Sicce Voyager 4 Review,Pics, Thoughts

[ShooterRick]

I installed 2 Sicce Voyager 4 wave pumps in my 72 bowfront tonight. These are my initial thoughts on the product and I will add any meaningfull info to this post in the future. Pics were taken from various online sources.

My first impression out of the box was that these are bigger than the Hydor K3s, the magnet mounts are very strong, and these things are ugly. I wasn't concerned about ugly as my background in the tank is black and they will most likely blend in since I planned on placing them on the back wall and bouncing the flow off the bowfront at an angle. They are bigger than the K3s.


The magnet mounts are very strong but the adjustments are more difficult than the Hydors. You must adjust 2 planes of axis independently of each other and make sure a lock nut is tight or they will move when on.


One very nice feature is the flow pattern is adjustable by a rotating disk on the front of the unit.


Take down of the pump is simple. No problems there.


Quite? Man are they ever. I have to look at the turbulance to know which one is working since they are being ran apposing each other on my RKL wave timer set up on a random pattern. No start up noise at all for now. The secret I believe is in the impellar design. It is a straight tapered blade, allowing the pump to push water regardless of the direction of rotation. No bumpers! This seems to be a very smart design.


The Voyager 4 is rated at 1600 Gph flow and draws a wopping 14 watts at 0.24 amps. The K3s I believe are 10 watts but I am not sure. The K3s are rated at 850 Gph or just over 1/2 the flow rating of the Voyager 4s. The manufacturer claims they are suitable for tanks up to 106 gal. After the Voyager 4s you have to go up to their high output pumps for bigger tanks.

Conclusions thus far. Good price point, smart impeller design, adjustable flow, adequate but cumbersome angle adjustments, strong magnetic mounts, ugly and bigger than Hydor K3s.

 

[ShooterRick]

Flow rate vs Intensity

Something I noticed this morning and can be easily misunderstood or overlooked. It has to do with flow volume versus intensity of the flow. These pumps move alot of water but it is done without a great deal of intensity or force so to speak. I noticed some sand shifting since I installed these last night, and began to think about it in some detail because the intensity of the flow off these pumps is gentle compared to my Hydor K3s.

Think about it this way. You can shove about 20 gal a minute of liquid max through a 1/2 inch pipe if I remember my basic home plumbing repair years ago correctly. If you do this the liquid will expell from the 1/2 inch pipe with considerable force like holding your thumb over the end of a garden hose. It is called the venturi effect. Now if you have a 3 inch pipe you can move much more liquid through it realative to the size of the pipe but with a much more gentle flow out the end. Pretty basic stuff really but often overlooked, wheather it is home plumbing repair or builds and most likely in our hobby.

I believe this is what is going on with the Sicce Voyagers I installed. The turbulence coming off the pumps is gentle and can be decieving. They are moving much more water at 1600 gph compared to 850 gph of the K3s but in a more gentle manner. Adjustments of flows and angles will be made. I am glad the Sicce pumps have adjustable flow control.

 

[mr_X]

The koralias have been reworked. The koralia 3 (non controllable) is now a 1050gph pump that uses 5 watts. Their 1400gph pump uses 6 watts. The sicce pump is 85 dollars, where the koralia (1400gph) is only 60. The new koralias are also smaller than the old ones.

 

[ShooterRick]

The koralias have been reworked. The koralia 3 (non controllable) is now a 1050gph pump that uses 5 watts. Their 1400gph pump uses 6 watts. The sicce pump is 85 dollars, where the koralia (1400gph) is only 60. The new koralias are also smaller than the old ones.

Thanks for the update. How quite are the koralia pumps now. Mine is very noisy at start up and not suitable for a timer. The sicce pumps work fine on a timer and no bumpers to raddle.

 

[mr_X]

I don't hear any rattle from the new pumps on start up, and hydor makes specific pumps for wavemakers now.