When I was building my first top-up system/doser for my nano-reef, I
spent some time looking for the smallest high-pressure pump I could
find. Eventually, after looking at nearly every brand on the market –
and some that just got here – I bought a handful of AquaGlobes. They
are tiny – barely 3 cubic inches. They use squirrel cage impellers
that are very durable and silent. Like really silent.

Tom, the president of AquaGlobe, is a kick butt guy. I bought the
little AquaGlobe pumps as soon as they hit the market last year and I
promptly broke one of them. I was pressure testing it – a 300 gph
model – and after it ran at 6 feet of head through 3/4" tubing for a
week it promptly died of a broken impeller. I suppose I would have
been more put off if the pump were bigger than 1" x 2" x 2"!

So I sent an email to AquaGlobe informing them of the fete and Tom
called me and we spoke for quite a while. He sent a replacement
impeller plus a couple other little bits to play with and had me up
and running in a couple of days. None of the pumps have broken down
since.

I am currently using them in my tanks both as top-up/dosing and as
turbulence makers in the tank. I am not sure they will fare well long
term, but they are hooked up to my home-built x86 processor wave-maker
and have been for 6 months without difficulty. Before these I had
always used AquaClear pumps (I like the 4000 series) for wavemakers
because they can handle the on/off duty – but these little champs are
pretty good.

As a Kalkwasser dose, they are fantastic. The case seems to be
impervious to everything. They have a really cool slot that also
stirs things up if desired. Very nice. If anyone is interested, I am
selling my 4th doser setup on ebay for $25 #2332940694 (cheaper than
the parts!) if anyone wants one cheap.

The pumps only use a few volts – so there is almost zero chance of
damaging the tank due to a leak or otherwise; but the power wall-wart
is a pain. It connects with a slip on RCA male pin, and it slips out
if you snag the cord or drop the wart. This feature does allow the
AquaGlobes to be snaked through very small openings but it also makes
finding room on the UPS for another wall-wart something to keep in
mind.

Overall, after a year of use, I am very pleased with them. I
currently have 16 on three systems and only one failure. That's
pretty good.

YMMV!
-Jesse

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