The new HydroTube pump from Panta Rhei is approximately what you’d expect to get by combining the design of a centrifugal pump and a propeller pump. Based on the motor of the HydroWizard Medium pump, the HydroTube still uses a propeller to push water, but a specially designed housing allows it to produce a certain degree of lift through wide diameter tubing in order to move lots of volume.
However, unlike a typical centrifugal pump the HydroTube is very low pressure, it really is made to move lots of water from one place to another, but not a significant height out of the water vessel. Nevertheless, the ability to transport a massive amount of water from one part of the tank to another could be a really efficient mode of water circulation in jumbo reef tanks and mariculture applications.
The low-pressure nature of the HydroTube pump is arguably more plankton-friendly than a high pressure centrifugal pump of the same water flow rate, but the water moving nature of the HydroTube is the most important feature. The HydroTube is probably overkill for most home aquarium systems, but if this kind of hybrid water pump really takes off in larger aquariums, there’s no reason the technology couldn’t tirckle down to the forthcoming consumer-grade HydroWizard Small.
