Apex and Tunze

[ostrow]

Hi. Question here for a prospective Apex owner.

I have a 5' tank. I had a wavebox that produced a wave of nearly 1.5". But it has died beyond ability to repair and I'm going a different route.

If I were to get an Apex, and connect my 6205 to the variable port, will the resonance feature create a wave akin to what the wavebox produced in the tank? Or will the size of the wave be less? Or are 2 pumps needed to create the wave effect?

TIA.

 

[Deleted member 143833]

You will have a wave, but the size in this configuration I expect will be smaller.

With a wavebox the pump fills a chamber and releases a significant quantity of water at 1 time. Running a single pump you will be moving less water per cycle and that is why I think you will see a smaller wave.

You can try running the pump with a cycle that runs between 0 and 100; that is about as agressive as you can get and see if you get a satisfactory wave out of it. 2 opposing pumps running opposite cycles will be even better.

 

[ostrow]

I see. Part of the hesitation on dedicating 2 pumps is then all I will have in there is wave, and no constant circulation. Can't afford a 3rd DC pump, not after the disaster I've had with this wavebox of late. I could I suppose build a box around the 6105 or 6205 but that seems a hassle.

Thanks for the info.

 

[slief]

My tank is 4'x8'x2' deep. I currently have 2 6205's connected to my apex and I get a pretty good wave with it. The key is pulse mode and setting the timing to tenths of a second. In my case about .7 on and .4 off does the trick. From 0-30%+ and I get a wave. The higher the percentage the better.
Here is a video of the wave it creates. There are a couple more videos of the wave and currents with the Tunzes under my username at youtube. I also have a thread here in the Neptune forum with all my Tunze settings as well as in the large tank section of the forum.
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[ostrow]

Wow slief. That is a hell of a tank, and ingenious mounting on the Tunzes! Wondering though, with the cords threaded through the bulkhead, how water doesn't travel with the cords.... But that's probably my small brain working there and anyway is OT!

My concern is I'd be trying to do the wave with just the 6205. But I think I'd get something good going. Then, though, I'd only have the 6105 for constant pulsing circulation in the tank. Choices, choices, but can't afford both a controller and a 3rd Tunze.


Of course, I'll get a lot more functionality out of the Apex as well.

 

[ostrow]

Congrats too on the 1000th post.

 

[slief]

Congrats too on the 1000th post.

Wow. Hadn't even noticed. It couldn't have been in a better place on this forum!

Wow slief. That is a hell of a tank, and ingenious mounting on the Tunzes! Wondering though, with the cords threaded through the bulkhead, how water doesn't travel with the cords.... But that's probably my small brain working there and anyway is OT!

My concern is I'd be trying to do the wave with just the 6205. But I think I'd get something good going. Then, though, I'd only have the 6105 for constant pulsing circulation in the tank. Choices, choices, but can't afford both a controller and a 3rd Tunze.


Of course, I'll get a lot more functionality out of the Apex as well.

Thanks!
As to how water doesn't travel out of the bulkheads.. Those bulk heads were originally part of one of my recirc lines. When I eliminated the pump, I cut the pipes and turned the bulkheads so the remains of the pipe were facing upwards and above the water level in the tank..

As far as a wave with one pump, you might be surprised. I was amazed at what I ended up with in my tank with only 2 pumps running at 30% let alone 90 or 100%.

I started with the Tunze 7906 controller and it lasted one whole night (less than 12 hours). The next morning after installing my Tunze's using the Tunze controller, I decided to dive into the Apex Tunze programming as I had the Apex Tunze cable. Quite frankly, the Tunze controller seemed much more limited and I wanted more variation and random flow. The Apex had much more to offer than the Tunze controller did from what I found. A little time and some experimenting allows for much more controllability and variations in flow than you could get with the Tunze controller.

That said, having the Tunze controller on hand really helped to get me going with the Apex as it gave me a good idea of where to start with my pulse intervals. The nice thing about the Apex vs the Tunze 7906 is that the 7906 pulse mode only allows for on time interval where as the Apex allows for both on time and off time interval down to the fraction of a second. With a little bit of experimentation I was able to duplicate and even improve upon the wave generater with the 7906.

Since you already have a 6205, you can get the cable for about $20 if you don't already have it and experiment and see what the results are without the wave box on. Like I said, you might just be surprised. I know I was.

 

[ostrow]

Cool. The wavebox is already gone. Thing was like a motorcycle revving on every pulse and after 2 sendbacks to Tunze and multiple parts shipments we both gave up.

I am without a controller, so what I'm effectively doing is replacing the wavebox with an Apex. So, going from wavebox plus 6105 and 6205 to just the 6105 and 6205.

What I may do depending on how much additional the controller sets me back is toss in one of the new maxijet props, or maybe 2 of them, and pulse them maybe every 10min or something. Meaning, if the 6205 will be dedicated to making a wave, then I'll need some more agitating-like flow, so use the MJs to do that.