Rossmont Riser – non electronic controllable return pump – Review

Our comments

As we usually tell ourselves over and over again, the adjustable electronic pump is one of the best things to have in our sumps, for a lot of reasons. The simplicity of being able to vary the power to adapt to the aquarium’s conditions is, at least in my opinion, priceless.

With the Riser‘s calibration function you can change the water without having to turn off the return pump, and this is, for me, extremely convenient. Moreover, it’s possible to feed the corals by eliminating all of the aquarium’s flows. And think that you can activate it through tablet or smartphone, and the lucky ones even through apple watch or similar devices.

The conclusions page is really full of material, also thanks to the comparison we have done with similar pumps whose performances we have measured in the past.

The comparison with other pumps

The following chart turns out to be very interesting; I have inserted into it the measured values of other pumps, such as Eheim, Tunze, Sicce, Corallinea, Waveline and Ecotech Marine, which we could test previously, as you can read on our  reviews page. They’re sorted by what we determined to be the product of the flow rate multiplied by the head max divided by half. This way you get the area underlined by the two dimensions.

In the chart we indicated the values of some pumps tested on DaniReef in time. Especially the last four varying flow rate pumps, the Tunze 1073.50, the Corallinea BQ5000, the Waveline DC6000 and the Vectra M1.

From the chart you can see that, from an economical point of view, or compared to the flow rate generated for every single euro, the Corallinea pump is the most convenient, immediately followed by the Rossmont Riser 3200. For what concerns technical efficiency, if we consider the maximum values only, the most convenient in the Waveline DC6000, while the Riser is absolutely average. So if the pair of values that you need match with the Riser then you can relax, an absolutely average technical efficiency and an economic efficiency among the category’s best. With the bonus that you can add the Waver and transform the pump.

The relation with the declared data

Let’s see now the confidence with the data declared by the manufacturer.

Head Max

The maximum prevalence measurement has a minimal deviation. Completely insignificant. The Riser keeps its promises.

Flow Rate

The deviation between measured and declared flow rate is close to 14%, an incredible result especially taking into account the much higher differences we found in other pumps.

Energy Consumption

The energy consumption is higher then about 3%. Great confidence with the declared data.

Correspondence compared to the declared data

Finally, only as a frame of reference, we can give a correspondence value compared to the manufacturer’s declared data for what concerns flow rate, prevalence and consumption.

To understand if the pump will do the trick, based on your aquarium’s prevalence I suggest you read the following articles:

• How to choose a return pump for a marine aquarium
• Calculate the return pump’s flow rate in the aquarium automatically

The second one particularly will show you the estimated flow rate in your aquarium based on your boundary conditions.

Conclusions

The Rossmont Riser 3200 reference value at maximum power equals 388.623 l*cm/s, where as a comparison the declared value equals 464.000. Please keep in mind that the reference value is represented by the area underlined by the flow rate and prevalence values, simplified by the maximum values. Basically, the formula is (flow rate x prevalence)/2.

The 16% loss actually represents a great value, since basically all of the direct competitors are a lot worse.

We still have to consider what the pump can deliver. It was good of the Rossmont to adhere to the declared values, but we have to choose a pump based on the fact that, having our measured data, it can do the trick for us and maybe cost a little bit less than the competitors and maybe add something more. Of course you have to consider that to the pump’s cost, so that you can have all of the setting induced options, you have to add the Waver‘s cost.

PROS

 Great performances and very close to the declared values
 The pump is adjustable on every accessible flow rate value
 Very well built
Extremely quiet
 We really liked the calibration modality that stops the tank-sump exchange
 Cost-effective pump without regulation, at the top for economic efficiency

CONS

 High price with the optional Waver module

Build Quality
Quality
Price Performance	a

.

Disclaimer: We’d like to thank Rossmont for letting us use the Rossmont Riser 3200 pump for this review.