20 Best Water Pumps For Hydroponics (2023 Updated)

This pump does not pump 1000 gallons per hour. I barely got an inch left from the top. I am contacting the company to see if they will exchange it for one that works. I will update my review after I hear back from them.

I have had a hard time with this little pump. I should have returned but it fit in my shallow birdbath and I am trying to make it work. I can’t seem to get a good tight connection to my tubing. The graduated tip, as shown was not there.

It came with a smooth connector. I am still working on it. I might need new tubing.

Our original Jebao pump which lasted over five years, the same model number Jebao didn’t last five months. Efforts to contact the manufacturer went without response. So I searched on Walmart and found this pump, I had to modify the piping in my fountain for fit.

The pump working like a champ and we are happy, actually the Jebao new pump out of the box had lesser flow rate.

I ordered the pump because I was wanting a simple way to clean my Cpap hose and mask. I had to do a little plumbing (1/2″ pvc thread to coupler) and put it in a bucket with Dawn diswashing liquid and enough hot water to cover pump and hose and mask.

Plugged it in and 10 minutes later dumped and refilled with clean water and another 10 minutes to rinse and hose and mask completely cleaned.

Specs said it had a max of 5. 9 feet rise. I have a fountain that has a 3. 5 ft rise and it is barely making it. I works fine but is underpowered for the rated use. It is maxed out so I have to live with it for now.

I normally purchase pumps that are rated a minimum 300 gph in the past but took a chance with this one since manufacturer claimed if would be sufficient. I ordered a more powerful one to keep on hand knowing that this one won’t last long.

This is probably better suited for an aquarium or pond.

Great product. Great price. This is my 2nd pump. My 1st 1 circulated water 24/7 for 2 yrs STR8 & finally gave out. I wouldn’t buy any other pump!!!

Much better than what you find at your local box store in both price and quality. Easily was able to configure to my liking with a brass type adapter from a hardware store. The plastic accessories with this pump are plentiful and will meet most needs, but they break easily with any sort of stress.

No big deal. Pumps strong and even though not controllable, easy to adjust output with the hose placement inside my medium sized decorative concrete 4′ fountain matched with a smaller nozzle brass fitting and a rubber hose cut to size from an old commercial/professional grade Chapin Concrete Sprayer.

So far so good, time will tell but right now the wife is very happy with this pump and that’s what really matters!!.

I’ve used it twice for my 65 gallon aquarium 50% water changes. I use my gravel cleaner to vacuum water into a bucket which has the eco 396 in it which pumps the water to the drain. For refilling the tank I place the same 5 gallon bucket in the kitchen sink and route the hose to the aquarium.

Be sure to look at the flow chart since head of water makes a huge difference in flow rates, as expected. A lot better than carrying heavy buckets of water!.

This item works great! I have a outdoor rock fountain in front of my landscape yard and the pump that it had stopped working. It had a big motor pump that was attached to the fountain. When I did the research on this pump and seen that it can push itself to the limits to get the water to where it need to be, I had to give it a try.

For the value , it was a good sale. I attached the pump to my rock fountain and was hesitant due to it was smaller than my regular pump, but sure enough it worked fantastic! My rock fountain works great and has no problems with the pump.

It pushes the water up the tube really high to get it to the top of my fountain for it to pour down like a water fall and making it look and work like it is suppose to. : ).

I bought this pump to replace a pump under the utility sink in the basement. The previous Little Giant pump had been there since before I bought the house over 10 years ago. I tried replacing with a utility pump from the local hardware store, but the pump could not keep up with the washer discharge that drains into the sink.

That pump was returned and needless to say I hunted for this Little Giant pump online. I ordered from here and it arrived quickly. This pump is now installed and working better than ever.

I replaced my old pump which was the same model because it was about 7 years old. In Seattle my basement floods every fall during heavy rain. This pump is installed in a sump I put in the basement and it keeps the sump pumped and my basement floor dry.

I tested my new pump in a 5 gallon bucket. It worked fine. I dropped it in my sump and am now waiting for the rainy season to start. I have confidence the new pump will hold up to my expectations as did the old one.

During hurricane Irene I expected my basement to flood because the basement is 8 feet below ground line. The water comes through the entrance door. I placed this pump at the entrance in my “sump pump” dwelling/hole and it kept switching on and off as the water level rose from the ground.

My basement was saved from any water. Remember, this pump has to have a few inches of water before it switches on. I would carve a hole that deep just for this pump – the device is that great. RegardsPiotr.

I purchased this product for a non-aquarium application. It has pumped air for ~10 hours thus far. So far, so good. The biggest drawback is that I don’t find it all that quiet for the modest amount of air it pushes.

It makes a distinct 60 Hz hum that you can easily hear from the next room. Note – the “1/4 inch tubing” mentioned in the description of this product refers to an outer, not inner, diameter. That was a nasty surprise given that I bought some 1/4 ID tubing and fittings for my application.

The fittings on the pump appear to be for 3/16 ID tubing.

The Hydrofarm air pump is the best air pump on the market. I’ve been thru two whisper air pumps and they don’t even compare. It’s extremely quiet and makes a tremendous amount of bubbles. If you’re looking for an air pump then this is it.

I have a 75 gallon aquarium and I can already see my fish benefiting from this air pump. Don’t waste your money on whisper air pump as it will break down on you. Both whisper air pumps I had broke down when I tried replacing the tubes.

When I pulled out the air tubes both hedges ripped out with the air tubes. I recommend the Hydrofarm air pump to everyone. The best feature is the knob that controls the air outtake. be smart and save money with the Hydrofarm air pump.

You will not regret it, I promise you.

I have a system that is in need of a whole lot of air. And after purchasing a competing high volume 32 Watt piston style compressor I ended up returning that due to the noise and heat that produced. This sucker was the one I should have bought first.

Not as much air as the other one, I purchased but it runs all of my air Stones perfectly. With no excess heat and I can sleep at night without the house vibrating.

I bought a pump before this one that pumped 60 gph for twice the price which was a huge disappointment. I returned it and bought this one from Walmart. This pump worked fantastically! I would highly recommend this unit for anyone looking for great flow.

I was not one bit disappointed.

The Simple Deluxe pump I purchased was not only priced good, the power on this pump is super strong. I bought it for a fountain in my front yard, but this pump could filter a pond with no problems. It came with three different sized adapters that would fit on the tubing and they all screw on so they stay put.

I love it!!!.

I bought the pump for a project, to make a hydroponic pvc pipe garden that I saw on Youtube. The pump just sat there for a month, because I procrastinated on building the system. My sister in law needed a pump for a coy pond, so I gave her mine for her birthday.

I told her it’s perfect for a waterfall, because it will pump 1100 gph to a height of 12 feet. I will buy another one when I get the materials together for my project. I think this is the best pump brand to buy for the money.

Just remember, to get the pump for the height you need. I needed 9 ft, so I got one with a few more feet to make sure it would meet my water height requirements. She was so happy to get it for her birthday, and was worth seeing the smile on her face.

I guess God provided her with a pump, ahead of time. She doesn’t have the money to buy one, and he looks after those he loves! I will buy another one soon. Thanks!.

Am using this to support a hydroponic system and it started up and continues to work flawlessly. Has been able to easily handle a 6 bato bucket system where water has to climb 2-3 feet up. I have plenty of pressure all through the system.

I plan to double my system next year and will be buying another one of these wonderful little pumps.

I bought this for a bubbling rock in my fish pond and it is perfect. Previously I had a much smaller pump and was having to clean the filter every day! I have cleaned this one only once a d it has been running for over a month now!.

This product feels very well made with a metallic body and a good quality finish. It was a really good price for the functionality it provides. It works perfectly on both my phone and my laptop! it really doesn’t feel like it will break – very sturdy!.

I have a massive audio and photo library which I wanted to copy across my various devices. They are too large to Bluetooth so this device has allowed me to transfer all the data. Excellent piece of kit for the price.

Bought this item to transfer photos and videos between devices. It’s cheap and easy to use and does the job well. Very pleased.

My application is a 1st stage pump in a multi stage sump pit. Due to the low-level capability of this pump, it operates perfectly with an adjustable level float control. I usually get about 1-1/2 years out of these pumps in this setup (heavy water drainage situation).

Im very happy with pump life and pump performance.

I don’t know what happened with this company but their pumps quality has seriously gone downhill. I had bought one of these years ago from Fred Meyer for my pond. Lasted 4 years when every other pump I had tried lasted maybe 1.

I moved last year and built a new pond. Clean, no trees nearby to litter the pond with leaves. I’m now on my third pump from them. First one leaked a bunch of oil in the pond which I’m still trying to get rid of and then died blowing the GFI / Circuit breaker.

Bought another replacement and now that one has died. Same thing with it blowing the GFI / Circuit Breaker (tried 2 outlets) the second its plugged in. Maybe lasted 3 months. Get some QC on these as they are obviously having problems.

Other pumps on amazon available at half the price and much higher ratings, highly recommend you go that route.

This is a great unit that’s well named. It’s a little pump that works like it’s a giant, pumps water very fast, goes and goes and goes, and runs super quiet as long as there’s plenty of water to be pumped.

We use it to pump water out of a pool. The pump we had before (another brand) was absolutely awful. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that our Little Giant pumps 10-20 times as much volume as it did.

The only negative about the Little Giant in our experience is that it makes a lot of noise if you let the water level get too low — and, based on other reviews, apparently burns out (although that hasn’t happened to us yet).

I wish it cut off automatically once water got down to a certain level or, even better, gave the user a choice of how much or little water it takes to cut off. Other than that, it’s incredible. Update: Shortly after we wrote the preceding review, our unit died.

However, that was our fault. A company rep informed us that this unit doesn’t have an automatic cutoff. So apparently it’s because we (and other reviewers) didn’t cut it off promptly when the water level got below a certain level that it burned out.

There’s another slightly more expensive unit they produce with an automatic cutoff. I’ll give them a call again and post the model # when I have time. P. S. Although I wish I had known that this unit doesn’t have an automatic cutoff, I would still give it five stars.

Kudos to the manufacturer. It’s a great little powerhouse of a unit.

Great volume of water flow. Adjustment works great. Need to buy 1 inch hose or PVC for max flow. Several connections fittings come in package.

I do like it. It’s quite powerful… I have it Circulating water from a large sump to 6 20 gallon long aquariums in parallel… and I have to dial down the flow it’s so powerful.

Pros: -You can install these neither inline or submerged. -The price is almost unbeatable. -True thermal protection. -Grounded power cords. -Can be used on fresh and salt water. Cons: -They are not as quiet as advertised.

-The impeller gasket might leak at first but a little of plummer grease can help. -Only the bigger models (ECO396+) employs standard 1/2″ , 3/4″ and 5/8 threaded fittings. The smaller models will require smaller fittings for inline connections but anything less than 290G/Hr will not be useful for inline connections.

I bought this brand new hoping to upgrade from my still working 2yr old smaller pump. It was not as good as the old worn out pump. I measured the volume of water it pumped and it took 4. 5 minutes to pump one gal of clean water through a 5ft hose with less than 2 feet of rise.

That’s less than 15gal per hr. Not even close to the 396 GPH it’s rated at. I’m sure I just got a faulty one but i still would not recommend this model.

The only problem I have with this pump is the 7ft. Cord. The last pump I had was identical to this one but had a 12ft. Cord. So I’m having to use an extension cord with it and keep it covered up (not in the water but on the side of the pond).

Great small pump for a great price, Very good output. I only wish it came with fountain tubing and a longer cord but it is listed accurately. Quick shipment!

Very impressed with the 2day shipping. I bought it for a friend’s pond I have been working on. I am going to let him open it. I priced these pumps at Home Depot and they were well over $100. Bocks

I bought this pump to replace a 5v USB-powered water pump that came with a small pet water fountain. The size and dimensions are similar enough, I thought this pump might suffice. The other requirement I had is that the output nozzle be removable.

The fountain used a spout that directly fit into the old pump and so I needed that rubber hose fitting you see in the pictures to be removable (and it is). While the pump does work, it’s wasn’t a perfect fit, and in its defense, it isn’t advertised to be a replacement for my application so I have to cut it some slack.

The good news is it does work and has sufficed. And I did have to make use of the variable flow dial on the side. Wide-open, it flows about twice the amount of water the original pump did. So I had to turn the dial down to its lowest setting.

And with this setting, the flow is very acceptable. However the main complaint I have about the pump is that it is not quiet like the original pump was. It’s got a noticeable hum to it that is easily heard in a quiet room.

Fortunately, the pump is located near the kitchen. And with the microwave going, sink water running, or any other activity going on, it’s easily ignored. But it is something to be aware of if noise levels are a concern.

The other problem I had is the pump’s output hole is slightly larger than the original pump. So the fountain’s spout that goes into the pump didn’t fit snug like it did with the original pump. I would have thought the pump output diameter would be a standard size, but it is not.

To fix that, I just wrapped the bottom of the spout with tape to make up the difference, and that has worked. The other problem is the original pump’s power connector was a USB connection which fit down the fountain basin’s provision for the power cord.

However the 120v connector wouldn’t fit. So I’ve had to run the power cord out the side of the fountain instead of through the provision and out the bottom of the fountain. I hadn’t counted on this being a problem.

Again, this isn’t a problem with this pump or its advertisement. It was just a minor incompatibility with me trying to use this pump in an application it wasn’t really intended for. The pump does come apart just as pictured to make cleaning easier which is a plus since the water in these fountains can get growth in them in as little as 3 weeks.

So would I buy this pump again for this application? Probably not. I would try to find a closer compatible match. However if I had some other generic need for a small submersible pump where sound levels weren’t a concern, I would have no problem repurchasing this pump.

Had the listing indicated this was a replacement for the pump I had, I would NOT be giving the pump 4 stars. It would get a 2 at best. It gets 4 stars because I do believe it satisfies all the requirements of what it is advertised to be.

If it were quieter, I would’ve given it 5. The longevity and durability of the pump are still to be determined. As of this writing, the pump has only been running a few weeks. The previous pump lasted about 2 years.

So if I get 2 years out of this one, I’ll definitely consider myself as have gotten my money’s worth from it.

I bought this pump for a hydroponic setup. It works adequately. It actually works way better then I imagined it would after opening box and seeing how small it is. For the purpose I am using it for, it works great.

I would recommend a bigger pump if someone wanting to use it for more then pumping water to a container setting on top of container with the pump in it. The pump runs almost completely silently. If needing a light weight pump for transferring water a short distance I would recommend buying this pump, or another size from distributors that sell this companies products.

Stalls for no reason. Flimsy and very cheap debris screen. Actually threw it away and placed pump in stainless steel screen as it was cracked in 2 places upon arrival. For unknown reasons the pump simply did not work.

Unplugged and tapped a few times and it pumped fine. I don’t think this pump matched the image advertised on the website. Price was good but 2 stars at best.

Water feature cost 300 four years ago. Original pump became unreliable. Bought new pump for 25. Water feature up and running again. Only suggestion is that they should be fitted with a fine mesh filter or screen on the intake.

There is a limit to how far the pump can be stripped down for maintenance. I think original was fouled by debris which couldnt be cleared out.

Works excellent on flat surfaces. A little harder to use on curved surfaces. Well-made product.

Installed the pump in a waterfall feature as a replacement for the original that had failed. Worked perfectly straight away. Spare outlet units that allows various sizes of flexible to be attached.

When the pumps on our swamp coolers began to die we looked for a replacement. These units are quiet, have an adjustable flow rate to match to the cooler to eliminate the overflow dripping sound at night.

We live off the grid, so power use is a concern and these beauties are easy on the batteries. We also have very hard water and so far no problems with scaling. They are great!!!.

Doesnt tell you in product description that it can’t be used in saltwater. Its not until you read instructions do you find that out. Very dissappointing.

Great little pump. Quiet and reliable. I run it 24hrs a day with no problem.