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Offline lazylivin

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Ice Cap 3k!
« on: February 10, 2017, 00:42:12 »
The HOT NEW IceCap 3k Gyre Pumps are in stock!
You can pick up this pump and controller combo for only $150. Here are the details:

Compatible with aquariums up to 1/2"

Max Flow 3000 GPH

Recommended for aquariums up to 100+ gallons
Magnetic Mount
5 different flow modes
Alternate flow modes
Customizable flow cycles
24 hour program cycle
Linear flow
Controller with mounting cradle
1 year warranty

Offline jeblin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2017, 10:37:11 »
Do you know the minimum flow this can generate? We know max at 40 watts but wondering what it is at 8 watts too. Any reviews on it that you know about?

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2017, 12:10:40 »
I think it just came out this week or a very short time ago so not sure if there are any reviews out there yet. I checked for minimum flow and it looks like they don't publish it. I have one setup though you can play with.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2017, 21:58:47 »
If you missed out on these last saturday I got 6 more in stock for this saturday.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2017, 21:28:41 »
 Well I have been running these since February. Haven't even taken them out to be cleaned yet. They're doing really well; quiet, lots of settings, great flow. Going to make this a regularly stocked items.  I have a dozen on the shelf now and a few in action for you to see and test/play with.  At only one $149.99 it is a fantastic value.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2017, 22:13:22 »
I havent keep up with these new types of pumps.  Are these the same thing as the maxspect pumps?  Same type of pump, different manufacturer?  I seem to remember hearing how the maxspect would break impellers at times from little snails getting in them.
thanks
Jeff

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2017, 09:32:33 »
The OG Maxspect Gyre 150FM was pretty bad. The propellers were super thin. Small snails or even a piece of coraliine could enter the cage and the fins would blow apart. To top it off replacement propellers were expensive. They finally did come out with rugged impellers but it took them two years. There were many more issues. The cage itself was two small, it got clogged really easy. If you took it apart to clean it, good luck getting it back together working properly. The controller itself lacked features. It had only a few modes and they were all similar. It wouldn't stay in its carriage. Always would find it on the floor. There were a few other issues but it is beating a dead horse at this point.

The 3k is made by ice cap. The propellers are super thick. Thicker then your average propeller pump. The cage is wide so it doesn't need cleaning very often. The controller has a nice look to it, digital display and ton of features. I like that it can slow down so slow that it can be tweaked for a 10g tank but has enough flow for my 8 foot SPS tank. It is rated at 3,000gph but seems to have almost double what my Maxspect did which was rated much higher. I am guessing the cage and internal tolernaces causing it to slow when it got a little dirty had something to do with that.  ice cap pays royalties to Maxspect because it is a good respectful company. Like their two decade history in the ballast industry I see them being very successful with these pumps for quite some time.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2017, 09:42:21 »
Great write up. I'm considering a new wave maker for 1 side of my 75. I'm glad you have one in use at the shop. I'm looking forward to seeing it in action. And it's about the same price as my Ecodrift on the other side that I really like.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2017, 12:24:30 »
Thanks for clarifying the difference in the pumps. The only thing negative I could find on ice cap pumps was some experiencing some noise issues, other then that most seemed happy with them.
Jeff.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2017, 19:31:02 »
I see quiet a few negative reviews on BRS. That can be suspect sometimes though...

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2017, 20:41:19 »
Yea sometimes I have to take negative reviews with a grain of salt.  people usually dont write good reviews just bad ones so they can Bitc_ about it.  would be interesting on hearing from some locals who are using this pump.  Other then the larger footprint in the tank vs the mp40 they sound really good.  I have 4 mp40 in my tank now and it is hard to place them where they are not blasting a coral or two.
Jeff

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2017, 01:16:05 »
I think its because when they are new they make a bit of noise. Mine did which went away after a few days. Kind of like putting new brakes on a car.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2017, 19:19:19 »
Resurrecting this thread after my pump failure today. In a 4’ tank, is the flow on the opposite side of the pump going to be as good as the pump side? Is the flow going to be too much for SPS that are high in the tank next to the pump? I am strongly considering this wavemaker...

Offline JMM

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2017, 23:42:44 »
I am running this pump in my 70 mixed reef. It made noise for a bit but is very quiet now. If I am right at the tank I can hear a light whine. The pump has great flow the whole length of the tank. No problems at all and I have yet to clean it. It’s covered in coraline deposits.  Runs at 30% as 40 is too much for my brain corals on the bottom.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2017, 00:52:20 »
Resurrecting this thread after my pump failure today. In a 4’ tank, is the flow on the opposite side of the pump going to be as good as the pump side? Is the flow going to be too much for SPS that are high in the tank next to the pump? I am strongly considering this wavemaker...

Stop by Saturday and check out the pump. I have 3 of them running and you can play with the settings and flow.

I am running this pump in my 70 mixed reef. It made noise for a bit but is very quiet now. If I am right at the tank I can hear a light whine. The pump has great flow the whole length of the tank. No problems at all and I have yet to clean it. It’s covered in coraline deposits.  Runs at 30% as 40 is too much for my brain corals on the bottom.

Hi Jimm, glad you like the pump. Havent talk to you in a while give me a call or text sometime soon

Offline JMM

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #15 on: October 31, 2017, 01:03:40 »
Will do.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2017, 17:43:13 »
Thanks guys. I guess you get what you pay for. I checked out your Gyre the last time I was there Brian. I like it, but your Frag tank is a much different shape than my standard 75g. I was concerned about blowing the skin off of Corals that are up high and then the flow at the bottom of the tank. Some YouTube videos show it performing quite well. I’m not really concerned about noise too much as long as it’s dependable.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #17 on: October 31, 2017, 20:14:52 »
The cages turn up and down so you can choose where to direct the current. If you point it directly at a coral that is close to the pump it will rip the tissue off. Less so then other pumps with the flow coming from a broader area

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2017, 08:51:31 »
I picked up one of these pumps the other day at Lazy's Coral House and I installed it into my tank last night.  My initial impression of the pump is it seems well built and packaged.  The magnet is crazy strong and it doesnt look as bad inside the tank as I feared.  The flow is really quite impressive.  I removed 2 vortec mp40s and installed this.  I have to say the noise from this pump is dead quiet compared to my mp40s.  I think what impressed me the most was the undertow current this pump creates.  I have frags that are on the bottom of my 180 gallon tank that are probably line of sight 2 or 3 feet from the pump and they were getting rocked back and forth from the undertow current.  A couple of negatives is the learning curve for the programming of the control head and I would like to have seen the power supply cord to the pump head longer to enable locating the control head further from the pump.  I had to watch the you tube video several times to catch onto the programming but once I figured it out it wasnt all that difficult. Overall I am quite pleased with it. 
Jeff

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2017, 10:52:09 »
Great review Jeff thanks for sharing

Offline Trini 2D Bone

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #20 on: November 08, 2017, 12:54:02 »
Nice review Just in time. One of my powerhead went out last night, I think i will have to pick one up.

Offline megerlej

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #21 on: November 08, 2017, 20:59:08 »
I've had mine for over a month now and I have to say at first it was pretty quiet but after a little while it got pretty noisy. I can here it in another room. Any ideas why mine might be so noisy?

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #22 on: November 08, 2017, 21:37:48 »
Ditto megerlej. So far I’m not happy with the noise. Only had it a week now. Hopefully it quiets down.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #23 on: November 08, 2017, 22:50:10 »
 I’m not sure why some have experienced noise. Jesse where did you get yours from? Maybe a first edition? Is it the ice cap 3k or maxspect gyre.

I have 3 going And the only time I hear any noise is about the first five minutes after cleaning or installing new. I thought it may be air bubbles inside. If your hearing noise  there maybe something wrong with it. You may want to take it back or take it apart and have a look at it. Your welcome to bring it over here and I can take a look at it. Just need to bring the pump itself I have controllers.

Its also possible that in my basement where there is significant background noise from the fans of 14 LEDs fixtures, dehumidifier, protein skimmer, external pump, floor fan and a whole lot more running the noise is probably much less noticeable than that of a quiet home.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #24 on: November 09, 2017, 00:01:59 »
after a couple of days of use mine has a small squeal when it is at 100%.  Not sure yet if it will break in and go back to being quite or will get worst.  It has only been running for 3 days now.
  I thought I would add a few more things to the review of the ice cap programing and options.  The pump is capable of 5 different water flow modes.  constant mode, pulsating mode, gradual pulsating mode, random mode and alternating gyre mode.  Within all the modes you can adjust the percent of water output flow from 10% to 100%  which means you can turn it down to use in a small tank or crank it up for a large system.  With the pulsating mode you can control the output percentage along with the dwell time the pumps stays at each cycle within the ramp up and down of the pulsation. With the random mode you can just set how high the pump will go when at the full output pattern of the random mode.  While operating in what is call manual mode you are basically just running the pump at whatever speed you chose on a continuous output.  The automatic mode allows all the above mentioned settings.  Another neat feature is you can set it up for different flow rates or even modes for different times of the day.  Also when pressing the power button it will go into a 10 minute feed mode where the pump shuts down completely for you to feed your fish.
  I am happy with it so far and the light squeal is only noticeable while at full speed during the random cycle that I am using.
Jeff

Offline Caleb

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #25 on: November 09, 2017, 08:03:46 »
I have been experiencing the same squealing noise since after about a month of having mine. It goes away after cleaning it and applying a small amount of vaseline to the "props" but comes right back after a day or two. My max is only set to 30% and can still hear it from across the room. The controller also malfunctions once and a while and shows the display upside down. ( I should probably reach out to them before my warranty expires) I love the flow it produces though.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #26 on: November 09, 2017, 09:43:41 »
I didn't watch this video yet, hopefully there is something in there that can help. Caleb I wonder if the bushings need replaced. It shouldn't at 1 month in but you may want to try that if you haven't already. The pump should have came with an extra set.

https://blog.coralvue.com/icecap-3k-maintenance-troubleshooting/

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #27 on: November 09, 2017, 09:49:50 »
Brian, I had to order mine thru BRS as my pumps went out last Monday. I didn’t have any backups. It is the Icecap 3K. My system is extremely quiet so that would be why I hear it more. Plus I’ve got it at 70% pulse. It is quite loud for anything over 30%. I’ll check for air bubbles tonight. I know the temp flow pump I’m using at the other ends will sometimes suck air.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #28 on: November 09, 2017, 11:47:42 »
 I don’t think it’s the air bubbles, usually those work themselves out just after a few minutes. Maybe it really is the quiet house thing.  I will have to shut things down and see what kind of sound I get out of them. You’re still welcome to bring it over and we can plug it in and compared to the ones that I have to make sure there’s no problem. I also keep spare bushings if anybody needs any; not sure if that affects anything

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #29 on: November 09, 2017, 12:15:44 »
How many of you are running positive and negative pump directions?   I have the original maxspect gyre that was ordered the week that they released, it has been running continuously since then.   But I only run them in pulse mode in the positive direction.

Positive to negative pulses are really hard on the pumps.


Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #30 on: November 09, 2017, 15:07:30 »
I use positive pulse. Only have 1. Side glass 4ft tank. Using a temporary 400 gph powerhead on the opposite side to get some current on that end.

Offline Caleb

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #31 on: November 09, 2017, 15:28:24 »
Thanks Brian,
I'll give that a try and swap them out, I bought it from you late February so they may need it.

I also only run mine in the positive pulse

Offline megerlej

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #32 on: November 09, 2017, 19:30:33 »
I run mine on random up to 70 and no reverse. I have noticed if its whining I can turn it up to constant 100 for a short period and the whining goes away for a little while.

Offline Heinbaughb

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #33 on: November 10, 2017, 16:33:44 »
My 3k isn’t completely silent either but it’s a trade off I’m okay with for the price/performance it provides.


120 gallon mixed reef.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #34 on: November 10, 2017, 18:45:33 »
I’m with you Heinbaugh. I do love the flow pattern on it. I’m just thinking for an extra $40 I can get a Neptune 4,000 gph pump that has complete interface with Fusion. It’s hard to make a decision on keeping the Gyre with the noise...

Offline Heinbaughb

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #35 on: November 19, 2017, 14:09:19 »
I decided to take my Ice Cap 3k apart this morning to clean it. It ended up still being very clean, just the mesh covers were collecting dirt. I put it all back together nice and tight and left the covers off. To my surprise, it is now perfectly quiet. I have a hunch the noise I was hearing since the start may have been the various pieces not pushed all the way together, or maybe the covers were causing it. I don't know, but now it's silent.

Offline Agame43

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #36 on: November 19, 2017, 15:28:06 »


  heinbaughb, good catch with your Ice Cap, I was talking with Reeferntraining and he had mentioned having the same issues. I had very similar noise with my Gyre and found about the same thing, the cages and bushings not being pushed together firmly - noise was gone. Good work.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #37 on: November 19, 2017, 17:59:51 »
That does explain why some experience noise and others don’t. Sounds like it is a funky assembly

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #38 on: December 09, 2017, 11:59:51 »
I think alot of noise issues are coming from air inside the pump impellers.  I have one of them that will get noisy and if I look into the turning impeller I can see air working back and forth.  I put the pump in feed mode which stops the pump from turning and all the air escapes out and the pump will then run quite again.  It must be picking up bubbles from the water column.  The pump on the left side of my tank next to my overflow gets trapped air in it daily and has to be released several times a day.  It isnt drawing air from the surface.  The other pump on the other side of the tank doesnt experience this issue at all. If yours is noisy ck for trapped air.
Jeff

Offline Heinbaughb

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #39 on: December 14, 2017, 21:10:17 »
When my gyre gets noisy, I can pause it like you’re saying and I see a lot of air bubbles release. It becomes quiet again but the air returns in a couple hours. I’ve tried moving the gyre lower on the side glass but that doesn’t seem to help. Have you figure out a way to keep the air out of the pump? I usually run it on constant 50%.


120 gallon mixed reef.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #40 on: December 14, 2017, 21:22:18 »
When my gyre gets noisy, I can pause it like you’re saying and I see a lot of air bubbles release. It becomes quiet again but the air returns in a couple hours. I’ve tried moving the gyre lower on the side glass but that doesn’t seem to help. Have you figure out a way to keep the air out of the pump? I usually run it on constant 50%.


120 gallon mixed reef.
No I have not figured out a fix for the air.  I think there must be micro bubbles in the water and the pump is picking them up and collecting them inside the impeller wheel.
jeff

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Ice Cap 3k!
« Reply #41 on: December 26, 2017, 22:03:20 »
My pumps have been getting more and more air in them and making alot of noise.  I found a review thread on r2r and posted about the air problem.  The original poster said to clean them and it would fix the issue.  I thought that there was no way this would help.  today I pulled them out and cleaned them.  They just had a heavy slime coating on them and that was all.  Took a tooth brush to them and scrubbed them and believe it or not they are now not collecting air and are quite again.  If yours are getting louder give them a good scrubbing.
Jeff

 

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