Cheap Needle Wheel Pumps

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Haole

Haole

"Village Idiot"
Joined
Jan 28, 2005
Messages
454
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I have a local made skimmer whose manufacturer is no longer in business. It originally was a re-circulating venturi type which worked so-so, even with trying stronger pumps than what I bought it with. I now run it with wooden air stones and the performance of it is much better. With all the talk about how well needle wheel skimmers work and on top of that, all the talk about better results with the mesh mods, I’d like to give this a try.
The reaction chamber of it has a diameter of 4 inches and the chamber alone is 12 inches tall. I noticed the Octopus needlewheel 110 has a diameter of 4 inches as well so I guess I need a pump that is comparable to what they use. I tried searching a little about what pump it is exactly but didn’t have much luck. Does anyone have any suggestions on what pump to use and where would be the cheapest place to get it?
 
They are wave runner pumps. Pacific Coast Imports has them under the Sea Line brand name. I could drop ship one to you if you can't find one local or on-line.
 
They are wave runner pumps. Pacific Coast Imports has them under the Sea Line brand name. I could drop ship one to you if you can't find one local or on-line.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer Brian but not to contradict you, I thought I figured out enough that it is an Oceanrunner pump from this link here. Do you know of other links that say otherwise?:oops: At first I was confused when I couldn’t match up model numbers easily, but from what I understand from this link here the T1000 is an Oceanrunner 1700 which is what’s available like here for example.

I would look at Sedra, They make a great Needle wheel. Plus ASM and Euroreef use them.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion Bob, I’ll look into those as well. :)

How about this idea... I have a Rio 1700 just laying around since I no longer use the venturi. Would the mesh mod work on this pump? Also, is there anything special about the attachment where the air suction line is connected to a needle wheel pump? (I think it’s called an aspirator) Would a simple pvc coupling with a piece of rigid air line tubing stuck into it work just as well?
 
Yup, those are the pumps. I don't know why PCI has to use different model numbers (they do on the Octopus skimmers as well) but those are the same pumps.

You could mod your Rio pump and yes an airline tube stuck through a coupler will work for the venturi but in the end you'll still have a Rio. :lol:
 
Lol yeah... I’m not all that enthused either that it’s a Rio.:rolleyes: I might give it a try but I’m still looking around. Thanks for your help Brian!:D
 
Been away from the boards for quite awhile now and I feel like I’m somewhat out of the loop with things. I’m still using airstones on my skimmer and didn’t get a pump yet so everyone try to keep your laughter down to a low roar.

Thanks for the link skimerwhisperer; I’m just curious if there are any other pumps out on the market that you would recommend since it’s been a while.
 
For such a small skimmer the sedra 2500 is going to be your best bet. Or you could try a genx1500 nw or mod a mj1200.
 
the other one you might try if your handy with modding, is the qo1200, which is a 295gph pump, but the impellar well is like 3 times larger than a maxijet. i actually got a sedra 2500 needlewheel impellar that i mesh modded to fit and run great in the qo1200, then made a ventrui out of the volute..it works awesome, but i have yet to test it to give any numbers... i was looking for a pump to replace the crappy resun pump i had on some octopus hob skimmers and it worked awesome...some report restart issues with the qo's but i've had good luck with them.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions! I like the idea of modding an mj1200 since their small and lite weight. I’ve got space issues to deal with so the smaller the better. Does anyone know of some good modding threads for mj’s that I can get a link to?

What about one of these?
I know this isn’t cheap but it looks small and lite weight. Would it be overkill for my size skimmer?
 
Doh!:shock:... That’s what I get for being lazy and not searching for myself before asking... Sorry if that was insulting to you skimerwhisperer.:oops:

Thanks for the link Al
 
I think I’ve run into a problem if wanted to use a Sedra pump here... I forgot to mention that I wanted to use a needle wheel pump to recirculate the water within the skimmer. Not an in-sump style. I’m looking for a pump that can be used externally. Can a Sedra pump be used externally?
 
I think I found the answer to my own question. From what I’ve read from searching around, Sedra pumps can overheat if used externally. Maybe I can configure my skimmer differently within my sump to make it work but I’m gonna try the mj mod first since I just so happen to have one or a couple of those pumps just lying around. Funny how much stuff you acquire over the years in this hobby/obsession. I ordered a mesh mod kit from Barrier Reef since I figured I’d probably spend about the same amount of money just driving around locally trying to find the materials needed to do it right. The lack of frustration is a savings right there.
Btw... Nice thread on modding an mj Skimerwhisperer! The pictures are great! They’re better than any amount of descriptive words alone. :D
 
I guess I didn’t search hard enough. :rolleyes: That’s nice to know though incase I’m not satisfied with the low budget mj mod. Thanks for taking the time to reply luke
 
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