[vimeo width=”680″ height=”420″]http://vimeo.com/25603645[/vimeo]
The HydroWizard is perhaps the biggest propeller water pump ever designed for aquarium but at $5000 and 50,000 gallons per hour, it is way overkill for even the most jumbo reef tanks. Luckily for us Panta Rhei is already working on smaller versions of these carbon-fiber brushless DC motor flow pumps, the next of which to hit the market will be the HydroWizard Medium. We were thrilled to take the HydroWizard Medium for a test drive at the Denver Downtown Aquarium on a 500, a 1500 and a 5000 gallon reef tank as this little water jet would have tidal waved even a large six or eight foot reef tank.
The prototype Hydrowizard medium had a cage and various fittings built from 3D laser printed components which is why it looks white, but the final production model will be black, naturally. The HydroWizard Medium may not have the same SD-programmable controller but the included adjustable display did make it pretty easy to select from several pre-configured water flow regimes. The 12 foot long 1500 gallon reef aquarium featured in the video above was being flowed primarily by a closed loop manifold which created a very diffuse flow throughout the aquarium.
When the Hydrowizard Medium was cranked up however, a large cross section of water was being pushed across the surface of the tank producing a strong noticeable gyre flow that also kicked up a lot of particles. The pulsing setting of the HydroWizard was also particularly effective, producing a small ebb and flow even in such a large tank. Although the wave height on the edges of the tank was only about one to two inches, this was more than enough to make polyps dance inside the reef. The production Hydrowizard Medium pump is expected to push 20% more flow with the carbon fiber reinforced propeller than with the prototype we were using, which should hit a flowrate of 12,000 gallons per hour and final pricing to be determined, but it will be over $1000.
