wavemaker issues.

[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.