Hydor Pico Evolution

[Tyron]

but the shipping for the 1200 at your site is like 14 dollars

[Tyron]

well i got the order cancelled over at drsfostersandsmith, and ordered the 1200. i feel complete, LOL. it was only four dollars more because theyre having a sale on them, 25% off which ends tomorrow. so the pump is 16dollars plus shipping

[briancv]

I went to my LFS yesterday to take a look at the pico evolutions as they just started getting them for the first time and I was not impressed. For an application where water needs to travel up and not just out (like a biocube where water travels up to your return line from the back chamber) these pumps can't hold their own. The head pressure is pretty weak, so by the time water travels up the line the flow seems to have dropped by nearly 50%. The design is interesting, and as a vertical pump inside a tank they would be great, but it seems any application that would require water t travel upwards would require a pump rated for twice as many gph's as you initially need.

 

Normally I prefer Hydor to almost anything, but in this instance I had to take a MJ606 for my 8g BC. The lower heat would have been nice, bit the reduced flow (especially with a Hydor Flo on the end of the line) just isn't worth it for me in this application.

[HydorMan]

The Pico Evolution pumps were originally designed for fountains. They are capable of handling the limited head pressure in a nano aquarium without significat head loss.

 

Remember that your return pump in a Biocude is not pumping the water up a foot, unless you run your sump chamber with only an inch of water. It only has to pump the water an inch or two above the water level in the back chamber.

[psykokid]

I picked up an evo.mag 300 the other day, same amount of flow compared to the MJ1200 I had in the back of my NC12. I took the magnetic attachment bracket off since its really not needed where i have it located. For 18 bucks with the FLO adapter I couldnt really say no.. Half the wattage, not too shabby. May have to get one for my macro tank i'm putting together in the garage for circulation. FWIW, i put a MJ1200 in a bucket of 70 deg water in my garage last nite. Ambient temp in the garage is around 90 give or take. Bucket's water temp was up around 98 degrees. I had the same bucket running for weeks with a hydor pico evo 400 and the temp never went above 84 (bucket has live rock in it)

[JakeF150]

Yeah my MJ 1200 caused my bio-29 temp up to 82 from 79 and i m going to swap MJ 1200 out for something else...i think i ll give 1200 hydro a try!!

 

JAke

[jojoe972]

I upgraded from a maxi 900 to the pico 1200 finally and it even came with a hydor flo at no extra charge in the box. I havent been able to tell about temp since I had to install a chiller till I start my LED build for the tank. I am happy with the flow that I was getting from it. Much, Much stronger than the 900

[JakeF150]

ha i just installed hydro 1200 and hopefully temps will drop...

 

Now i have loc-line Y and it seems struggles to push water out into tank i dont know maybe it need time to break in..

 

Just curious, which one is better, between hydro flo and Y loc-line? and why ?

 

 

Thanks

Jake

[basser1]

I upgraded from a maxi 900 to the pico 1200 finally and it even came with a hydor flo at no extra charge in the box.

 

 

Was there a "special" deal somewhere??

[jojoe972]

Jake- I havent added the hydor it is still in the box. Kind of debating if i should because it catches detritus pretty good and dont want to have to clean it all the time. So I really can't tell you since I dont have either on my tank.

 

basser-I guess it was because It was in the same box as the pico evo.

[JakeF150]

Updated:

I installed yesterday afternoon... At night it drops 77.8 and recently check the temp it's 78.8.

 

I set heater on if go below 76..

 

I'm happy with it but return outlet with loc-line w/ Y seems loses some power g p h ...Today I'm getting 5/8" hose without eblow and see how it is..

 

I think I will order rio hf 6 soon to test it..the reason I want to test is ita 350 gph maybe will flow more better with loc-line "Y".

 

Jake

[jojoe972]

post a pix of your 5/8 hose convert. I did this to mine but doesnt seem to look right. It is on there but no as flush as I would like to the wall. Didnt use the elbow when installing the pico so couldnt compare the two.

[JakeF150]

i got 5/8" hose clear and set it up.

 

i honestly dont know if it gain a LITTLE flow GPH but i do see VERY little water tank raise level..VERY TINY LOL!

 

Didnt use elbow.

 

I used zip tie to tightened it. its 7/8" OD and 5/8" ID its pretty thick..no bubbles so far.

 

I ll give it a week to test it.

 

I will test RIO 6 HF next week.. then will make a decision.

 

Its now 80* as of 435pm.

 

Jake

[mgterry]

As far as the will it/will it not work with the hydor flo question- biocube8 comes stock with a 106gph pump. I bought the hydor pico 600 (160gph) to replace it. My hydor flo worked fine with the stock pump but wouldn't turn with the new pico pump. Had the pico set wide open. It would seem that the hydor looses considerable power just having to pump the water up those few inches in a small biocube. A lot of people run their BC8 with the 160gph maxi jet and a hydor flo. Conclusion: a 160gph hydor pico does not equal a 160gph maxijet (or apparently a 106gph stock pump). Sorry that I wasted my money and my time.

[vegas chad]

Well after giving this a read I decided to ditch the Maxi and a pico 1200, should be here in a few days. 5/8" is the ID needed when you take off the 90, right?

 

LoL, this here thread is a little older than I thought!

[jojoe972]

yea it is 5/8th. I actually used a 1/2 and put heat to it and wedged it on the pico and display outake b/c the 5/8 tubing was a little thick. 5/8th will work fine though. Let me know what you think.

[td2copter]

Just thought I would chime in on this topic with my recent experience. I had a BC 14 with a MJ 900 for about 2 years and all was good. I came across the little Hydor Pico 1200 and was impressed with the size and 300 gph flow (as described). The price was great so I thought I would give a try. It seemed to work ok but it was definitely not an increase in flow over the MJ 900. I played with them both for a couple of weeks and then upgraded to a BC 29 last week. I tried out the Pico 1200 on the 29 with a loc-line Y and WOW it could barely push the water out the loc-line, huge reduction in flow compared to the stock 29 pump and I think that is even rated at 245 or something. Needless to say I won't be using the pico 1200 as my main return pump for the 29. Someone else in this thread said it and I agree. It really comes down to the head pressure, the little pico just cant push water vertically and maintain anything close to the 300 gph. As a side note, in the instructions for the pico it even says that it is not designed to be used as a return pump. It does a great job of moving water as a power head but not as a primary return pump for the all in one style tank. Just to be clear, I am in no way trying to bash Hydor. I love the other products that I have from them, I'm just trying to help a brotha out if they're debating on a pump upgrade. Hope this helps.

[nickijon]

A little food for thought for those adopting the new Pico evo.mag pumps (180gph or 300gph versions)..the rotating flo deflector effectively doubles the length of the pump. I didn't imagine that the flo would be so large when I made the purchase. If anyone is interested in pictures of the flo attached, I have a couple I could put up.

[wtdREEF]

Good info. .