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Koralia Gen-3 review

rygh

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Not sure people have noticed, by Hydor Koralia has come out with a new generation of powerhead.

http://www.hydor.com/eng/prodotti-tecnici/movement-pumps/koralia-3rd-generation.php

So I bought one to test out. Specifically the 1950.
Here is a quick review.

Noise : GREAT!
Amazing. Nearly dead silent. And I am very picky. For example, I think the Gyre is way too noisy.

New mount: VERY GOOD.
Instead of a post from mount that inserts into a hole in the powerhead, they have an
extra magnet system. So the powerhead itself connects to the base with a magnet.
External Magnet -> Tank Wall -> Base Magnet -> Powerhead magnet.
This is a big win in my mind.
It reduces space, with no post.
It makes it a lot easier to adjust, since that friction ball joint could be a pain.
But best: you can very easily pop the powerhead out for cleaning, without disturbing base.
The downside is that it moves a bit too easily. Easy to bump and change direction.

Magnet strength: POOR
As usual for Koralia, cheap weak magnets.
Says it is capable of half inch, but would fall off with a little touch.

Efficiency: GREAT!
These are the best for power efficiency by quite a bit.
Moving 300 GPH / Watt is amazing.
Compare that to the fairly efficient WP-40 at 85 GPH / Watt.

Controls: BAD/GOOD
This is strictly on/off. So no fancy wave modes, so rather poor by modern standards.
But it is soft start, and seems to work well, so good for an old relay based wavemaker.

FLOW: FAIR
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. It was not bad, but not what I really wanted.
I have no way of measuring the strength in exact GPH. So cannot comment on that.
There are 3 flow nozzles to play with. I primarily checked using the "normal" one.
Flow was not very even coming out. Stronger at one angle, about 25 degrees off center.
I would say by feel that the old magnum-5 was stronger. But stronger can
mean more of a jet, less diffuse. And diffuse is usually a good thing.

OVERALL:
If you want quiet high efficiency diffuse flow, and don't care about fancy wave action,
this is a really great product.
It should be a good fit for my new fuge/frag tank.
But for my long main display tank, I need something different.
 
Thanks for the review...I was a big fan of the Evolution Series in the past. And great customer support. But price seems a little steep for disappointing flow...
 
Hmm, 300 GPH/Watt sounds a bit too good to be true, I mean if it was 100GPH/Watt I'd buy that a bit more as a really high end pump. Did they just fundamentally change up how to move water? If so other companies better take note (and copy it!), although your mention of flow makes me wonder if we're going to get into the Tunze v. Ecotech battle of "flow versus movement" or whatever it was :D But, pumps are hardly contributing to any excess heat in the tank as it stands, so whether your pump is 40 watts or 10, you're likely to not see a difference in temperature (or more importantly, power bill)
.
What about price? Cheap pump? Expensive?
 
I will measure the wattage, but that is probably correct.
But yes, that 1950 GPH is suspect. Especially since it feels weak.
Maybe I can get some garbage bags and try to measure it in the pool. Hmm.

I consider them to be cheap-for-non-Jebao.
At $80, not bad.
Sicce 2120 is $180.
Tunze 6085 if $160.

Agree, powerhead efficiency is not that critical. Pales in comparison to lights, heaters, and pumps.
Since I have (had) 6 magnum 7 power heads, it does add up a bit though.

Also: These are 110V pumps.
I rather like the safety factor of 24V pumps.
Plus, my lights are already 24V, and I may switch everything over to one big high efficiency DC supply.
 
Well the upside is they can be great for smaller tanks, or frag tanks if you need a lot of flow in a small package. If it really is doing 1950 gph but feels weak, that might be really nice for a frag tank since it'll get water moving but not restrict you too much about keeping corals close to the pump.
 
Update : Weird failure.

I noticed it was barely pumping any water at all this morning.
Looked like it was spinning slowly.
No obvious clogs, crud, or buildup.
Plugged it back in, and it worked fine.

Very strange. I have had other pumps jamb, especially due to calcium buildup (aka poor maintenance), but
never seen one slow down like that.
 
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