Tunze Turbelle Stream3 Pumps - Products That Last Series

This video is a long-term review of my Tunze Stream 3 Pump, and it's our first long-term review. We want to do more of these videos because with most product review it's oftentimes something where somebody opens a pump, or light or whatever. They turn it on, look at it for a week and then that's it. When I buy gear, I want it to last many, many, many years. Normal product reviews do not tell you which products will be long-lasting.

This video features a Tunze Stream 3 Pump that I purchased back in 2016 which makes it 9 years old now. And I'm going to go over kind of the things that made me want to buy this pump in the first place, and then how it's held up over those years to give you the real experience.

ThisTunze Stream 3 pump was released eight years ago, and I was so excited to get the new Tunze Stream 3 because I'm a fish geek. I like new gear. What made this so special to me is first off, Tunze has a long history of making some really, really cool water pumps. Tunze had made the first propeller water pump that used a propeller versus an impeller to create flow in the tank. They also produced the first controllable pumps that actually ramped up and down to create different wave patterns. They've had all kinds of different innovations over the years. And this is the third version of the Stream pump.

What makes this Stream 3 pump very unique is it is a magnetic levitation pump. All the engineers will think that's super cool. Basically, what that means is the spinning propeller in this pump levitates inside the pump itself. There's a little tiny contact point at the bottom. There's no real shaft, and then the propeller just floats. And what that does is it means there's very, very little rubbing. And because there's very little rubbing there's very little wear on the unit itself. And also it's extremely quiet because rubbing is often what generates noise. This Tunze 4,500 gallon-an-hour powerhead is quieter than the little tiny protein skimmer in that nano tank in our office. This is just a ridiculously quiet pump.

In addition to the beefed up electronics in the Stream 3, there's also a cooling intake on the bottom of the pump. In most propeller pumps the bottom is sealed so water is sucked in through the side intakes of the propeller. But there's no water getting in where the impeller is spinning. And that creates a place where heat can build up and that heat often causes damage. Here, water is actually sucked in through this intake at the bottom to keep the whole operation cool, which helps preserve the life of the pump. In addition, the controller automatically runs the pump in reverse periodically, I believe it's every 6 hours. What that does is if there's a piece of seaweed or some debris that made its way into the pump, the pump will automatically reverse flow for just a minute or two to flush all that debris out and then resume.

For life support equipment on my fish tank, I prefer buying something of high quality that lasts a long time. Now this pump is controllable and it does have a built-in controller here. This controller has been around for 8 years because this is the same controller that's been on this pump since I bought it and it's actually something that has been updated. The new controller preserves the features of this controller that I really like. What I really like about this controller is it is not Wi-Fi. Now that may sound unusual to you. You may say "I like Wi-Fi", but I just learned there's something so simple, convenient, and easy about having a controller I go over to and press buttons on.

The pulse mode allows the pump to speed up and slow down as it alternates back and forth in the tank. It does have a wave mode where you can dial in a rocking wave motion, and then it has a port on the top of the controller that allows you to connect this pump to a more complicated external controller. That could be a Neptune System Apex Controller, it could be a Coralvue Hydros Controller, and then you can program any complicated flow pattern you'd like into the controller itself. Or you can just run it in the basic mode. That port also lets you link multiple pumps together so that you can have them like pingpong and alternate back and forth when they create flow. There is a night sensor that Tunze makes you can connect to that port that allows the pump to run at a constant low speed at night and then automatically turn on based on the light that the sensor reads. You stick that up on top of your tank and when your lights turn on it runs in day mode and automatically switches to night. And I've come to really appreciate the simplicity of this controller.

I've had this Tunze pump for a very long time. With this pump I've done very little maintenance. I aim to clean them at least every 6 months, give them a rinse in Citric Acid or vinegar. But I have not been perfect at that. This pump has probably only been cleaned once a year in reality versus every 6 months. And 8 years in, it's performed very well. I have had one part I've needed to replace, which is this little bushing at the bottom. This is the one place where the impeller makes contact. Basically it sits down in here and spins, then the rest of it floats. And this part was less than $10, I think about $5 to replace. That is the only part this pump has gone through in eight years of use. That's really good because there are some pumps where I sell so many replacement parts it's just ridiculous. And that keeps me in business, but it doesn't make me very happy when it's in my home tank. So this guy really has not gone through a lot of parts in that time.

The reason this pump is here and what spurred on this video is I recently added some small fish to my tank. And in adding those small fish I was a little worried they'd get sucked into this pump. So I unplugged it and after about 3 days when I felt they were well acclimated, I plugged it back in and it didn't turn on. So I went ahead and contacted Tunze. They said "Send it in." I mailed it to Tunze and they said "We don't know why. We're very, very sorry. It looks like the motor on your pump has gone out. It has a 5-year warranty but you're 8 years in. It's not under warranty, it'll be $120 to replace." Now you may say "$120?" Well this was a $450 pump when I bought it. If another $120 gives me another eight years that is fantastic. I still don't have to just throw the pump away. I'm replacing only a part of it and that part previously lasted me 8 years. And they apologize because that was not as long as they wanted it to last. In my mind that is a real win given how little maintenance I've done, given how few parts I've replaced, and how long it lasts. I really cannot recommend these pumps highly enough when it comes to just longevity, durability and consistent performance. They do an exceptional job.

Some notes about this pump is this pump has a very weird form factor. If you've been looking at it, one thing we need to address is most pumps would be placed on either side of the aquarium and they face in. But this pump is designed to be placed against the back of the aquarium typically in the corners and either blow across the bare bottom or you would angle it up to blow across the side. That form factor can be hard if you have an existing aquarium because a lot of people pile all their rocks in and then they're looking for a pump. And it may just not be a good fit for you if that's how you have things. However, if you're starting a new tank what I found is that this is actually great.

With my home tank I basically just stack the rocks in front of this pump. The pump blows behind it and it creates a very good consistent water flow in that, the pump is completely covered and it's not a problem at all. So it does really help if you are setting this up on a new tank that you haven't scaped or placed your rocks in, and you're kind of building around it. But I do understand that it can be difficult for people who already have the rocks in place just to fit a pump like this in. This pump has three nozzles that come inside the box. The one I have on it is my favorite one and it's the one I've been using. It's basically designed to create a ribbon of water. Because this is placed in the back of my home aquarium that's where it's been sitting. It sends that ribbon of water across and then it loops back around. There is also an angle deflector that would put the flow forward. Usually, when people use that they'd orient this vertically and then have that flow directed over the rocks. And then there's another deflector that's a little bit more broad but still laminer if you don't want quite as narrow of a flow. You can use those to put those in place. And again generally with this pump it's going to be on the back glass behind the rock work.

There are two versions of that Stream 3 pump that we have here: a Stream 3 and a Stream 3 Plus. People ask what the difference is and it says so right on the packaging: stronger magnets. So literally the only difference is that this can fit thicker glass. You just have to look at the description of the pumps, find out how thick your aquarium glass is and determine if you need to buy the one with the stronger magnets for thicker glass or the weaker magnets will be perfectly fine for you. I've been using this in a 75-gallon tank and the base version without the strong magnets is perfectly fine for glass that thick. And that's really the only difference between them. It's not that this is any more advanced or any more powerful. It's just simply that it has stronger magnets included with it.

Hopefully you guys have enjoyed this video on this Tunze Stream 3 and appreciate this form of long-term review from people who have lived with an aquarium device for a very, very long time. I cannot recommend this pump highly enough if you want something that lasts many, many, many years and my experience bears that out. If you'd like more videos like this please like and subscribe on You Tube.

-Jaron Hudson [email protected]

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Tunze Turbelle Stream3 Pumps - Products That Last Series

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