- I'm Thomas, and we're about to get hands-on
with Marineland's Maxi-Jet power heads.
This and this are the exact same pump.
Yup.
And in the next few minutes,
you'll see why I've been using these pumps
for well over a decade now
and why I will continue to keep on using these pumps
for as long as I have a reef tank,
provided Marineland doesn't do anything crazy,
like dramatically change the design
or, I don't know, take them away from me.
Don't do it.
Don't. Leave them just like that.
I like them like this.
With wave pumps at the forefront of reefing,
standard power heads like these
just don't get much attention these days,
but I really think that's a massive mistake.
A basic power head is a workhorse pump,
and every reefer should have at least one of them
in their arsenal.
They can do everything from power filtration,
like media reactors,
to aiding in maintenance, like mixing up fresh saltwater
and vacuuming out your sump,
all while being super affordable,
dare I say, inexpensive.
And one particular brand,
hint, hint, the title of this video,
doubles down by including a conversion kit
that transforms these small centrifugal power heads
into propeller style wave pumps.
So, let's get one of these other Maxi-Jets out of the box
so we can take a closer look
at everything that they come with.
In the box, you'll find the Maxi-Jet power head,
the accessory kit, the propeller pump conversion kit,
as well as the quick setup guide.
There are four sizes available,
including the 400, 600, 900, and 1200
rated for 110, 160, 230,
and 295 gallons per hour, respectively,
when used as a centrifugal pump,
and 500, 750, 1000, and 1300 gallons per hour
when converted to a propeller style wave pump.
They all share the same compact dimensions,
inlet and outlet sizes, and slew of accessories.
Those accessories include a Venturi kit,
a directional duckbill nozzle, a stepped intake adapter,
two sizes of intake screen,
a clip mount with a suction cup,
a suction cup mount, and a ball joint adapter.
And that doesn't even include the wave pump conversion kit
that I'll be touching on shortly.
Using these accessories,
you can set up the pump in many different ways,
and Marineland does provide
a quick setup guide with diagrams
to walk you through a few different options.
For us reefers,
we're most likely to use a power head like this
with a simple intake screen and some tubing
to hook it up to a reactor,
or perhaps with a directional nozzle
near the top of a quarantine tank
to add some extra gas exchange.
But my favorite uses for these small pumps
all fall under the maintenance category.
Whether you need a way to blow debris
out of the crevices of your rock work
and from between corals,
pump fresh salt water from a bucket into your tank,
or want to pick up a couple of VCA vacuum attachments
to turn them into the perfect tool
for cleaning out your sump and removing detritus
from between your corals and rocks
by sucking it up and pumping it directly out of the tank
during a water change,
these affordable, easily handheld pumps work very well
while being cheap enough
that you don't mind them getting dirty and gritty.
That is not even the end of it.
By removing the impeller cover and the impeller
and swapping it out for the propeller and propeller cover,
you have now opened up a whole new world for this pump.
When converted to a propeller pump,
it is my all-time favorite salt mixing pump.
I use the 1200 in 45-gallon Brute container
with a heater to mix up large batches of saltwater
and keep it well circulated.
Provided you're using a clean salt mix
or decalcify the pump as needed,
they can last for years
and cost quite a bit less than other options
while still carrying a two-year warranty.
Of course, you could also use these
as a budget circulation pump for your display tank
or to add extra circulation and oxygenation
to a quarantine system,
but they do have their limitations.
They are simple AC pumps,
and while I have seen reefers
put them on wave pump style timers,
they aren't very quiet,
and they clack pretty loud when they turn on,
so I don't usually recommend that type of setup for them.
And overall, they just aren't as compact, quiet,
or feature rich as the DC wave pumps
that reefers have come to love.
But that's just not where these particular pumps shine.
Powering reactors, mixing salt, general maintenance,
and other applications
where an inexpensive pump
will more than pull its weight in gold
is definitely their strong suit
and why I'll always be using them.
If they sound like they just might
match your reefing mantra, like they match mine,
then you can pick one up for yourself
by clicking right here.
(upbeat music)