AquaClear powerheads, Get the MAX

[newshound]

wow very interesting...
something I am going to have to do...soon.

[killforfood]

I modded one in a similar fashion, plus I very slightly increased the diameter of the hole in the centre of the red part and radiused it's intake side. I put a slight radius onto the inlet side of the outlet pipe to hopefully give a slight ease in flow out of the impeller housing..

Martin,
Thanks for the new suggestions. I particularly liked the additional fine detail of radiused corners.

I've added back in the yellow part, but opened it up like you did the black housing. There's a straight shot into the impeller now plus the yellow lever slot is covered properly. Left open, I reckon plant debris and stuff will get sucked in there.

I was going to use silicone to seal the slot but I like what you did better. I can easily open up the yellow plate in a couple of minutes with a pocket knife. Silicone can be so messy to work with.

Most noticeable difference is that it really buffets the hand when placed in front of it compared to the stock configuration.

Yah! That's what I felt

Best flow (approximate) I got was 900 LPH which is WAY below the manufacturer's claimed 1540 LPH.

Martin.

I have to believe that most of the manufacturers GPH claims are pie in the sky.
Joel.

[andyroo]

Lunar gallons... much smaller.
:)

[Martin Thoene]

I really just applied standard cylinder head flow improvement techniques....hot-rodder me Theoretically, because water is thicker than air, such detail may make more difference.

It's weird that the red part is molded with a radius on the wrong side from the impeller. I probably only oversized the center hole by about 0.5 mm in radius.

On the yellow piece I left the little stop tag so it operates normally, but moving it through its full range now has no effect on flow because of opening up the center over the impeller, i.e. it's flow control effect is negated. We're not wanting LESS flow right?

Looking at these things in detail I can see glaring inefficiencies I've never considered before. I don't know why powerheads aren't designed like turbocharger housings with an angled radial outlet. This has to be better than the 90 degree exit idea. The sealing around the impeller is a joke too. I think there must be enormous efficiency losses.

Replace the exhaust side with a regular powerhead motor.....



My Seio 1500 pump has a rather turbine like impeller but the flow is more like the exhaust side of a turbocharger with water coming in all around and being exited out the bottom to a 90 degree outlet.

Martin.

[killforfood]

Martin,
The larger Magdrive pumps are more efficient I think for the very reasons you mention. I'll dig around the web and find picture of the magdrive housing to post. Nice radiused outlet and probably tighter clearance on the impeller as I recall.

[Martin Thoene]

The Paxton Supercharger (here in cutaway) is the way to go. It's engine driven like regular superchargers, just looks like a turbo. Imagine this scaled down and cast in plastic with a big electric powerhead motor hanging on it



Martin.

[killforfood]

Funny but true. Next thing we know you'll be posting results of testing your powerheads on a flowbench

Here's a photo of a Magdrive pump. It's better but still exits at 90 degrees.

[Martin Thoene]

That tear-drop shape to the housing is an improvement over the Aquaclear. Basically though one half of the angled part is on the radial thrust side of the impeller flow while the other is on the reverse. It's therefore inherantly inefficient.



Martin.

[killforfood]

It really makes you wonder why they didn’t offset the outlet while they still had it in the design phase. The outsides of some of this stuff are actually designed by design artists just to look good. If you ask me, that Paxton supercharger is a piece of art just based on its pure form of functionality. Things that go fast look like they go fast. By the way my neighbor just broke the land speed record for the second year in a row in C modified pickup. I’ll get some pictures of his truck the next time I’m over there. Every time he fires it up I open the window just to hear the sweet music. His wife was worried about the noise and laughed when I told her that it was music.

[andyroo]

I smell a patent application...

Rather then massive increased flow with efficient design and same motor, why not go the other way: better efficiency allowing for smaller motor.
Less power use, less tank-space taken up thus more aesthetically pleasing allowing more tank-design options/flexibility.
I'll buy the first batch off the line :)
A

[Martin Thoene]

Hehe! killforfood. I used to crew for a supercharged drag-bike....that's what we used to call an eargasm

Martin.

[killforfood]

Yah, I used to do a little drag racing. Back in the 70’s the local track was Woodburn Dragstrip. The place was surrounded by farm crops, still is for that matter. I had an early 60’s Valiant with the cool bug eye Dart front end on it. I used to throw the slicks in the trunk and blast down Interstate 5 with open headers. Never did get a ticket, but what fun. The only car I ever owned that could get the front end off the ground! Ran low 12’s as I recall.
My buddy Arlen had a drag bike that I got to make a pass on as a passenger! Seems that rough as a corncob track had rattled his gas cap off and it flew up and hit him in the chest as he was going through the traps. It scared him so bad that he sat straight up at speed and his helmet flew off. Now he was missing his helmet and his gas cap. Times were different back then and when he asked the tower for a by run with me on the back to help him find his stuff they said “no problem” That was my only ride ever on a drag bike and I’ll never do it again as a passenger. Nowhere to sit nowhere to put your feet and crazy Arlen scared me to death he went so fast. We found his beat up helmet but never did find the gas cap. I did some way stupid stuff growing up and I'll kill my son if he trys any of it.

[crazy loaches]

There are some really efficient pumps out there with similar design to the turbos. I ended up going through about 7 pumps on my new tank to find one that flowed enough, and was quiet and efficient as I wanted. Sequence Reeflo series (I got the Dart). Its a external pump though, but blows the more common pumps like the mag drives out of the water on all counts. So far I am thoroughly impressed and wish I'd done more research on pumps before wasting money on shipping & return shipping. I havent taken it fully apart but you can see the impellor and it has the twisting curved blades that get larger towards the outside with a similar design to the turbo pic above.

For powerheads the Koralia pumps are super efficient as well, designed similar to a boats propellor, but arent designed to hook up to any plumbing (much like a boat in that regard as well, pulls water freely from in front/around, and spews it out the back unrestricted).

[killforfood]

Just an update on the powerhead mods.
I’ve found that a 1 ½” hole saw is the perfect size to increase flow to the impeller. It’s much faster than my pocket knife and makes a much more uniform hole size. For you folks across the pond, try a 40mm hole saw, its only slightly larger. I took Martins advice and now leave the yellow flow adjuster plate in place and drill through it and the black plastic at the same time. It saves having to silicone the hole left open where the lever exits the housing.



I also wanted to mention how I mate the powerheads to the ¾” manifold.
The funnel cones are too small to stretch over the ¾” PVC so I cut about a ½” off the small end and soak it in hot water to make stretching it over the PVC pipe easier.



And there you have it

[Martin Thoene]

Hey killfor food....can I incorporate all this stuff and your pictures in an article I'm putting together for Loaches Online on using powerheads and pumps in loach aquariums please? I'll give you full credit in the article.

E-mail me at m_thoene@rogers.com and we can discuss.

Martin.