The H&H Kraken DC pump is a newcomer to the aquarium entry but being late to the party doesn’t mean it’s not in the game. There’s practically a dizzying array of aquarium water pumps being offered up with DC motors, and they all look SO similar, it’s hard to tell whether you are getting something new, or the same exact pump as a dozen different companies with a different color.
We’ve heard from H&H before, but at the time it was for a very interestingly designed, multichannel dosing pump with a slim design and attractive carbon-fiber finish. Meanwhile the Kraken DC pump also manages to stand out from a very crowded field with a higher efficiency motor, and smidgen more features on the controller side of the DC pump equation.
The biggest design feature that H&H is touting about the motor driving their Kraken DC pump is the use of an 8-pole rotors (magnet) which is turned more efficiently and more quietly than most standard 2-pole rotors.
Despite this 8-pole rotor the Kraken doesn’t seem to be as efficient as the second generation Waveline DC pumps or the Deepwater Aquatics BLDC pump. For comparison the Kraken DC10,000 pushes 2640 gph while using 120 watts with a max head of 4m (13 feet) while the similarly named Deepwater BLDC 10 pushes 2,650 gph at a max pressure of 6m (20 feet) while sipping on 79 watts.
Additionally, H&H does feature an enhanced controller for its Kraken pump with 10 speeds built in and an on/off switch on the bottom of the controller. At this point the Kraken better be a lot more affordable since it will cost users a little more on power over its lifetime. We don’t have pricing for the Kraken pump but since their dosing pump was quite cheap when it was revealed, perhaps we will see the Kraken enter the market with aggressive pricing as well. [H&H]
