I've been running this pump 24/7 under a fake rock next to my pond for just over a year. Yesterday I noticed that the aeration had stopped, and the sound coming from the rock was louder than normal. Upon further inspection, I found that it was barely generating any pressure. Without resistance, it was still moving air, but there was not enough pressure to drive the aerator.

I took it apart to find about a half-cup of fine dust and sand inside the center of the pump (where the motor resides). The piston shaft that is supposed to move up and down between the stators was nearly seized in place. I had to work it quite hard to get it out completely - at which point I'd found the teflon/graphite surfaces so badly scored by the sand, that I immediately ordered a replacement. I had little hope of getting it to work again.

However, with a little bit of steel wool and WD40, I managed to get the parts to once again slide evenly. The diaphragms on either side of the piston were dusty, but not deformed or damaged in any way.

I thoroughly cleaned all the remaining items, and reassembled it. To my surprise, the aerator came alive with the same pressure/flow I would expect from a new pump.

I was quite surprised with how simple the teardown and reassembly was, and it has boosted my confidence in the design and construction. I will keep the new one as a spare, as I suspect the "slop" introduced in the wear surfaces probably will diminish the remaining life.

The intake filter (nothing more than a fine sponge) was saturated with sand and dust. Clearly, this was operator error, and I have now redesigned how the pump is mounted under the fake rock. Hopefully that will reduce the amount of debris that finds its way into the pump.

Overall, a strong recommendation.

I waited a long time before writing a review, about a year-and-a-half now has passed. I have just purchased my 7th unit. All are still running perfectly fine as brand new. I am very happy with this product and have had no issues at all. I am very pleased with the power and the ability of this size unit to effectively run 6 Airlines seemingly effortlessly. I use it for Sponge Filter setups on indoor aquariums with an ambient temperature around 76° give or take. As for people complaining about noise or longevity I would challenge that by saying of course it's not going to be the quietest pump but it is not obnoxious. I cut the vibration down by putting a thick cardboard square underneath it. Yes they run warm but if all vents are half to three-quarters of the way open it maintains a reasonable temperature. I have invertebrates in my tanks and I like that the nozzle is brass and not copper which is toxic to all invertebrates over time... I would recommend this to anyone who is running multiple tanks indoors. Hope this helps with your decision. That's why I wrote this review. Great product!!! Great bang for the buck!!!

tl; dr: pleased with pump, came with metal 6-valve air tap, only 15 watts when connected to air stones, *much* quieter with long hose connected to air *inlet* to move sound away from pump.

We just set up a small garden pond and after a week or so green moss started forming on the rocks and the water got cloudy. Aeration was a common cure so we ordered this pump, some tubing, and air stones. I had never used an air pump or done a pond, and was concerned this would be noisy, but didn't want to get a smaller type of pump because I wanted a lot of aeration and didn't want to do regular diaphragm replacement as the smaller ones require.

Plugging it in for the first time inside, with nothing connected, my heart sunk as it was very loud. It also measured around 25 watts on my Kill-A-Watt meter, even though it's advertised as only 18 watts. It turns out that this is the wrong way to evaluate it. With hoses and air stones connected it only uses 15 watts, and is quieter. I placed it outside next to the pond and it filled it with bubbles, and caused lots of circulation as well. It came with a nice metal 6-valve tap, and I was only using three of them (two air stones, and one bare air tube with its valve turned down).

The pump was still somewhat noisy though. I noticed the air inlet and read about the noise coming from that, so I connected it to an old garden hose (no water in it) so that it drew air from the end of the hose that was far away, and the pump became almost silent! I was pleased that this last nagging issue had been solved, and my concern over the noise put to rest.

Unfortunately it didn't make any change in our pond's green moss growth situation, but definitely not because the pump has any shortcomings. This is one reason I got a powerful pump, so that if the moss didn't reduce, I would know for sure that it wasn't due to a lack of aeration.

We only ran this for a few weeks (24 hours a day in Texas summer) so I can't say much about its long-term reliability. Zero problems during our use of it.

The air pump works great it's a little on the noisy side but makes a ton of air, in the pictures on this page it shows air stones with it, You do not get any air stones or airline with the pump.

First day review so if anything changes i will revise it but after running it for a few hours i have no complaints. Its quieter than i was expecting. The loudest part is the air coming out of the manifold. Once i got the airlines on it was more quiet than my eco plus i bought a few months back. Really good air output and lots of bubbles. I'll be checking how warm it is later but so far, so good.

*update* 5 months of running 24/7 later and this pump is still going strong. There's been no noticeable drop in pressure so far. I have it aerating two 5 gal buckets using pourous flexible tubing rings as diffusers and it puts out a nice steady stream of tiny bubbles. It vibrates a bit (i have the unit on a windowsill and i could hear the vibration in the house when the tv was off)but i fixed that by sitting it on a piece of foam . I have not noticed any smells that some reviewers noted. It does get hot, as other reviewers have said. I can still handle it with bare hands, but you want to make certain you place this somewhere with adequate ventilation. Another tip is: cover the intake port with some kind of filter to keep dust out. I use a small piece of foam filter from a pc fan and a zip tie.
All in all i am happy with this pump and would recommend it to a friend.