wavemaker issues.

[Nano]

So I got a tunze wavemaker thingy that plugs the PH's into it and A. I can't get a wave, and B. My hydors make a clicking noise every time they start up. It's super annoying any suggestions? I have it on 10 second intervals alternating between the 2 but no luck one is in the back right corner facing the front middle and one in the back left facing front middle. Would korilias be quieter? What am I doing wrong? Lol. P.s. its a cube tank so I dont know of that makes a difference or not.

Also the PH's are 250gph each

[reefwars]

try it without your return pump on i bet yuou get a wave;P

if you do your overflow swallows the wave, a cube doesnt allow for alot of wave room like a longer tank does.


we have 2 tunze waveboxes in a 30g cube and its still hard to get a wave.

[reefwars]

as for the powerheda clicking its because they are crap:P:P

[sphelps]

10 second interval will never generate a wave. Didn't look up your tank size but in a 2 foot tank you need about 0.4 sec intervals without a wave box to generate a wave, with a wavebox it's about 0.8 sec. I think you misunderstood the potential of the timer/controller you bought.

Pretty much all powerheads will click when starting, the idea behind controllable powerheads to you can reduce the output to near zero without shutting them off which eliminates that problem. The exception is a wave box where the pump must turn off completely but tunze pumps are usually pretty good but some still have clicking issues at start up.

[Nano]

Dang. I bought it second hand for dirt cheap. Lol oh well I'll sell it I suppose the only reason I want the wave motion is for my frogspawn so its more natural the way it flows but that IMO doesn't justify going out to buy a vortech or wave box. Next tank will have some killer hardware

[blacknife]

The clicking is from little piece of engineering in ac driven powerheads that ensure they spin the right way. I belive Dc driven powerheads should not have that problem.

[MKLKT]

Originally Posted by blacknife

The clicking is from little piece of engineering in ac driven powerheads that ensure they spin the right way. I belive Dc driven powerheads should not have that problem.

This is true. The "wave" that you've got set up right now is more just erratic flow, and AC powerheads are cheap but not really meant to be operated like this. (As stated above it might work if it's not full on/off and more of a ramping up and down.)

Even if you had DC pumps you'd want the flow to be completely parallel and aimed at the far side of the tank, this would create an actual wave. You would likely either have one/two powerheads facing the same direction and alternating on and off at the same time frequency as the water would take to reach the far side of the tank and return to the powerheads. Otherwise you could have two pumps facing each other directly and timed to push back when the resonance reaches the respective side of the tank. (That still wouldn't really be a true wave without the displacement method of a wavebox.)

Depending on your aquascaping it may be easier or more beneficial to create a laminar flow throughout the tank.

[MarkoD]

The new hydro power heads advertise that they don't click

[Mandosh]

The new EVOs are worse than the originals. I have 3 1400s sitting in a box somewhere that either don't start at all, or run backwards half the time when you can get them to start. And just because you do get them running properly doesn't mean they'll stay that way for long. It seems to be a common issue, and none of the "fixes" that hydor suggests help at all.

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by Mandosh

The new EVOs are worse than the originals. I have 3 1400s sitting in a box somewhere that either don't start at all, or run backwards half the time when you can get them to start. And just because you do get them running properly doesn't mean they'll stay that way for long. It seems to be a common issue, and none of the "fixes" that hydor suggests help at all.

Wow that's kinda scary to hear.... Not promising at all. I don't believe the koralia series ever had this problem... Well not that I have heard...

As for hydor turning on and off you will definitely hear the annoying clicks. You could always build a diy wave box for your koralia and since you have a tunze controller it may be possible to make it work on full speed then low and that would definitely displace water in the diy wave box causing waves. Check out the diy section. A member Peter made one with an mp10 and it was throwing waves in his cube like a larger tunze wave box would... Impressive, I got to see it in person and I am building one now too for my mp10.