Sicce Voyager 4 Pump

Hi,

I'm tired of buying Koralia Evolution 1400 pumps for my tank. Ove the past year, I have three (3) of the covers break and two (2) pumps completely die. I run them on a Red Sea wavemaker system. Hydor has been good about replacing the covers but I'm not convienced replacing them is the right thing at this point.

I recently read about the Sicce Voyager pumps that are super quiet, very powerful and have a three (3) year warranty (wow). What limited reviews I have found on the Sicce Voyager 4 pump suggests it meets or exceeds the manufactures claims. They are sold at my LFS but at $115 each which are cost prohibitive so I did a little looking around and found an insane deal where I can buy the Voyager 4's for $56 each with shipping.. save over $55 from LFS and > $12 cheaper with shipping than replacing my Evolution 1400 pumps.

So.. my questions are;

1. Anyone have any experience with the Sicce Voyager 4 pumps? (1600 gph @ 14W. (the wattage is 2x the Hydor 1400 but I'll trade performance and warranty for increased wattage). I searched the index here and didn't find any posts on this pump).

2. Any experience in buying from Petblvd.com? They have insane deals on many things, including the Sicce pumps I want. I confirmed they are brand new pumps with factory warranty but I have never bought from them.


Thanks for any responses.
Grumpy

don't know much about them, but that's a good price. I can't even find them for that price without shipping!

no feedback on either - unfortunately - actually never heard of petblvd before?? hmmm

but the sicce I have heard of before - never used one tho! I do know what you are talking about with the Koralias - I had those problems too whenever I ran mine on a wavemaker too!

I know right... and Hydor tells you you must run the Evo's on any wavemaker.... marketeer's these days! I'm waiting a couple of days to see if anyone here can validate the good thing's I've heard / read about the Sicce (Italian design / company) pumps. My LFS tells me they are as good as the other two top pumps out there at 1/4 the price.

Originally Posted by estanoche

no feedback on either - unfortunately - actually never heard of petblvd before?? hmmm

but the sicce I have heard of before - never used one tho! I do know what you are talking about with the Koralias - I had those problems too whenever I ran mine on a wavemaker too!

If I remember I think I heard them being talked about in the same level of pumps with tunze. I think they are a pretty good pump

I decided to buy two of them... I'll let you know all about them when I get them.

Grumpy

so.............what do you think of them? do you like them? will you recommend them? can you share pros and cons for us?

Barbara... thanks for reminding me I owed the board an update!

Sicce Voyager 4 Pump

In case you don't remember, I have been through more Korilla Evolution pumps that anyone should expect to go through so after my 3rd on failed in less than 2 years it lead me on a search for alternate circulation pumps for my reef tank.

My system is a 155 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. I looked at many pumps currently on the market from the low end to the high end (JBJ Oceanstream, Aqueon, Eco-Tech, Tunze, Sicce, etc..) I certainly like the performance and features of the Eco-Tech and Tunze pumps but I can't rationalize the price. I run a Red Sea wavemaker, it's a generic device that offers multiple settings if you want to use them so I wanted a new pump that was compatible with this device. So after reading the specs for each and looking for reviews I decided to buy two of the Sicce Voyager 4 pumps (1600 gph with adjustable output).

So I received the new pumps very quickly (see vendor note below). I wanted to look flow rate and distribution patterns of the new Sicce pump versus one of my existing Hydor pumps (< 6 months old). The new Sicce pump has a flow rating of 1600gph and the Hydor has a rating of 1400 GPH. The Sicce pump has an increase flow rate of 14.3% above the Hydor (important for the testing). I don’t have a flow meter so the first thing I did was to create a test fixture to look at displacement. I used a 20 gallon tank with saltwater in it. I made a test jig using a rigid stick which spanned the width of the tank and then attached a piece of acrylic, 6” long x 3” wide and 0.20” thick (I know… I should of taken pictures… sorry). I placed the fixture (6” long piece) directly at the center of the flow output (to minimize resistance against the fixed side of the fixture) and then placed the fixture 3” away from the face of each pump. Each pump was placed 6” below the water surface. Although I can’t determine the exact flow rate, this fixture will allow me to compare the displacement of the fixture between the Hydor and Sicce pumps. First I tested the Hydor and measured 1.25” of displacement. Then I put the Sicce pump in and measured 1.85” of displacement (as the Sicce pump as a variable output for flow distribution I had it set in the full open position, just like the Hydor has so it was a comparable test).

My testing, as defined above, showed a 50% increase in fixture displacement (empirical flow rate increase) at 3”. This was surprising, based on specifications alone I would of expected a 14% improvement or a displacement (an increase of 0.20” or so). This could be a result of how direct the flow is from the Sicce as compared to the Hydor. The Sicce has 6 ports, each with a diameter of .375” centered around a .750” diameter circle whereas the Hydor has one large open flow port 2.0” in diameter with a tight grid (~ 0.150” spacing of the grid) directly in front of the flow path. In any case, an empirical 50% increase is good for me as my tank is six feet long and I want the flow to reach the far side with as little disruption as possible.

Looking at distribution, it was an empirical test too in the test tank. I used Blue dye on the Hydor and Green dye on the Sicce. The Hydor provides a very wide distribution of flow where the funnel formed at 6” is ~ 6” wide (about what I expected based on the design). The Sicce pump, in full open position has a tighter flow distribution funnel, at 6” away from the head it has a distribution pattern of ~4.5”. When I move the Sicce pump head to the distributed flow pattern (1/2 closed position) the funnel pattern is changed dramatically and at 6” away it has a distribution funnel >8”. This distribution testing was flawed in so many ways that although I completed the testing (and share it here) please don’t take much away from it.

Summary: I would recommend the Sicce Voyager 4 pump.

Performance: In my empirical testing it showed a 50% increase in flow over my current Hydor Evolution 1400 pump. I must note that I have only used this pump for ~ 1 month so I have no data on performance over time. The design seems solid and robust as compared to the Hydor Evolution 1400. The design of the Sicce allows you to adjust the distribution of the flow which is important in cases where you want good volume but you don’t want to blow sand off the bottom or trash your softies with super high velocity. I did not measure loss of flow rate (resistance against my test fixture) while modifying the distribution of flow on the Sicce, I would expect it to drop off dramatically as you change how the flow leaves the pump head, understanding flow dynamics it would be expected to drop the flow rate. The wattage draw is 2x higher than the Hydor but I’d rather have improved performance at a slight increase in operational cost. (Sicce draws 14w and I believe the Hydor is ~7w). Mounting is robust, the magnet is very strong, can’t say it’s any stronger than the Hydor but both are good. I LOVE the mounting assembly, unlike the Hydor which as fixed limits on rotation, the Sicce pump can literally be pointed in almost any direction, a really nice feature.

Price: Outstanding. Search for the best reseller (be careful, the price varies all over). Bang for the buck can not be beat!

Vendor Recommendation: I must put in a plug for PetBlvd.com which I usually don't do but in this case I really want to... So I looked everywhere for these pumps, locally price varied between $95 and $115 each.. On-line I found them between $79 and $99 until I found PetBlvd.com. which had the pumps on sale for $67.57 each, with a discount coupon for the pumps and a discount coupon for shipping I purchased two pumps for $125.07 or $62.54 each! I received the pumps in 3 days. Be aware that Petblvd.com has the look and feel of a small or garage type operation, and my pumps came in a used coffee box.. BUT their pricing, delivery and overall service was excellent. Check them out on pricing for anything you need, they seem to carry lots of great stuff. I am NOT affiliated with petblvd.com, I just want to give props where they are deserved!

holy heck!! Great review - you should put some before and after shots of your tank up so we can see how your corals change to the flow. I watch my SPS, and in the past when I got new pumps their growth directions and branch sizes changed significantly!