Circulation Pumps & Wave Controllers

[ECU_Pirate]

I have gotten quotes from a few lfs and am curious to know your opinions on the circulation pumps and wave controller recommended.

My reef tank will be either 125g or 150g Marineland (72x18x22 or 72x18x27)

Options given are:

1. Jebao SW4 Wavemaker Propeller Pump RW4/PP4 (Qty of 2)
2. Hydor 3rd Gen 1350 Circulation Pump (Qty of 2)
3. Aqua Top 1321 Circulation Pumps (Qty of 2)
4. Hydor Gen 3 2450 Powerhead Circulator Pump (Qty of 2) AND a Hydor Smartwave Wave Controller

Thanks!

 

[five.five-six]

I know they are expensive but there is a reason that everyone who is serious about this hobby eventually migrates into tunze or vortech, tunze being my preferrance. I'd start with one of those options.

 

[bif24701]

I know they are expensive but there is a reason that everyone who is serious about this hobby eventually migrates into tunze or vortech, tunze being my preferrance. I'd start with one of those options.

Two Tunze 6105s for the win!

Two Vortech MP40s will get it done also.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mcgyvr]

I have gotten quotes from a few lfs and am curious to know your opinions on the circulation pumps and wave controller recommended.

My reef tank will be either 125g or 150g Marineland (72x18x22 or 72x18x27)

Options given are:

1. Jebao SW4 Wavemaker Propeller Pump RW4/PP4 (Qty of 2)
2. Hydor 3rd Gen 1350 Circulation Pump (Qty of 2)
3. Aqua Top 1321 Circulation Pumps (Qty of 2)
4. Hydor Gen 3 2450 Powerhead Circulator Pump (Qty of 2) AND a Hydor Smartwave Wave Controller

Thanks!

The more I see you post the more I want to help you (I'm local in Wake Forest) and cut the LFS's out of the picture. But you are doing a great job of checking/learning before you break out the wallet..

If only you were a hot blonde and my wife wouldn't mind :lol2:

#1-Not enough flow for you tank.. 4 would be better. or 2 x PP8 really
#2-same.. too little flow
#3-same.. and cheap junk (fish room right )
#4-sufficient flow.. I personally don't like running AC pumps on "wave" controllers.. They weren't meant to ever do that and from what I've seen in the past just make an annoying sound when turning on/off and shorten the life of the product due to that use..

In general you want about 30x your tank size in GPH of powerhead flow..
Some SPS coral tanks run 50, 75, and even 100x flow..
So for a 125G tank you want a min of about 4000 GPH of flow for a happy tank..

of the choices I'd either do 2 x PP8 or #4 but without the wave controller..
or as stated if money is no object and you want to do this "right" and have a product that should last forever.. Tunze stuff (or Vortech but I'm not a fan boy of them)

 

[Cheapreef]

I agree 2 P4 are not even close to enough for that size tank. I run a PP8 and PP4 in my 21 gal nano at 80%, SPS like a lot of flow.

 

[ECU_Pirate]

The more I see you post the more I want to help you (I'm local in Wake Forest) and cut the LFS's out of the picture. But you are doing a great job of checking/learning before you break out the wallet..

If only you were a hot blonde and my wife wouldn't mind :lol2:

#1-Not enough flow for you tank.. 4 would be better. or 2 x PP8 really
#2-same.. too little flow
#3-same.. and cheap junk (fish room right )
#4-sufficient flow.. I personally don't like running AC pumps on "wave" controllers.. They weren't meant to ever do that and from what I've seen in the past just make an annoying sound when turning on/off and shorten the life of the product due to that use..

In general you want about 30x your tank size in GPH of powerhead flow..
Some SPS coral tanks run 50, 75, and even 100x flow..
So for a 125G tank you want a min of about 4000 GPH of flow for a happy tank..

of the choices I'd either do 2 x PP8 or #4 but without the wave controller..
or as stated if money is no object and you want to do this "right" and have a product that should last forever.. Tunze stuff (or Vortech but I'm not a fan boy of them)

Haha! Well hey there, neighbor! I used to live in N. Raleigh, so not too far from Wake Forest. Nice area. I appreciate you wanting to help - thank you for your feedback on those pumps and steering me in the right direction. Hope you don't mind if I PM you to get your feedback on some of these lfs since it seems I'm about to enter a long-term relationship with at least one of them?

 

[jda]

If you want not to terribly expensive and good performance, look at AquaMedic EcoDrift. They are a bit more than the Chinese stuff, but last longer and have US support and warranty. They have all kinds of sizes.

I use Tunze too for my main tanks, but have a few AquaMedics in some fuges and frag tanks.