Time to upgrade and which one?

[shoggoth43]

I recently picked up a second Tunze 6045. It is noticeably more powerful than my older 6045. That one dates back to the flow debate a few years ago so I'm curious if there were any design changes or if there's any way to get the refurb the old one to more closely match the second one.

I'm also considering swapping them out for either a dual 6055 or 6095 setup and had some questions on that. Right now I aim them across the back to create a clockwise/counter gyre in the tank. I turn swap power to them every few hours just to stir things up and sometimes run them both at the same time. Overall I don't think I'm getting enough flow for what I want to do but also don't need massive amounts of flow since this is a backwater river tank. The tank is 60 by 18 inches by 22 tall. I'm not sure if the 6095 will have enough flow to do what I want unless it's running full tilt, or nearly so. At the same time I know the 6095 has a wider flow and I'm concerned it will spread too wide and prevent the gyre from forming and just sort of stop mid tank necessitating both pumps on all the time.

When I run both pumps now I end up with two distinct shoals as they don't like hanging out in the "surf zone" in the middle of the tank. Either pump on has them all front and center, more or less.

Is the 6055 going to be enough?
If not, is the 6095 going to be too wide or is there a narrower nozzle that would deal with it or will aiming it down the back of the tank just shove so much water that it'll be a non issue for starting the gyre?

I've considered the maxpect gyre but read mixed reviews and I don't think it's got the track record yet and needs an extra controller module for my Apex.

My cats regularly jump on top of the tank and its in a high traffic area so I feel a Vortech would have the motor getting knocked around and misaligned leading to noise and excessive wear.

I've considered the Apex Wav but the pumps seem large but more importantly I see many threads regarding how overpowering they are for a lot of tanks with fine sand and I don't want to buy a pump and then have to throttle it almost off. However, 2 6095s kind of put me in that price range with anyway, but at least have a proven longevity.

Recommendations?

-
S

 

[shoggoth43]

Time to upgrade? If so, which one?

Time to upgrade? If so, which one?

I recently picked up a second Tunze 6045. It is noticeably more powerful than my older 6045. That one dates back to the flow debate a few years ago so I'm curious if there were any design changes or if there's any way to get the refurb the old one to more closely match the second one.

I'm also considering swapping them out for either a dual 6055 or 6095 setup and had some questions on that. Right now I aim them across the back to create a clockwise/counter gyre in the tank. I turn swap power to them every few hours just to stir things up and sometimes run them both at the same time. Overall I don't think I'm getting enough flow for what I want to do but also don't need massive amounts of flow since this is a backwater river tank. The tank is 60 by 18 inches by 22 tall. I'm not sure if the 6095 will have enough flow to do what I want unless it's running full tilt, or nearly so. At the same time I know the 6095 has a wider flow and I'm concerned it will spread too wide and prevent the gyre from forming and just sort of stop mid tank necessitating both pumps on all the time.

When I run both pumps now I end up with two distinct shoals as they don't like hanging out in the "surf zone" in the middle of the tank. Either pump on has them all front and center, more or less.

Is the 6055 going to be enough?
If not, is the 6095 going to be too wide or is there a narrower nozzle that would deal with it or will aiming it down the back of the tank just shove so much water that it'll be a non issue for starting the gyre?

I've considered the maxpect gyre but read mixed reviews and I don't think it's got the track record yet and needs an extra controller module for my Apex.

My cats regularly jump on top of the tank and its in a high traffic area so I feel a Vortech would have the motor getting knocked around and misaligned leading to noise and excessive wear.

I've considered the Apex Wav but the pumps seem large but more importantly I see many threads regarding how overpowering they are for a lot of tanks with fine sand and I don't want to buy a pump and then have to throttle it almost off. However, 2 6095s kind of put me in that price range with anyway, but at least have a proven longevity.

Recommendations?

-
S

 

[shoggoth43]

Mods can you remove the duplicate?

 

[rvitko]

The 6045 has had no changes besides the magnet holder/clamp design since 2008, the last change was the change to the mechanical flow adjustment. My guess is the propeller magnet has just gotten weak or the propeller has worn down. A new 6025.700 propeller assembly should bring it back up. If it was my tank in that size assuming it was mixed reef, I would go with 2 6095's, if it was SPS intensive, I would even consider the 6105's. For me the practical limit of a pair of 6045's is about a 60 gallon tub type tank. I had a 58 with 2 6045's and my focus was blastos, acanths, and an anemone, I ended up upgrading to 6055's and it was a big improvement even on a smaller tank.

 

[shoggoth43]

Roger,

Thanks for the reply. It's my black water Amazon tank so I don't really need huge velocity but just need to get the whole water column moving at a reasonable clip. I've abandoned my earlier gyre direction and am just aiming it across the top towards the center of the side panes of glass. That's working better as a gyre but definitely not getting the flow I want to see as there's barely any movement of food of particles on the sandbed as it flows back in the other direction. I'm not really sure just how high I can go with flow rate before it becomes and issue. I've considered the Wav and other pumps by I like the size of the Tunze and the fact that I can get them to run at under 1800 gph. I would like to have to option to turn the pumps down to a sedate rate for feeding or at night or just because I feel like it.

I've noticed a pH spike reading on my Apex when I turn on the old 6045 so there may be something wrong with the motor assembly. I'm going to try it on a different outlet and see if it still does it. The probe wiring is nowhere near it so it might be doing something funky and may be time to replace it entirely.

-
S

 

[rvitko]

Ah, I think I answered an email from you last week, it is possible you didn't get it, my mail client was acting up and emails just stayed in the outbox and I tried everything until I finally broke down and worked in the Text Edit mode altering the commands and that worked, but I did delete a bunch of emails and tried to resend them.

For what you are doing, 2 6055 is the way to go.

It is possible, a ground probe might fix it, it may be the probe, think of a pH probe as a 100mV battery, platinum and platinum oxide instead of lead and lead oxide and 3 molar KCL instead of Sulfuric Acid, they do die, even just sitting on a shelf, and the platinum wire can also pick up stray current. Even the best pumps though induce some current in the water, the magnet field acts like a dynamo so even without actual stray voltage, you are making a weak electrical field in the water.

 

[shoggoth43]

I may need a 2nd ground probe in the tank. Once the main pump is off there's no electrical path to the ground probe in the sump.

I will email Tunze customer service to see about getting a replacement impeller.

Is there any benefit or drawback to going with the 6095 vs the 6055 other than the expense?

 

[rvitko]

If this were a marine tank, I would definitely suggest the 6095 where the broader more diffuse flow would be most suitable and the higher turnover rate would be wanted. For your purposes, the 6055 has more reach because the output is 1.5" instead of 2" and the lower flow is probably better suited to reaching across a plant tank and stirring up debris. I usually like lower flow in my plant tanks, my home 210 just uses a single Turbelle E-Jet 3005, I have just shy of 800 gph. With that said, I have seen specialized tanks use our products that I would consider more on the marine end with great results. The Streams work well for reducing aggression in African cichlids and helping keep O2 levels up, they work well with riverine fish, and the LFS in town used the wave box with great results on a specialty Asian plant tank where the focus were Madagascar lace leafs, they had both varieties and they were the healthiest I had ever seen, as you may know this plant is a PITA because the leaves clog with debris and die. Typically more turnover will reduce CO2 levels and increase Oxygen because of the increased surface exchange that results.

 

[shoggoth43]

Sounds good. One other question ( well I guess a couple ), is the minimum rate the actual minimum of the unit, or is that a limitation of the controller that comes with the unit? Can that amount be reduced further with the Apex or one of the other controllers, so it ramps up smoothly from off to whatever the chosen speed it, or is that simply a limitation of the driver that comes with the nanostream? So the Apex might have a 0-30% ramp applied and the powerhead would be off until it hit say 15% ( or whatever minimum value it is ) and then suddenly kick on at that minimum speed and ramp up from there? Is it a smooth ramp or does the driver have distinct steps to it vs the 0-100% ramp on my Apex?

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S

 

[rvitko]

It is the actual minimum, that is not to say it wouldn't run at 15% but it could harm the pump. The minimums are based on two things, having enough flow to cool the motor and enough speed that the propeller/magnet is stable, think of a gyroscope going to slow, it starts to wobble and may stall.