[nodima]

Does anyone have experience with DC pumps for sumps? I had someone recommend: Jebao DCP Sine Wave Water Return Pump

When I compare them to my existing Mag Drive, it seems too good to be true. 1/3 the running cost, potentially saving me ~200 bucks a year in power. (based on 55 watts for the Jebao vs 150 watts for the Mag Drive) Both have similar throughput. Any reports on longevity/real world performance?

If not the Jebao, are their other DC pumps to look at?

Thanks

 

[nodima]

Bought and installed this pump yesterday.

Positives: Very well packaged, multiple boxes, and layers to get through, pump and parts neatly organized. Pretty simple connections for the 3 main components - pump, controller, and DC converter. Upon installation, pump also is quiet, virtually no audible hum.

Negatives: Manual sorely lacking, clearly it was a translated document done literally so there are a lot of very strange phrases in it. Bigger issue is that while the control unit only has 3 unlabeled buttons, an up arrow, a down arrow, and a pause button, the manual references the "FEED" button for instance.

The unit comes with a bunch of connectors, none of which were sized for my existing tubing which is standard 3/4" tubing. There are both barbed connectors and what looks like slip connectors for pvc, but they are some sort of plastic, and I don't know if they are compatible with PVC. I was unable to find a connector sized to any of the various piping I have in my aquarium closet to allow using a foam prefilter for this pump, so I left the coarse screen. This screen is not fine enough from preventing fry from entering it - often my cichlid fry end up in the sump.

Other: The unit is surprisingly light compared to the Mag 18, probably about 1/2 the mass. Not sure if this is good or bad however.

Overall, the unit seems ok, obviously can't make any judgements on longevity since it was installed yesterday.