Tunze 6065's and Sicce Wave Surfer

[uscharalph]

In May of 2011 I upgraded my flow pumps buying a Sicce Wave Surfer and 2 Sicce Voyager 4 Stream Pumps. Then new flow was just what I always wanted. Then I started having problems with the Voyage 4s. They would just stop working. I exchanged them and eventually had the same problem. I read on the internet that I wasn't the only one having this issue.

Eventually I upgraded them to Hydor Koralia Pumps (1400 gph). Things were great till they would start misbehaving. 8 time out out 10 they would run in reverse, sucking in instead of flowing forward. I exchanged them and eventually had the same problem.

Today I upgraded to Tunze 6065's. Do you think I should have any problems running these pumps with the Sicce Wave Surfer?

Occasionally when the Tunze's fire they click. All the other times they are very quiet.

 

[Craig Borowski]

Hi Ralph,

The 6065 is a non-controllable pump and turning it on and off repeatedly will definitely shorten its lifespan. It will either wear the impeller out quickly, damage the front housing or burn up the motor itself. It also voids the warranty. So, in short, that isn't something we recommend.

It's worth pointing out though that you can get very good results by just aiming the streams of the 6065s so that they collide with each other. This creates lots of turbulence and randomizes the flow patterns, and of course won't cause any damage to the pumps.

 

[rvitko]

Another option is to simply alternate them on timers at much longer intervals of say 1hr and have a short overlap.

Your experience with various non controllable prop pumps on wavemakers is exactly why we don't recommend it, this is simply the mechanical nature of these pumps and they are not long term compatible with wavemakers, regardless of brand. If you need controllability, the DC pumps which use electronics to control start up instead of a mechanical system are the way to go.

 

[uscharalph]

Another option is to simply alternate them on timers at much longer intervals of say 1hr and have a short overlap.

Your experience with various non controllable prop pumps on wavemakers is exactly why we don't recommend it, this is simply the mechanical nature of these pumps and they are not long term compatible with wavemakers, regardless of brand. If you need controllability, the DC pumps which use electronics to control start up instead of a mechanical system are the way to go.

Thanks Roger. I've been working with Dan @ Age of Aquariums to change out the 6065's to the 6105's and a Tunze controller. Any assistance you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Ralph