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View Full Version : What are your favorite powerheads/wavemakers?


mandyplo
11-20-2012, 03:12 PM
I'm looking to replace one of my older power heads. Not sure I want to go with the same one again, what are you currently using that seems to be working for you or your corals? What powerheads / wavemakers do you LOVE?

Delphinus
11-20-2012, 03:25 PM
I'm pretty happy with my Tunzes... I like how I can aim the Tunzes. That ball style mount the current generation offers many degrees of freedom.

Having said that, I bought into Tunzes before Vortechs had come out. If I happened to have Vortechs. I'm sure I'd be pretty happy with them too.

Proteus
11-20-2012, 03:50 PM
Had the sicce v10. Great unit. Fully directional. Can get controller for them

kien
11-20-2012, 03:57 PM
I have also been using tunzes (6105) exclusively on my tanks for over 3 years now and have been pretty happy with them. Every once in a while I get bored with the flow direction so I'll point the tunze into a different direction. It amuses me.

lastlight
11-20-2012, 04:59 PM
I love Tunze for their near silence. More so the newer models with the shock-dampening spacers.

The 6105s I had weren't crazy reliable in terms of staying running on the 7095 controller. I'd find one or two every now and then that had stopped. I'd have to power down all 4 and start them up one at a time and then see how long that worked. Tunze was never able to really help me out with the reason why.

I honestly feel the whole controllable powerhead thing is a bit over-hyped. My absolute favorite powerhead is the Tunze 6025. It is small, silent, cheap and can be modded in 2 min to output as much as a 6045. 4 of them on my 97 made my sps more than happy.

Lampshade
11-20-2012, 05:43 PM
I hate to say... but i LOVE my Coralife DC5800's. They've run non stop in a fast pulse for close to a year now. I haven't had to clean them, and they are dead silent. They push the same water as the others, there was a comparison out there somewhere, can't find the site right now. And the best part... lifetime warranty and half the cost of the others. I would never recommend any other Coralife products I've owned, I've had their skimmer and hated the thing, but these things have been great, I'm very very happy with my purchase.

Reef Pilot
11-20-2012, 06:14 PM
I hate to say... but i LOVE my Coralife DC5800's. They've run non stop in a fast pulse for close to a year now. I haven't had to clean them, and they are dead silent. They push the same water as the others, there was a comparison out there somewhere, can't find the site right now. And the best part... lifetime warranty and half the cost of the others. I would never recommend any other Coralife products I've owned, I've had their skimmer and hated the thing, but these things have been great, I'm very very happy with my purchase.
Yeah, I have those too, and for almost a year now. Just bought another set for $229 in the US, for my other tank. Hard to beat that price for what you get.

I did have a problem, though, on the first set, as they stopped once, and were getting a bit noisy. When I took them apart, I noticed quite bit of play on the shaft inside the impeller assembly. I emailed Coralife with my findings, and they mailed out another set of pumps. So, they are definitely good on their warranty.

Not sure if this happened due to a defect, or my own doing. I had the problem shortly after having them apart for cleaning, and didn't notice then that they were worn. It's possible when I reassembled the impeller, I did not properly seat the shaft in the rubber bushings on the front, which would allow the shaft some play at that end. I also ran mine pretty hard, using the turbulence mode set at 10 seconds, so a lot of ramping up and down. Made for lots of action in the tank, but perhaps might be hard on the pumps.

Now, I am just going to leave them alone, and only clean the outside as required. Also changed the turbulence mode to ramp up and down at longer intervals.

They sure do flow a lot of water though, and yes, very quiet, when working properly.

Seriak
11-20-2012, 06:39 PM
I love my Vortec! Less cables coming out of my tank and very simple to clean and use. They also work in conjunction with my Radions! Bonus!

mandyplo
11-20-2012, 07:30 PM
I love Tunze for their near silence. More so the newer models with the shock-dampening spacers.

The 6105s I had weren't crazy reliable in terms of staying running on the 7095 controller. I'd find one or two every now and then that had stopped. I'd have to power down all 4 and start them up one at a time and then see how long that worked. Tunze was never able to really help me out with the reason why.

I honestly feel the whole controllable powerhead thing is a bit over-hyped. My absolute favorite powerhead is the Tunze 6025. It is small, silent, cheap and can be modded in 2 min to output as much as a 6045. 4 of them on my 97 made my sps more than happy.

So I'm just looking up the tunze on BRS... Do they mount to the tank walls by magnets?

subman
11-20-2012, 08:17 PM
Love my vortech's as well nice and neat. I have no cords into my DT.

riceboy
11-20-2012, 08:25 PM
if i can redo my tank i would of chozen the tunze, the vortechs are nice with the features but they are so bloody loud lol. my tank is in the living room where the tv is and i have to shut them of or turn them down if i'm watching a movie. but since my wave box is installed for the mp40 i'm kinda stuck with them

lastlight
11-20-2012, 08:26 PM
So I'm just looking up the tunze on BRS... Do they mount to the tank walls by magnets?

yes very strong ones too. i actually had 2 of them for a bit mounted on my 400 with 19mm (~3/4") glass!