Review on 🐠 Enhanced Aquarium Flow Control: Reef Octopus Varios-6 Controllable DC Circulation Pump by Rachel Smith

I've been doing this hobby for 29 years. All this time I had a T4 Velocity (external) until April 2017 when I finished updating my filtering. The 145W Velocity worked well but transferred a lot of heat, necessitating a cooler. The cooler also turned on in winter. Winter in California to be honest. The VarioS-6 makes a lot of water for my 75 liter reef. For me it passes the manifold before it hits the display. It controls my cooler and carbon/GFO reactor as well as the display. According to my apex gauge, after the elbow, 4ft head and a few 45/90 seconds, my power is 450gph at the highest variable speed. I use two Gyre XF-230s for the flow as it is a mixed reef. I'm not sure how accurate the gph meter is, but I don't see any difference in performance between the varioS and my old Velocity, which was rated a bit lower. The reduction in heat transfer yielded enough savings (because the chiller is rarely run) that the pump paid for itself in the first year. This does not count towards the savings from reduced performance. I love this pump so much I'm buying another one so I have a spare and make maintenance easier. I just unscrew the fitting and put in a clean pump every 6 months and clean/store the dirty one. My Velocity pump lasted 28 years with minimal maintenance and at $400 it was a great price, built like a tank. Not sure how this plastic case will hold up and I expect more maintenance due to the build material compared to my titanium block. But the pros far outweigh any cons. included Long cable for remote positioning of the controller Cons: Mounting hardware may not last 28 years