280g Inwall

[reefwars]

"La la la la I have this hobby because it helps me deal with stress la la la la la la la la la!"



deal with or cause lol i think i had them mixed up when i started i thought also it helped you deal with stress not be the MAJOR cause of it lol hope it works out for you man

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

La la la la I have this hobby because it helps me deal with stress la la la la la la la la la!

It does help to deal with stress; because your tank can stress you out so much the stress in the rest of your life seems pretty minimal in comparison Probably shouldn't add the lol smiles because really it's not far from the truth

I remember my wave box was pretty touchy, there was a few times we thought it was broken because it didn't seem to be working. If you don't tweak it just right and get it to the "sweet spot" it doesn't work very well or pretty much does not work at all. Did the pumps fail on them or are they just not dialed in right?

[Delphinus]

I'm thinking it's the controller because both waveboxes are controlled off the same unit. The controller powers on and you can see the little LED's switching on and off but the pumps themselves, both of them, remain off. I tried bumping the impellers in case they were just having trouble starting but that didn't do anything. To actually remove the waveboxes and take them apart will be a bit of an effort because of the tight spot they are mounted in .. but at least taking them off the controller to see if that is the problem should be an easy enough first step. If they power on and stay on without the controller in the equation then at least we know it's the controller and not the stream pumps themselves. And yeah all my Tunzes are the old style streams so I guess at this point if anything further on them goes then I just start saving the pennies for a Vortech.

Would a single MP40 be enough in a 6' tank? I think a MP60 would probably be too much? I was really hoping to get swish-swish wave effect with the polyps in this tank if/when I ever get to the point I'm comfortable trying corals in it...

[lastlight]

Tony I think all the 6101, 6201 etc are repairable but not the 6100, 6200 series. I think it's the old hockey puck transformers that are no longer made and if I recall correctly they are part of the pump. But for both to go at the same time...that's pretty much impossible. So the red and green are coming on opposite each other...what about the other red light that says the pumps are on?

[Delphinus]

I can only recall two LED's, a green and a red and they always alternate. I don't recall a third LED to indicate pump status. In short the controller looks fat dumb and happy and doing it's regular thing, the pumps just sit there as if they are not getting any power. No hockey puck transformers on these - they have two cigar-box sized 24v transformers then a little 1" black square box with 3 cables attached, one is the 24V supply, one goes to the controller port (master or slave), and the last is the lead to the pump drive itself. I'm probably getting the terminology wrong I know they call some things drivers and some things motor drives or blabbity blabbity.

Lance do you just use the Vortech's or do you use other things as well?

I've never quite embraced the look of all these things in the tank, I thought I'd get over it but I can see why people go closed-loops, I'm still not buying into that idea for myself but I can see ditching both waveboxes and all 4 Tunzes and going the Vortech route if I could convince myself what that would be like on THIS tank. It's hard to describe, I know nobody has ever regretted the purchase of them but to buy two of them is basically a thousand dollars more in cost than what I have to spend. I don't know .. I just .. I just don't know anymore. I don't know. I just don't know where to go with things some days. I'm tired.

[Delphinus]

Ok I have to share this. This actually made me LOL:

http://www.funlol.com/15983/Build_your_own_chopper.html

Admittedly, a bit of a stretch from reef tanks to R/C helicopters, but the idea feels about right.

[lastlight]

It's not a deal-breaker at least man. I saw the setup and you should be ready to cycle and get on with it. The wave thing would be nice but at least you can sort out that issue WHILE the tank gets it's reef on.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Lance do you just use the Vortech's or do you use other things as well.

2x MP40's, Turbelle Stream2, Korallia Evo 1400, Barracuda return pump via 2x 1" return pipes. Guesstimating about 12,000 GPH or about 50x turnover. I change up the settings on the Vortechs fairly often: going with a wave for awhile and then to erratic movement for awhile. I don't really have many SPS in this tank so it's probably overkill, but some of my LPS have really grown into large colonies, so it's not really too much flow. I use the night setting on the Vortechs. I think the LPS appreciate some lull time.

[Delphinus]

So I guess it's not the controller. Next step is get them out of the tank take them apart and see what's going on inside.

FWIW it does have the 3rd LED for "pump on" ad yeah it's indicating on.

Is all this worth it? I kinda doubt it.

Tomorrow .. I'll poke some more at it tomorrow. Today, I'm just done. Tomorrow will be the turnaround day that makes all the crap of the last 3 weeks seem like a distant memory. Or .. not. Time will tell.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I'm thinking it's the controller because both waveboxes are controlled off the same unit. The controller powers on and you can see the little LED's switching on and off but the pumps themselves, both of them, remain off. I tried bumping the impellers in case they were just having trouble starting but that didn't do anything. To actually remove the waveboxes and take them apart will be a bit of an effort because of the tight spot they are mounted in .. but at least taking them off the controller to see if that is the problem should be an easy enough first step. If they power on and stay on without the controller in the equation then at least we know it's the controller and not the stream pumps themselves. And yeah all my Tunzes are the old style streams so I guess at this point if anything further on them goes then I just start saving the pennies for a Vortech.

Would a single MP40 be enough in a 6' tank? I think a MP60 would probably be too much? I was really hoping to get swish-swish wave effect with the polyps in this tank if/when I ever get to the point I'm comfortable trying corals in it...

A single MP40 won't be enough to make a decent wave IMO, certainly enough to get some good water movement though. I've got two MP40's in a six foot tank and use them more for erratic current than a straight wave.