Marineland MaxiJet Pro MJ600 Multiuse water pumps

[DaleWebb]

Bought 2 Marineland MaxiJet Pro MJ600 Multiuse water pumps to use as powerheads for my undergravel filter lift tubes. They are replacing Aqueon powerheads.
Have the bubbler hoses attached. One of the pumps bubbles like mad the other one just spits out an occasional small spread of small bubbles. The ONLY differece between the installation of the power heads is the one that does bubble is a quarter to half inch deeper (the lift tube is shorter by ~1/2 inch).
Anything I can do?

 

[Archerfish]

Examine the air control valve. That is assuming the pump is actually running properly. The air control valve might be defective that is the air inlet area might have plastic debris from the manufacturing process blocking it. Might be a simple fix with a pin. Another possibility is the hose could have a tiny hole in it and you are drawing in water through the line. A quick way to check it all out is to swap the air control valves and tubes to the other pump and see if the results are the same.

 

[fabriono90]

Do you really want to entrust your components to something with no documented record of reliability? Crappy cheap pumps are like crappy cheap PSUs. Some corners aren't worth cutting.

 

[GaryE]

Do you really want to entrust your components to something with no documented record of reliability? Crappy cheap pumps are like crappy cheap PSUs. Some corners aren't worth cutting.

I got many years of reliable use out of maxi-jets - they were my go to for many years. They've been around for a long time, and have a good rep for what they do.
Most of the ones I bought ran 15 or so years before they wore out.