ATB Flowstar 1500 Pump

[Wes]

Ever consider the Water Blaster pumps? They look promising. I know the Bubble Blaster 5000 on my skimmer is very quiet.


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[cali_reef]

Ever consider the Water Blaster pumps? They look promising. I know the Bubble Blaster 5000 on my skimmer is very quiet.


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Warren did post the link to a Water Blaster pump. What type of material are the bearing and shaft made from?

 

[Wes]

Ah yes, i did not even click the links sorry. Not sure what the material is. So far I am really impressed with the bubble blaster 5000 as far as noise and foam production.


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[pecan2phat]

silicone nitride shaft and bearings

 

[ed4]

Tagging along to read opinions.

I, too, am searching for a replacement return pump. Since the internals of my RDII pump grenaded, I've been using a backup Mag 18.

I'd like to go w/ the Flowstar 1800 or maybe hold out for the (hopefully reliable) RDIII.

 

[ed4]

Has anyone taken a "Kill-A-Watt" reading on a running Flowstar and compare it w/ the published numbers?

 

[ctxmonitor]

Okay, i finally got the time during the weekend to hook it up before the swap. Its a little tricky to hook up as its not the standard outlet that i'm used to. Its not threaded or size which i could use the PVC glue.. I dug through Home depot and finally found something that i could use. Hope that this will hold up in the long run. I push it all the way in and use the three ring to secure the seal.

Here is a pic:

And then as i was doing the finishing touch and tightening the union in the outlet, the glue that was used to secure the connection came off!!! Ahh... Sh*t, I had to dissemble everything and find a way to glue it back... Not sure what i did was good enough. I use the IC glue that was used to glue coral to glue the piece back on. I didn't have any other gel time glue, and didn't know if the aquarium silicone glue was any good.

Does anyone ever used the aquarium silicone glue(for glass) to glue pvc and will this last? I might have to redo if it start leaking..(crossing finger that it doesn't.)

So have i left for it to dry a couple of hours.. Did some fresh water run and it show no leak. So i put it into the system and hope for the best.

So after the switch, I find that it does push quite amount of water through my overflow, as it rises all the way up the baffle that was in my 90gal.. It is making a bigger hum noise that the quiet1one 4000 pump that i had when i had it submerge.. So maybe the comparison is not as 1 to 1.. But it definitely not as silence as I wanted to be honest..

 

[fishkybizniz]

Just got the Flowstar 1500. Had the Red Dragon for 2 years & it suddenly stopped. A service got it working for a few days then out again. The Red Dragons are very quiet but distributors no longer recomment because back when we purchased RD promised they would create a U.S. center for parts/maintenence etc. but never did. Still out of Canada so the pumps can be overhauled but if you can't get parts, like what happend to us, you have to replace them. Painful to throw away an almost $500 pump! The new darling recommended to rival the Red Dragon is the Flowstar's. They swear they are exactly the same. One notable difference in receiving ours is the FS being about half the size of the Red Dragon. Our two objectives, a quiet pump and one that wouldn't generate a lot of heat. Flowstar is supposed to have the exact same housing for quiet and the low wattage is what controls the heat...and of course saves on your power bill. My husband had no fear on the plumbing because he plumbed the RD and it was metric. No way this one could be a bigger challenge that that.

 

[Dace]

Has anyone built a manifold to plumb other things to this pump like UV, Brs Reactor,small refuge? If so please post pics.