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VulcanRider

My New Rio HyperFlow 14 Pump

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7 Comments
by
VulcanRider
, 01-08-2010 at 11:13 AM (4119 Views)
The Plan
So in the fight against ConEd and their .33 cents per kilowatt policy, I decided to stop using my sump as the main source of display tank flow and remove the Mag9 that was in there.

The Victory
The Mag is listed as using 93 watts of power...welllll, WRONG, more like 124 watts. I have been using a device made by Ryobi, purchased at Home Depot, and it does the same job of the Kill-A-Watt device at half the cost. I hope that half the cost don't mean crappy readings. Moving on, I plugged up the HyperFlow pump and saw 63 watts, but its supposed to be 45 watts, whatever, its half the wattage which means the Mag cost me $29.46 a month and the HyperFlow will now cost me $14.97.

The Last-Minute Trip to Yellowstone
The pump is pretty powerful but a slight bit on the noisy side but I guess that's my trade off. After hooking up the pump I turned to my girlfriend to tell her that its not bad and yet a little noisy when suddenly in the background there was a very, very distinct noise that maybe only aquarist who deal with sumps know. Now I am not going to break out the calculations and try to determine how much water we cleaned up all I can say is that the pump is rated for 840 gallons per hour and we cleaned up a lot. I still have stuff drying out in the kitchen. Luckily, I have the new pump, aqualifter and KorMag5 running to sustain life.

The Lesson
Make sure your returns are secure, especially if your going to turn your back to tell someone that the pump is OK but a little noisy. And most importantly, make sure your cats have their boating license before you change any circulation related equipment.

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Categories
‎ Tank - Full Summary , ‎ Electrical , ‎ Plumbing

Comments

  1. Jessy's Avatar
    Wow that is a horrible story! (Although very well told ) Sorry that happened and I'm sure your kitties still love you.
  2. VulcanRider's Avatar
    Thanks Jess, it sucks but it was a dumb move on my part. I just finished redoing everything, plugs and what not, took out the ATScrubber so I am expecting to probably see algae creep up in the tank until the cheato can get going. Hopefully this new bulb I got works.
  3. Trido's Avatar
    Near $30 a month in electric for a single Mag 9 pump? Holy cow!!

    If the pump only ran wild for 30 seconds, you had seven gallons of water to clean up. A plenty big mess any way you look at it.
  4. VulcanRider's Avatar
    Please tell me you didn't calculate it. But yeah $30, can you believe that. This new rio is supposed to be about 12 bucks month, but I am not thrilled with the noise. If I can find something else I would switch but at 62 watts and for the flow I need nothing is coming close.
  5. melev's Avatar
    What is the noise coming from specifically? The sound of water moving through it? The plumbing resonating? The vibration against the sump's base or wall? Maybe we can help you figure that out.

    For others checking out the math:
    124w x 24 hours a day x 30 days is 89.28 kWh x $0.33 is $29.46 per month.
    Remember, 124 watts is 0.124 kilowatts, because you take 124/1000 to get that number. So, .124 x 24 x.33 = .9821 per day.

    .063w x 24 hrs x 30 days is 45.36 kWh x .33 = $14.97 monthly.

    Is your electricity tiered like it is in California? Their rates are .35 during the daytime, but drop to .05 from 6pm until morning. Your rates are really high. If I lived where you are, there's really no way I could keep my tank. I've had my share of high energy bills, but OMG it's high where you are. I just did a comparison. In the winter I tend to use about 2100 kWh for the month, and in the summer it is more like 3200 on average. That would be $693 to $1056 per month. In Texas, we have deregulation and a bunch of companies to choose from. I was getting hit hard by two different companies over the past few years, and switched to my current provider that locked me in for 12 months at .103/kWh.
  6. VulcanRider's Avatar
    The noise is the pump itself, without any plumbing attached and being suspended in the water not touching anything it creates its buzzing noise. The only thing connected to it is a 3/4" vinyl tube for the sole return and its pretty clear of the sump bottom because it actually has for huge suction cup feet that work when they want to. But they give the pump a good 1/2" clearance from the sump bottom, and they are made of very soft rubber rather than the more unforgiving rubber you may find on like a heater.

    The rates aren't tiered in my neck of the woods. But I did come across something on ConEd's site about reduced rates after like 10pm so I have to look into it. They never had it before. I hate the electric in the NYC are because its just ConEd, they offer escrow providers but ConEd is still killing you in service charges/fees and delivery charges/fees. No matter where you turn here they have their hand in your wallet, it's disgusting. KeySpan energy covers Brooklyn and they were cheaper than ConEd. Long Island I believe has cheaper energy and gas. We pay high prices for an infrastructure that's in some places crumbling.
  7. melev's Avatar
    FYI - be sure to use plastic hose clamps on any tubing connections to avoid flooding the floor.

    You can buy these online or at your LFS.