The Stream 3 6150 is unlike any aquarium pump before.  It is the result of nearly 2 years of Research & Development and borrows technology from the most sophisticated motors used in medicine and in the rovers sent to other planets.  While the appearance is unconventional, it is a pump to give serious consideration to and here is why. If silence is important to you, this is the first aquarium pump with an axial magnetic bearing, what that means is the impeller is completely levitated in the rotor, there is no shaft, it is free floating, not just top to bottom but on all sides.  With no surface contact, the only noise is that created by hydrodynamic forces of the water moving.  If reliability and durability are important then consider the Stream 3.  One MORE