Wavemaker Pumps
- Thread starter cameron
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You could always try to rig up your own in the same fashion that some pools and what not do it... just get a PVC tube with end-caps attached to a swing-arm and a little electric motor. lay the tube horizontally to the direction you want have wave-action, at or just below the surface of the water ,and use a train-wheel style connection from the swing-arm to the motor to cause the tube to bob up and down at the desired rate... Voila, instant waves 
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What I have, and I love is the Red Sea Wave master Pro. It cost me 100 bucks for the unit and I have four Maxi Jet 1200's running on it. Maxi Jets IMO are the best power head for a wave making device.
hounddog01
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I was in Rockford, IL and had the discussion on flow. The speaker was from Denver, Co and had some interesting ideas. He indicated you did not need to switch every couple of minutes, his theory is you just want maximum water movement in each direction.
To acomplish this you can use power heads on each side of the tank and run each one for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. This will move the water colum in the tank each way for a period of time.
He recommended a chavet timer that is used for lighting at $30.00 if you have a AC or RK then you already have the timer. Now comes the hard part, Which PH do I use.
MaxiJet's that are moded work but can have some issues moding them and they do have a tendency to clank, but they are reliable.
Tunze, 6000 or greater have DC motors that can be switched with out any issues and generate a large amount of flow, yet they are expensive.
Koralia 4 can be switched every 40 to 60 minutes and with a mod with a maxijet impeller and a prop create a large amount of flow, but if your not a DIYer then maybe this is not for you.
I personaly use 1 tunze 6060 on one side of my tank, 1 6045 Tunze nano on the other side and 1 6025 in the middle pointing at the 6060. The 6060 is on for 30 minutes then the 6045 and 6025 are on for 30 minutes. It is amazing how much the water movement I get in each direction. I timed it several times and I get about 18 CM/second each way.
I have run this configuration for over a year with out any issue with the 6060 and the nano's have been running for 4 and 6 months respectivley
To acomplish this you can use power heads on each side of the tank and run each one for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. This will move the water colum in the tank each way for a period of time.
He recommended a chavet timer that is used for lighting at $30.00 if you have a AC or RK then you already have the timer. Now comes the hard part, Which PH do I use.
MaxiJet's that are moded work but can have some issues moding them and they do have a tendency to clank, but they are reliable.
Tunze, 6000 or greater have DC motors that can be switched with out any issues and generate a large amount of flow, yet they are expensive.
Koralia 4 can be switched every 40 to 60 minutes and with a mod with a maxijet impeller and a prop create a large amount of flow, but if your not a DIYer then maybe this is not for you.
I personaly use 1 tunze 6060 on one side of my tank, 1 6045 Tunze nano on the other side and 1 6025 in the middle pointing at the 6060. The 6060 is on for 30 minutes then the 6045 and 6025 are on for 30 minutes. It is amazing how much the water movement I get in each direction. I timed it several times and I get about 18 CM/second each way.
I have run this configuration for over a year with out any issue with the 6060 and the nano's have been running for 4 and 6 months respectivley
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Wait, Wait, Wait.... This thread was started by the guy who told me I was silly for being upset when Jen got water on my Red Sea Wavermaker Pro?!? Oh wow, how the mighty have fallen!
(I remind you people, this is who your Rep leader is! )
Why not do an electric silanoid on a CL. Turn on and off output that way. Come on Mr. Wizard, wire it up!
(I remind you people, this is who your Rep leader is!
)Why not do an electric silanoid on a CL. Turn on and off output that way. Come on Mr. Wizard, wire it up!
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Yep, that sounds like Jake Adams....
If I recall Jake's testing properly, the water column reaches nearly a full shift at around 5-10 minutes from 2 maxijets in a 4' tank. At which time killing the pumps allows the water on the opposite side of the pumps to "fall" forcing the water down and back towards the other two pumps. Turn on two pumps the opposite side for 5-10 minutes and the water builds back up on the otherside. Timing is important as you are trying to "rock" or "slosh" the tank water and gain a see-saw like circular motion in the tank.
I have a 6' tank and thought maybe 4 500gph pumps built for an on/off wavemaker would be perfect, but I haven't found a good one yet.
I could build two closed loops, but I would rather just buy some cheap pumps. To my knowledge about the only thing that works well with an on/off wavemaker are maxijets. My modded maxijets are too loud for me, I don't want to run two sequence darts as that is the pump I currenlty have for my closed loop, I could do an oceans motions unit but that is another $200+ for testing, I won't put another Hydor pump in my system after my troubles, the Seio controller only slows AC pumps down by about 50%, I think the unmodded MJs burn too much juice for little flow and not sure 290gph will do it, Tunze controllable pumps are too expensive at least for testing, and Vortechs are the same thing.
You would think somebody would have a simple 300-500gph pump that draws around 10w and works with a wavemaker.
Anyone ever throw a penductor on a maxijet?
I have a 6' tank and thought maybe 4 500gph pumps built for an on/off wavemaker would be perfect, but I haven't found a good one yet.
I could build two closed loops, but I would rather just buy some cheap pumps. To my knowledge about the only thing that works well with an on/off wavemaker are maxijets. My modded maxijets are too loud for me, I don't want to run two sequence darts as that is the pump I currenlty have for my closed loop, I could do an oceans motions unit but that is another $200+ for testing, I won't put another Hydor pump in my system after my troubles, the Seio controller only slows AC pumps down by about 50%, I think the unmodded MJs burn too much juice for little flow and not sure 290gph will do it, Tunze controllable pumps are too expensive at least for testing, and Vortechs are the same thing.
You would think somebody would have a simple 300-500gph pump that draws around 10w and works with a wavemaker.
Anyone ever throw a penductor on a maxijet?
I have my two returns routed under the sandbed thru the plenum frame. One return is at the front right and pointing at the left of the tank and slightly up. The other return is in the left rear, pointing to the right and angled slightly up. Water flow in the tank is generaly clockwise, and dead-spots seem to be naturally minimal. I use another pair of powerheads. One on the right side of the tank but affixed to the back wall at the point and pointing at the first return on the front right. The other powerhead is in a simliar configuration at the top of the tank and pointed in the direction of the rear left return. I do manually modulate the flow on both periodically, but in general, I think waterflow is pretty decent for a tank without more powerheads or a complicated timer setup.
I am not convinced this will work BTW and I still haven't found a good pump to run on an on/off wavemaker beyond a MJ which I think is waste of a pump since it consumes a lot of juice for little flow.Xyzpdq0121;40213 wrote: Wait, Wait, Wait.... This thread was started by the guy who told me I was silly for being upset when Jen got water on my Red Sea Wavermaker Pro?!? Oh wow, how the mighty have fallen!
Don't be jealous... the only reason I have so many votes is most people don't want you to have that honor. You running around with the highest rep is like giving the Mensa award to the village idiot.Xyzpdq0121;40213 wrote: (I remind you people, this is who your Rep leader is!
:yay:
expensive... oceans motions unit would be cheaper and safer. two closed loops would be a better test and I am rapidly coming to that conclusion. I think if I had to do it from scratch, I would build a couple ehiems hidden by rockwork and accessible. Quiet and high adjustable flow. Wattage wouldn't be horrible course not as good as a prop driven system.
My current thoughts are two 1200gph pressure rated pumps on each end of the tank. Have them pull from mid level in the tank and feed across the top. Don't know how well pumps do turning on/off that often though.
^^^ You know, someone <u>has</u> a surge system on the market, ready to buy. I just can't remember the name of it. Anyone know what I'm talking about? The only problem is that it creates actual waves across the top of your aquarium, so you've got to have the water level 6 or 8 inches below the top.
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That would be my choice. If you did like Jake and ran a pump for 20-30 min on one side then shut it off and ran the other side, I doubt it would be too hard on the pump. But then again, what do I know. I am the village idiot!
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A surge system is suppost to be great. I just read a article about it being utilized to simulate low and high tide in SPS corals and the results gained from it. Interesting stuff.
Based on his research and what I am trying to do a 6 or 8 way OM is exactly what I am trying to avoid. His research shows that non-uniform flow in an aquarium causes more cancellation and flow working against itself than simplfying the flow pattern. His research shows a simplfied flow pattern even with significantly less rated pumps will actually produce a higher flow rate than an elaborate one.
The Seio is out as it doesn't turn a pump off or slow it down beyond 50% so they will be working against each other virtually all the time.
Magnetically driven sealed pumps seperate the motor from the impellor so I don't see why turning them on/off would hurt them. I can see why turning on/off a pump with the motor attached to the impellor would cause significantly more wear and tear.
Again defeats the purpose of my test. I am trying to replicate as cheap as possible a high flow using a simplified on/off pump method.
So far I have normal MJs which on my 6' I don't think will be enough, modded MJs which I don't like as they are noisy, two alternating closed loops using magnetically driven pumps, or some submerged pump that is built for on/off and runs at 500gph or higher which I haven't found yet.
you aren't the village idiot... I said it would be LIKE giving a Mensa award to the villiage idiot. It was a bad example... more like giving the Mensa award to the crazy preacher guy yelling "The End is Near".
Ohh come on... you have more brothers and sisters than I do so you should be coming right back with slams not curling up in the fetal position and yelling for mommy!
:confused2:
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Being the youngest of 10 I can hold my own.... Except someone got me sick and I am off my game for a few days. I will have a comeback when I feel better.
