Hydor Centrifical Pump 260 All-Purpose Pump for Aquariums and Terrariums 260 GPH - Original Pico Evolution 1000

Wow.I bought this pump to replace the junky noisy "Aqueon" pump that came with my recently-purchased Aqueon EVOLVE 2gal aquarium kit. I've used a lot of pumps, and my HYDOR pumps (various submersible pumps, two buried water / bubble diffusers, etc...) have always been silent and reliable.NOISE COMPARISON: my OLD Aqueon Pump (came with the aquarium kit) was rattly and noisy, the power cord vibrated against the acrylic sides of the sump area, the impeller itself made a constant racket that could be heard from the next room. I gave the Aqueon pump over three weeks of cycling, hoping the impeller would "break in." I evacuated all air by tilting the pump to allow bubbles trapped by the housing to escape. I actually sucked air out of the outflow, then injected water back in to force out any air bubbles that could be causing the noise. Nope, still noisy and rattly. the HYDOR makes nothing but a small hum, only audible within a couple of feet. even in a silent room i can't tell it's on. I just plugged it in - no noise whatsoever.--SIZE: very small, about half the size of the Aqueon pump.--POWER: VERY ADJUSTABLE. full blast is a fountain (shoots water almost a foot into the air). At minimum power (most important to me in the small 2gal) you can slow the water to a TRICKLE. very awesome.--CONS: this pump comes with a large suction cup-mounted "holster" that it clicks into like one of those cell-phone belt holsters. UGH. the wide plate is well 4x as big as the pump and kinda defeats the purpose of having such a compact unit. I ended up ditching the provided hardware, then wrapping the pump with a small terry towel to wedge it into the filter chamber on my aquarium.--SUMMARY: an excellent QUIET pump, particularly well-suited for SMALL aquariums due to extreme low-flow ability and compact dimensions..

I HAD THIS PUMP FOR ALMOST EXACTLY ONE MONTH AND IT STOPPED WORKING, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS PUMP.

I've only owned this for a few hours so far, but I bought it to replace an original Oceanic Biocube 14 gallon 137GPH pump. Even after a few hours the water is noticeably clearer from the increase in the filtration rate. 0 noise so far and the flow is perfect for this application when left wide open, but the adjustable flow is nice. Pump isn't warm to the touch. Great product at a great price so far.

This is a great pump for low flow applications. I currently own two of these. One is in my 12gal long (3 foot tank) to help disperse CO2 to the far side of the aquarium without producing excessive current. It does it's job very well. I have it hidden behind a stone and you wouldn't even know it was there unless you were looking for it.The other one I used in a DIY canister filter for a 2,2gal shrimp tank. It has just enough power to effectively filter the water without blowing my shrimp all over the place on the return flow.I've seen some reviews that sat they pump is loud or has a rattle. The pump actually runs virtually silently, but on occasion I do hear a rattle. I believe this happens when a small piece of debris gets sucked into the pump and catches on the impeller. When this happens, I simply unplug the pump and plug it back in again. That seems to be all that's needed to dislodge the debris and return the pump to silent running. Even so, when this does happen, you can't hear the rattle unless you're standing directly in front of the tank where the pump is positioned.I gave this pump 4 stars rather than 5 for one reason. The point of this pump is it's small size so it can be used unobtrusively in smaller aquariums, and the pump itself is quite small measuring 4.25x2.75x5cm (roughly). But, in order to mount it to your aquarium glass, you have to attach it to the included mounting bracket that has 4 suction cups attached to it. With this bracket attached, the overall footprint of the unit becomes 7x10x7cm (roughly). That's a huge difference and, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of the produce. I remedied this buy choosing not to use the bracket at all. Instead I took to of the suction cups and Krazy glued them directly to the unit (yes krazy glue is aquarium safe once dried).In summery, this is a great little pump, but the dimensions listed are misleading. Hydor has produced a wonderful pump for small tanks if you can use it without the mounting bracket.

I compared the Hydor pico 300 to an Eco 264 rated at 290 gallons per hour and a Maxijet 600 rated at 160 gallons per hour.The Hydor is the smallest and quietest, but it is also no where near the rated 300 gallons of flow. If you just put all 3 pumps in the water and observe the current it's pretty obvious that the Eco 264 moves way more water than the other 2. I also have a couple of the Hydor rotating water deflectors that the rotation speed is directly related to the water moving through them. When I connected all the flow deflectors directly to the output of the pumps the Eco is rotating way faster than the Hydor and Maxijet. The Hydor comes in a distant second just barely moving more water, and spinning the flow deflector faster than the Maxijet rated at 160 gallons per hour.I estimate with 0 head pressure the Hydor 300 is a lot closer to 200 gallons per hour circulation. That flow drops off dramatically with any kind of head pressure. I gave it 3 stars because it is very small and very quiet, so I'm going to use it mix my salt water. If you're looking for a power head just for flow, this may be a good choice. This pump would be my dead last choice for a pump that had to lift water any height at all or through a lot of pipe or tubing.

It's probably too weak and noisy for a powerhead. But's cheap and works well to mix saltwater in a 5gal bucket.

Great for biocube

pequeña y potente una gran compra me encanto el diseño Hydor nunca decepciona con su capacidad / precio la recomiendo

didn't work

Como siempre esta marca cumple todas mis necesidades

First one took almost 6 weeks to arrive and when it finally got here it did not work. The replacement only took a little over a week to arrive but it is very weak, just as others have stated. It is even weaker than the 90 gph pump that it was meant to replace. Will keep it to mix my salts but not a good product!