Was thinking of using a MD5 for my next setup. It will be used for an external return pump for a sump. Is anyone using this or another one of the smaller Mag Drive pumps ?? If so what do you think ?? was particularly interested in the following:

• How much sound
• How much heat transfer if any
• Ease of maintenance especially cleaning impeller area
• reliability

Thanks in advance for any information good or bad.

As a general rule they are pretty reliable. I'm not a fan after my run in with a noisy Mag12, but the smaller ones are supposed to be a lot more consistant. The Maxijet Utility pumps are very reliable and dead nuts quiet. They have less power draw and heat transfer than Mag pumps.

Kewl thats the kind of information I was looking for.

The MaxiJet 1800 is really close to the MD5 specs.

Any other thoughts or recommendations from other people.

small amount of noise and reliable if maintained properly.

Not too loud, especially if kept off the sump walls. I noticed a drop in heat when I installed mine (submerged) but I also added 20 gallons of water with the sump. I think they are pretty bullet proof, I love mine. A friend of mine is running a 9.5 externally and it is loud, and the Mags I have heard have a tendency to leak when run externally.

been using mag pumps for about 2 years now. ive used everything from the MD3 to the MD9.5. they are all very reliable and quiet ( quieter than my vortech even!) they wont stall if you turn them off like some other pumps. heat transfer is minimal and ive noticed that because even in the winter the temp of my tank wont go above 80 degrees. highly recommended.

I've noticed there seems to be some really inconsistent results with the Mag pumps. I have wondered about this... some people say they are quiet, others say they are too loud, some say they add more heat than they should (a common complaint, though not at all consistent). Am I missing something here? Is this across the product line, or within a few specific models?

I've considered a Mag for my return pump, but I'm really tempted to just buy one of the aforementioned MaxiJet Utility pumps (or splurge on a Tunze Silence pump, they are adjustable too... but I hear even they aren't that silent

I use a mag 5.

It has some pretty loud vibrations, but it has been reliable.

I have a mag7. I had to insulate it from the glass of the sump with some foam, but after that it is dead quiet. I suspect people hating on the mag pumps are using much more expensive pumps, and either trying to justify their expensive purchase, or perhaps they really are a bit better than magdrives. Like anything else in the hobby you can buy anywhere from dead cheap to super expensive, with decreasing cost to benefit ratio as you go up the line In my opinion, the ratio is pretty good with the mag pumps.

The complaints are largely from the larger Mag pumps (Mag9 and up). For me, I didn't come from more expensive pumps to know that the Mag12 I bought was far too loud, and not enough flow. I used it as a replacement for a very noisy Ocean Runner 6500 (which aren't usually known for being noisy). I ended up with the Maxijet NJ5500. About the same cost (when I bought it anyway), more flow, less wattage, and smaller. It's also built a lot better than the Mag pumps.

ive used a mag 7 and it worked pretty good for me. it was silent and didnt run that hot.

thing is tho about the pumps they use 1/2" outlet which i think is too small for that pump. you will get a lot more flow if you went with 3/4"

I have heard an awful lot of bad things about these when used externally.

For submerged use, they're great.

i use a mag 9.5 and i love it....very very reliable and a small/moderate noise level

+ten thousand.
They are supposed to be able to be used external, I used a Mag 7 on my 65g for my first return pump over 10 years ago, the impeller magnet seized when the motor housing around it swelled from heat. After a week.

Replaced with an older style Quiet One (a similar thing happened to this after about 2 years, replaced with a Little Giant which is still operating great).

I used a Mag 5 externally to operate a chiller. People who have issues with them leaking usually did something wrong when reassembling the pump after maintenance - either left off the o-ring, or overtightened the cover to the point that the plastic broke.

If you're careful when servicing the pump, I'd definitely recommend a Mag 5 to be used externally. I had to place a bit of styro under the pump to quiet the vibrations, but only because it was in my bedroom. pumps vibrate, big surprise.

I've been running the mag 9.5 on my aquac skimmer and barley hear it wih the cabinet doors open. Closed, I hear nothing But the chiller. I've been happy with mine.

Thank you for your replies. Still not sure what pump I'm going to use but this did give me some insight.

I have used a mag 9.5 and mag 12 as return pumps and both were far too loud for my tastes. I switched to an eheim1262 and it is super duper quiet. I love it! I use the mag to mix water now.

I have owned 4 Mag pumps from a 2 to a 9 and got rid of all of them. They were noisy both submerged and external, ran very hot, to the point of raising the water temperature in a 100G tank with a 30G sump and drew more power than many other comparable pumps.
I tried replacing impellers in two of them with only limited success, put them on mouse pads, put flexible tubing on them to break up sound transmission from vibration etc.

They may be reliable but thats not everything.