Innovative Marine Mighty Jet DC Return Pump (Desktop: 326 GPH)

The stock return pump on my Innovative Marine Fusion 20 was fairly noisy. It didn't help that the tank was in my home office about 10 feet from me. I bought this pump based on the excellent reviews at Amazon and other online aquarium stores. It was a little pricey but being that it was a guaranteed fit in my tank as well as being touted as a very quiet pump I went ahead and bought it. As usual it came right on time from Amazon. Out of the box, the pump felt solid and seem to be well made. Had all the fittings required to work with various applications. I swapped out the stock pump with the Mighty Jet and hooked it all up. The controller is works very well. Being able to control the amount of flow is great and being able to put the pump into feed mode is a nice feature for those without a sophisticated tank controller like an Apex. It was immediately clear that the pump can move a lot of water and produced a good amount of flow throughout the tank even without a wave maker. First impression on noise was that the pump was quieter than the stock IM 20 return pump. I noticed a little of rattling noise as I increased the flow using the controller. I left it running at 14 hoping that once it breaks in the slight rattling noise would go away. My office is a very quiet room and I can definitely hear the noise, even though it was much quieter than the stock pump it still kind of bothered me. After a few days, I decided to pull the pump out of the tank to inspect it. I removed the water inlet shroud and pulled the cover off to inspect the ceramic spindle and impeller. Seemed fine and reinserted the impeller and spindle back in making sure to seat everything well. I put the cover back on and made sure everything was nice and tight. I made sure the return tubes were inserted into the fitting properly and then put the pump back into the tanks return chamber. Turned everything back on and noticed that the slight rattling noise was nearly gone. Wow, what a difference. This morning while doing work in the office, I can tell you that the pump is extremely quiet. I can hear it only because it's less than 10 feet away but there is no more rattling noise coming from it. I would not say it is dead silent because that is relative to what ambient noise is around you but in my situation it is super quiet and I have it turned to it's highest flow setting. I highly recommend this pump to anyone with a IM Fusion tank or want a pump that is truly quiet. It is worth the money.

So far I've purchased 2 of these and one of the smaller version. I'd say they're probably the best pump for the money out there right now. They aren't the best you can get in general, but definitely better than anything else I've had in this price range if you care about noise levels. They are definitely not silent, but they are quiet and the sound they make is much less annoying to me than AC pumps and better than other budget DC pumps I've had. You can very much hear the wooshing sound and spinning of the water/impeller at higher speeds, but little to no motor hum noise, which is nice. I also didn't notice any electrical power whine noises (which I have heard in some of the other budget brand DC pumps). Overall, I don't think you're going to get any better noise profile without spending twice as much, and so far seems to be a solid performer flow wise. If you don't need tons of flow, they are close to truly silent when set to the lowest speed setting. Any setting above the lowest speed setting and you will hear it if there is no other sound in the tank or room. Once they are broken in, though, they do get quite quiet and you may not hear them even at medium-high speed if you have other noises in the tank/room - it will depend on how sensitive your ears are and what other background noises you have. They definitely aren't going to bother you if you do have other noise in the room, but if you're trying to get truly silent in a very quiet room, you'll have to keep them on the lowest speed settings. Also, keep in mind, the noise the do make does not travel or carry as far as the typical motor hum from AC pumps, so you're even less likely to hear them in the next room over. As far as horsepower - I am running these as return lift pumps from my sump to display tank at about a 3.5 foot lift and they are doing just fine. I run 2 of these to return from sump to my 40gal main tank and get as much flow as I need at only speed 2 (speed 1 is slowest, speed 9 is fastest). So with that low speed setting, I mostly never hear them. I know IM says they aren't designed to be used as lift pumps with head pressure, but they seem to do just fine. I can't speak to longevity - have only had them in use less than 2 months - but so far they seem to be a great way to get into DC pumps without spending the heavy price tag, but also having better quality than the off-brands -- I've had some of the cheap "lesser" brand DC pumps you can get from Amazon - I won't buy those again unless just to mix salt or do water change, etc. Innovative Marine seems like definitely better quality. I'm happy with these as the return pumps for my 40g. I run dual return pumps for protection and getting 2 of these make it a lot easier to fit the small space and budget. Horsepower wise, I could see running 2 of these as return pumps on even a much larger tank - at full speed 2 of these would be enough as returns I'd think for even a 100g. Keep in mind, you don't need a ton of flow for the returns - you want most of your water movement in the main tank to come from other circulation pumps that are directly in the main display tank. However, I don't think I'd want to be running these at full speed - a bit noisy for my tastes. Again, still quieter than most other pumps I've had, but I like things as close to silent as possible, so would probably be saving up for the Varios if my tank grows to larger than 60gal or 75gal. 2 of these for sump returns and then Innovative Marine Aqua Gadget Wavelinks in the display tank for water movement is working out well for me. Great way to step up to DC, get quiet, and not be junky stuff - but also not break the budget. Obviously these are not as good as having Varios and Vortech, but still solid quality and for much less money that the 2 "V"s. :)

What I expected, been looking for so long to get it to Australia for my Nuvo 40. It’s small and packs a punch and very quiet.