AI Nero 3 Review - First Impressions, Head 2 Head with MP10 & What is the perfect size tank

[@davidleary9645]

Thank you - this is exactly the information I was looking for!

[@fishpalace]

Glad I could be of some help with this video 👍🏻

[@ReefCommunityWorldwide]

I got the Nero 3 over a year ago direct from Ecotech, had 2 Nero 5s for over 2 years. Amazing pumps.

[@fishpalace]

They certainly seem to pack a punch and love how small the unit and controller is. Did you beta test it before launch?

[@ReefCommunityWorldwide]

@@fishpalace I had a beta one yes

[@_Wake_Up_If_U_Can]

Kiddo purchased one a week ago from a highly regarded coral store in Portland OR. No fish in his tank yet. Just water, a rock, and his first coral. The Nero 3 already stopped working. We are trying to find walk throughs on how to possibly fix it. We drove almost 2 hours one way to the closest coral shop to acquire a light and wave maker controllable by an app. We even just went again yesterday to get more things not realizing the Nero 3 would stop working as soon as we got home lol.

[@fishpalace]

Oh no. In the UK we could take that back and get a brand new replacement but I don’t know what the faulty good laws are in US. I would contact the store and see what they say 😢

[@_Wake_Up_If_U_Can]

@@fishpalace Thanks for replying. Wifey got it to move again by forcing it to move a little. Somehow it got jammed with no debris in it. If what she described is accurate it is only a matter of time before it happens again. It probably has a manufacturing defect. Thanks again for replying!

[@fishpalace]

@@_Wake_Up_If_U_Can no no problem and thanks for watching. Just quickly googled and looks like consumer buying rights in Oregan are up to 30 days for faulty goods so I would keep a close eye on it

[@zachmcwatch9873]

You got a lemon built On a monday. I have 2 Nero 3’s on my 48gallon reef an they have IMO a near perfect footprint. They don’t have a cord free design like the MP line of ecotech pumps but they make up for that with the lack of the MP dry side

[@smartassb20]

thx for doing a great review.

[@fishpalace]

Thank you for your kind and great that you enjoyed it 🙌🏻👍🏻👏🏻👌🏻

[@andy2798100]

Great review, glad I found your channel. I’ve just picked up a Nero 3. The only thing no one mentions about the Nero 3 is if you put the fish guard on it you can’t angle it, it has to stay flat to keep the fish guard in place which is annoying as I would have like to aim it at the surface slightly but I can’t.

[@fishpalace]

Thanks for pointing that out, totally missed it, and for watching 👍🏻 fish guard aside what do you think of the Nero 3?

[@ReefCommunityWorldwide]

You can still tilt it just not as much

[@andy2798100]

@@fishpalace I’m quite happy with it, I have a 125 litre tank. It didn’t disturb the water surface enough so I’ve put it low down behind my aquascape pushing water along the back so I don’t get any dead spots. For main flow I use a maxspect jump gyre.

[@Vidishish]

I have a 5 and 3 dont run with safty covers never lost a fish but its bot impossible. Every time i turn it off for feeding my cleaner wrasse climbs into it to forage.

[@fishpalace]

@@Vidishish good to know. not had a gyre before but read good things about them and they certainly seem to move the water and agitate the surface

[@024DJF]

I’m thinking of using this in a 75g Freshwater tank. Only to eliminate some dead zones in the back.

[@fishpalace]

I have found it useful as a smaller pump to do that. I also use tunze powerheads for that purpose as they are smaller, less powerful and also cheaper but very reliable IMO.

[@smartassb20]

no go on my question okay thank you for the great review anyways

[@Ratziemannen]

Thanks for the nice review. How would you compare the noise levels of the Nero 3 and the MP10? I personally find the Vortech pumps a bit too noisy, even at lower flow settings, and it would be interesting to see if the Nero 3 could be a good alternative regarding that aspect.

[@fishpalace]

Thanks for watching. My Nero is now running on 65% pulse and is silent. I will ramp up to 100% in the dd 900 and mp10 in the RSR 170 with both on constant flow and see what noise they both produce. Will update tomorrow 👍🏻

[@fishpalace]

Turned both up to 100% and I would say the mp10 was slightly louder but both are very quiet IMO. I have found with mp40’s that noice can vary based on thickness of glass and wear and tear and position of wet side too.

[@Ratziemannen]

@@fishpalace Thank you for taking the time to look into it!

[@ReefCommunityWorldwide]

It’s built by Ecotech with AI branding.

[@fishpalace]

It certainly is and ecotechs new app Mobius looks very much like the AI app with a couple of screens being identical.

[@Myhobbies85]

My question is, how long is the Ai pumps powercable? Cant find anything on the web

[@fishpalace]

Long. Just measured, which is hard to do when all set up, and 140cm from plug to controller and roughly another 180cm from controller to power head. So that is over 3 meters or 9 foot I would say but not exact

[@Myhobbies85]

@@fishpalace Cheers thats spot on. o have a converted roma 125 going to get 2 nero 3 in the new year, I have a dry cupboard woth controllers, was concerned it wouldn't reach but that should be fine. Cheers for replying 👍

[@bmw3842]

Is the Nero 3 really that strong ? I just bought one and it is really small.I was told by Aquaillumination customer service representative that is more than enough for my 55 gallon .And that the Nero 5 at it's lowest speed is too strong .And I only have a live rock saltwater fish only aquarium .

[@fishpalace]

It is comparable with an MP10 but depends what you want from it. In my 3 foot tank it supplements the flow alongside an mp40 and a tunze so is perfect but would not be strong enough as the primary powerhead along the front of the tank

[@bmw3842]

@@fishpalace I have a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium and fish only and live rock and I want a wave maker to agitate the surface and add flow for the live rock. I bought 55 pounds of Pukani dry rock a month ago from a guy in AZ and it was never used and still in the box from Bulk Reef Supplies. For $150.00. I bought the Nero 3 recommended from Aquaillumination that it would be strong enough. I thought about the Nero 5. But he told me at it’s lowest speed is still to strong. Is he correct?

[@drewgee6261]

31 gallon lagoon mixed reef bout 2 feet long is 1 Nero 3 good

[@fishpalace]

I have a Nero 3 on the Red Sea peninsula and like it. Will be ok when you first start but I added a tunze powerhead too. I also have a Red Sea 170 and have an mp10 but that is more expensive that a Nero and a tunze. 2 pumps are likely to be required on a 2 foot but does depend on scape and corals

[@drewgee6261]

@@fishpalace it’s a mixed reef plan on keeping like 3 sps

[@fishpalace]

Go for 1 powerhead for now and can always add another 👌🏻. My Nero 3 does a great job on my RSMN pen 👏🏻👏🏻

[@Poseidonsreef]

Yea I figured could I just get another Nero 3 and put it adjacent or go stronger like a 5 I do want to mess around with sps and mane my nano a mixed reef

[@fishpalace]

Always easier to choose what you need as a 2nd pump once you have the tank running for a while. I think best to set up use 1 pump and go from there

[@-Wreckanize-]

Would you think 2 Nero 3's for a 60 gallon 3 foot tank? Thanks.

[@fishpalace]

Depends on what you are looking to keep in tank as 1 just about reaches the other end of the 3 foot tank I have so 2 would create a decent flow but not really strong IMO. You would probably need to add more flow later if you were keeping sps. Also depends on aquascape as that can break up flow

[@ekorzen4676]

Jebao MLW20 - about 40% of the cost of Nero 3 & flow is in between nero 3 & nero 5. How to justify paying over double?

[@fishpalace]

Thanks for the comment. I am not trying to justify a Nero over a Jeboa as this is a straight comparison between 2 popular powerheads 🤷‍♂️ Some prefer the Jaboa but I prefer ecotech and have had their pumps for years. Great thing about this hobby is such a choice of kit and price points too 👌🏻

[@danielpietruczuk5811]

Is it loud when on "wave" mode?

[@fishpalace]

This is a tough one as depends on what you consider loud and where the tank will sit, mine is in garage. The loudest setting for me is pulse at 60% and I can just about hear it. I consider the pump to be quiet compared to ecotech, Jaboa and tunze . Hope that helps

[@danielpietruczuk5811]

@@fishpalace yes, thank you

[@valiantred]

Wait so what's the difference between the Nero 3 vs Nero 5?

[@fishpalace]

I have not run a Nero 5 but from looks of it built on same technology, roughly twice as much power, larger footprint and costs about 33% more.

[@bmw3842]

Have two Nero 3's and one is quiet , the other one rumbles or vibrates .Anyone else have that problem?

[@fishpalace]

Not experienced that with the Nero on this tank.

[@MarkThor_11]

Hi, I have a 100g , 26 inch deep mixed reef tank with Vectra m2 return, Tunze 6025 low down to one side and two jebao RW-8 near the top at opposite ends. One of the Jebao has failed so looking at getting a pair of AI Nero's and dropping the remaining RW-8 down to opposite the Tunze. I run the Rw-8's and less than 1/2 power and they're supposed to be 8000l/h. Are the AI Nero 3's strong enough?

[@fishpalace]

I have not used a Jebao for a while so hard to tell but Nero 3 is upto 7570 l/h so very similar flow rates. As you are running jeboa at 50% you may have to run nero3 at say 55% so in theory I would say yes they are comparable Whilst you can move the Nero 3 at about a 15 degree angle the jeboa should be adjustable to a larger degree but not sure if that is relevant I am however very happy with mine after a few months and really compliments an mp40 and Tunze powerhead

[@MarkThor_11]

@@fishpalace Thankyou for your input

[@gwhahaha]

Did u end up getting 2 Nero 3 mark Thor?

[@smartassb20]

Why can't I ask a question?

[@fishpalace]

You just have 👌🏻. What would you like to know?

[@JasonStJohn-my1cs]

Could you tell me on the Nero three on the power can it be turn down very low like the mp10 it just almost spends just a little bit. I just want to know what type of control I have on this pump if it ends up being too powerful can I turn it down a lot. Some other pumps when you turn them down they don’t go below 50%

[@fishpalace]

It is hard to comment on how low it goes compared to the % shown within the app but from what I can see it appears to go below 50% of max. If you are looking for say 10% of max so 200gph I cannot confirm if this is the case , sorry.

[@JasonStJohn-my1cs]

@@fishpalace thank you

[@borinvlogs]

its a shame the cable is not outside of the tank

[@fishpalace]

That is the downside of this and many other pumps and why I have gone for vortech pumps, until now. Not so much of an issue with the dd reef pro tanks though as you can keep it tidy and use the dry weir area to run out of the display. 👍🏻

[@gwhahaha]

How is the Nero 3 holding up after 8 months of use? I am considering buying 2x Nero 3 or 2x old mp10wes for my reefer 250. On paper the Nero 3 is stronger. It’s a hard one for me

[@fishpalace]

All good after 8 months. Is the mp10 the older version with white controller as if it is they are noisier than the mp10QD. I have an mp40wes as a back up and is louder than an mp40qd

[@gwhahaha]

@@fishpalace yes, the mp10 has the white controller.

[@borinvlogs]

just bought it a week ago and i want to even return it as it makes a noticeable noise above 70% in my 90cm long tank. should have gone for Nero 5 and turn it down to 50%

[@fishpalace]

I have mine running now at 65% on pulse mode and is not silent but not what I would call noticeable but every tank and setting is different. I have an mp40 as main flow and Nero 3 supports as not strong enough to be a primary pump in my 90cm tank. Many Thanks for your comments 🙏🏻

[@ericbowers71]

Three not free… good grief.

[@fishpalace]

Sorry but you have totally lost me 🤷‍♂️