

[doubleshot00]

I have the mightyjet in a WB 20 and a Jebao in a IM15 and IMO the Jebao is quieter and more powerful. I would save $50 and get the jebao.

 

[n1ng]

I got this generic brand from Amazon. It's compact enough to fit in my IM25. Has been working flawless for about a year now. Much more powerful than my coralbox DCA2000

 

[DannoOMG]

I have the mightyjet in a WB 20 and a Jebao in a IM15 and IMO the Jebao is quieter and more powerful. I would save $50 and get the jebao.

I got the Jebao or they call it Jecod I don't know.

The front portion of the pump. (intake cage? I don't know what to call it.) I decided to put a small amount of filter foam in it to prevent things from jamming up in the return pump. I didn't see anything in the instructions that said I couldn't do that. Is that a problem?

 

[doubleshot00]

I got the Jebao or they call it Jecod I don't know.

The front portion of the pump. (intake cage? I don't know what to call it.) I decided to put a small amount of filter foam in it to prevent things from jamming up in the return pump. I didn't see anything in the instructions that said I couldn't do that. Is that a problem?

I toke my cage/grate filter off completely. It was always getting clogged up. IMO it runs a bit better now. I don't see why you cant do that. Just make sure you keep it clean.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Second a jebao pump. Mine has run like a rock in my IM 25 for about 5 years now. Think I have cleaned it about 3 times since putting it in the tank.

 

[DannoOMG]

I toke my cage/grate filter off completely. It was always getting clogged up. IMO it runs a bit better now. I don't see why you cant do that. Just make sure you keep it clean.

Okidoke. My thing is I have battled alkalinity precipitation and was hoping it would stick to the foam before sticking to the return pump.

(I was dosing too much Alk and too much all at once. Now I take a few hours to dose my Alk)\

That mighty jet just can't get it together. Maybe it is wicked sensitive to things like precipitates and once that happens it never functions the same since but every time I take it apart it is basically clean. I dunno.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

How much and what dozer are you using?

 

[DannoOMG]

How much and what dozer are you using?

The doser I am using is my hand. I drop a small amount in from 5pm - 8pm. For some reason I am a little put off by throwing in another piece equipment in my tank like an auto doser.

Less than 10 mL. I've been weening off of my stupid 20+ mL cause I was using bad testers to check my alk. Now I use Hannah so that helps. I was trying to ween off of what I was doing slowly cause I have a couple of Acro's in the tank and didn't want to shock them from dropping 2 points in dkh.


*edit*
Precipitate has improved since I don't dump my calcium and alkalinity in all at once. In fact the mightyjet pump that keeps failing has 0 precipitate on it. I think it's just too far gone due to negligence.

I have to retest my alk and then recalculate how much I should put in.

Funny my SPS corals are growing better than any of my LPS or softies...

 

[doubleshot00]

Man that's a lot to dose in such a small tank. What are you dosing?

I dose 1ml of Red Sea alk a day and every once in a while some calcium.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Precipitation was probably from dosing the all and cal together like you have figured out. In my 25 with sps I was dosing upwards of 25 mL a day. I use a two head jebao doser. Just calibrated it so that it would dose smaller amounts more accurately.

 

[DannoOMG]

Man that's a lot to dose in such a small tank. What are you dosing?

I dose 1ml of Red Sea alk a day and every once in a while some calcium.

I am using the 2 part B-Ionic calcium and alkalinity. I always did calcium in the morning and alkalinity at night but didn't realize dumping the calcium all at once and the alk all at once created problems. A noob mistake.

I have to recheck those parameters this weekend and I am going to adjust based on that.

I also do a 4 gallon water change every week using reef crystals.

 

[X-37B]

Return pump Tunze 1073.008.
I run one on my 20g nano cube and have one for my im15 cube.
Great pumps that last a long time.

 

[DannoOMG]

Return pump Tunze 1073.008.
I run one on my 20g nano cube and have one for my im15 cube.
Great pumps that last a long time.

I was recommended some top of the line Tunze ATO. So far so good cause it uses an optical sensor rather than a mechanical one.

 

[X-37B]

I was recommended some top of the line Tunze ATO. So far so good cause it uses an optical sensor rather than a mechanical one.

Both are good. I run the optical in my 80+30 system.
I run 2 nano ato's on my 45 and 20. The 45 Tunze nano ato is approaching 7 yeard old now with the same pump.
Tunze has a new pump now available for their ato's.

 

[Hooz]

The latest Jebaos are really nice. The EP-1000m is the MJ 326 equivalent. The EP-2000m is basically the MJ 538.

 

[Tcook]

Good info. My Mightyjet has been slowing down. I may look into one of these.

 

[doubleshot00]

Good info. My Mightyjet has been slowing down. I may look into one of these.

Yeah im not impressed at all by the one i have. Basically double the price and not double the quality. IMO its made by the same company.

 

[Tcook]

Yeah im not impressed at all by the one i have. Basically double the price and not double the quality. IMO its made by the same company.

In another post someone mentioned that these pumps don’t do well with the 1/2” RFG and better to use the dual 1/4” RFGs.