Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 or Ecotech Marine Vectra S2, which one, pros and cons?

[fishski13]

Hi guys recently I have upgraded tanks and this will be my first sump. I am getting the Aquaforest Oceanguard 605 which is a 114 DT and 160 total system. I am getting all my equipment ready and for my pump I have narrowed it down to the Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 or the Ecotech Marine Vectra S2. I have done my research on both and dont know which one to go with. In the beginning of my reefing journey a year ago I always believed Ecotech Marine is the premium brand and the best of the best. However, after researching into equipment for this new build, I see a plethora of negative reviews of both the return pumps as well as wavemakers. And alongside this they only have a 1 year warranty. Differently, Sicce has the 5 year warranty which just goes to say how good their products are. Does anyone have any advice between these two?

 

[blaxsun]

Get the Sicce SDC 6.0. Sicce specializes in just pumps, and you get a 5-year warranty. You can also control it through the Neptune Apex as an IOTA device. And it has a temperature probe which is handy as a backup. I have both the 9.0 and 7.0 and they are absolute workhorses and have run flawlessly for me. The only downside (and it's a minor one) is that they can be a bit nosier if you use braided hoses - so I'd recommend silicone instead.

 

[fishski13]

Get the Sicce SDC 6.0. Sicce specializes in just pumps, and you get a 5-year warranty. You can also control it through the Neptune Apex as an IOTA device. And it has a temperature probe which is handy as a backup. I have both the 9.0 and 7.0 and they are absolute workhorses and have run flawlessly for me. The only downside (and it's a minor one) is that they can be a bit nosier if you use braided hoses - so I'd recommend silicone instead.

Ok cool, thanks for the advice, I was already leaning towards this, and you make a very good point.

Also, do you have any recommendation on heater brands? I swear most heater brands on BRS and saltwateraquarium have negative reviews.

 

[blaxsun]

Ok cool, thanks for the advice, I was already leaning towards this, and you make a very good point.

Also, do you have any recommendation on heater brands? I swear most heater brands on BRS and saltwateraquarium have negative reviews.

I use three heaters as a primary, secondary and tertiary setup. I haven't had any issues with any of the titanium heaters.

* Inkbird 306A + 2x BRS (Schego) 300-watt titanium heaters
* Apex + 1x Hygger 500-watt titanium heater (backup)

Note that this is for a 200-gallon system, so scale down accordingly. I'm going to be testing a new IM Helio heater setup and posting a review of that shortly.

 

[Derrick0580]

I have actually used both of these pumps on my 120 at one point or another. Currently I have the S2. The controllability of dc can’t be beat, but with that comes the higher price tag. The setup instructions kinda sucked but once I got it dialed in it was perfect!

 

[HBtank]

Seems like the reviews I read on Sicce indicated the DC pumps reliability may not be the same as their other pumps. Not that it is worse/better than Ecotech, just not the same bulletproof reputation as their traditional pumps. I do have an S2 that has worked flawlessly. I think it comes down to the rest of the system, if you have other Ecotech stuff, than the S2, of not, go with the Sicce. There is also the Octo Varios pumps.

 

[ksed]

Sicce may come with a 5 year warranty but if there nobody on the other end honouring it it is useless. This is Sicce’s biggest problem.

 

[ksed]

Here is a simple review of a unhappy customer

Issues with Sicce SDC 6.0!!

So i recently got a red sea 300xl and thought i was buying the best when i got the SDC 6.0 pump as sicce has their reputation and i could control my pump remotely with the wifi. Immediately i started having issues with the pump claiming it was "running dry" though it was clearly not happening. I...

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