Needle wheel VS mesh impeller?

[RuGlu6]

Hey guys need an opinion from those of you had used both.
What is most efficient in terms of noise lewel and fine bubbles production: Needle wheel or mesh wheel impeller?
Also which one will suck in more air?
thx

[wingedfish]

Mesh wheel is what your looking for. The downfall is longevity. (I went with pinwheel)

[viperfish]

I have used both. The concept of mesh is great but when it comes to actual performance go with a high end pump and you will get the efficiency you're looking for regardless of pin, needle, or mesh styles. The same thing goes for air draw and sound, the more reputable companies out there tend to use stricter tolerances and venturi designs that work the way they should. Those knock off companies make a product that looks like a skimmer and skimmer pump but IMO there's not a whole bunch of science behind it. The result is people modding the crap out of it just to get it working properly, that's how the mesh wheel was born.

[fencer]

A modded asm g3 impeller definitely makes finer bubbles. The improvement is marginal over the original impeller

[Delphinus]

I tried both as well. I didn't notice much difference in terms of noise and air volume are about the same (I actually measured with an air flow meter and got the same #'s) but the mesh just does a better job of making smaller bubbles of it all. So there is some improvement in over skimming performance that way. But it's not the end of the world if you don't use mesh in a skimmer.

[RuGlu6]

Thank you guys great response!