OceansMotions Wavemaker

[Guest Bemmer]

I am thinking of getting a 4-way OceansMotions Wavemaker.  I wanted to find out if anyone out there uses this type of wave making system and how they like it.  People on RC rave about it but I was hoping to get some local feedback.

 

If you are not familiar with this wavemaker, check it out at www.oceansmotions.com

 

Thanks.

[Guest bill33]

what i have herd they are good, i guess :D

[Lee Stearns]

Rebecca,

How is it going? The ocean motions wave maker appears to be too much plumbing for my tastes- I have 4 MJ 1200's on a wave timer strip and have no complaints. Easy, cheap, economical to run. they are all back behind the rockwork. No holes in the tank to drill- Simple no leaks to worry about-- did I say simple...

[Guest Bemmer]

Hey Lee,

I think I got it...simple.  I currently have three MJ's on my tank and the return pipe but I am not getting enough water movement.  Also, I have a bear of a time keeping those darn suction cups on the glass.  Of all the powerheads I think the MaxiJets are the best but I think I am ready to move away from them at this point.  

 

No drilling required with the OM. I would run a 2" pipe over the top of the back of the tank to the pump and them back up to the OM motor to the four outlets.  A closed loop system.  True it is NOT going to be a simple plumbing set up...but that is what husbands are for...right.   :D

[michaelg]

I think you might be the guinea pig on this one.  The website says the $199 4-port one is "currently unavailable"....  when I first looked at this site, I was a bit confused how it works, but I read it over a bit and if is doesn't have durability issues (like the wave2k, the propellar pumps, etc) then it would be great.  Kind of like an advanced sqwd device- though wouldn't running 2 of these from different pumps achieve the same thing for less than $100?  Limitation being the 3/4" on sqwd, whereas those are 1" outputs.

[HowardofNOVA]

I'm running a Mag12 with a SCWD splitting to 1" PVC on each corner. The pressure from the Mag makes the SCWD alternate every 4 seconds between units. I'm thinking of adding another in a closed loop. My water is moving nicely now, should be on a roll with both. This is with a 90g setup, depending on your tank size, a Mag9.5 or 7 will do a fine job and have a slower alternating cycle as well. The nice thing about my future plans with 2 Mag's is that I will always have an alternative if one breaks down.

Howard

[Guest Leishman]

Rich Watson (AquariaUSA), has been using them and says he loves them.

[chideloh]

How come nobody uses the hanging device that comes with the MJs? I don't use the suction cups at all.

 

Ues the hanging device and you don't ever have to worry about them falling off.

[Guest HVF21221]

I am planning on buying the 4-way very soon. I have spoke with several people who have them and they said they are built like tanks. Mine will go on top of my sequence durango pump which is 5500 gph. I have not decided which version I will go with but will decide and order in about 3 weeks. Howard

[miller]

i have seen the rich watson has even though it invloves a little extra plumbing it seems to be very affective he also had the 8 port model but it was not hooked up i would contact him about it i think he has t in some client systems also

[Guest Bemmer]

Well...thanks for all your comments.  I have been communicating with Paul, the owner of OM's and he has been very helpful.  Also, there is an excellent thread on RC about the wavemaker and it is getting rave reviews from those that have it.  I will contact Rich, thanks for the information, and see how he likes his 8-way system.

 

I decided against the SCWD because I have heard too many bad things about them breaking down.  Also, I think the OM wavemaker is something that I can "grow" with when I eventually get a larger tank.  

 

Thanks again everyone.

[AquariaUSA]

We will be featuring one of Paul's awesome creations at MACNA~Boston next month. I put the Heavy Duty 4Port Unit on the tank in the house to trial, and I can't wait to put a larger pump on it when I have the time. If you are good with plumbing, it is not at all that hard to install. I installed the 8 Port on a client system in Virginia with only a BlueLine100HD pump and it works like a champ. These units are built to last, and the only thing I could see going up (after years of abuse) would be the motor, but that too is easy to replace. As long as OceansMotions are made, we will most likely be converting a lot of our client base over to them. On the big tank we plan to build later this winter, I plan to use at least 3-4 of the OM units on the return pumps. May also add a closed loop or two depending on flow rates through the bigun! I have used just about every product out there (past 12 years) and this is the farthest I think we have come to recreating tidal effects on our captive reefs.

 

(This is our opinion, depends on client budget, etc.)

*RF Wavemakers and MaxiJets are the choice for smaller tanks.

*Streams if you want more flow than MJs, and more dial-up/dial-down speed control(but the cost...is it worth it?)

*SeaSwirls are great, but all depends on application (especially cube tanks and those under 6 feet...but limited gph)

*DIY Surge Buckets/systems are great, but can be messy!

*On bigger tanks, I would go with OMs handsdown (biased or not, these things are great and can take whatever flow you can plumb through it!)

 

http://www.cmas-md.org/iB_html....rc3.JPG

 

http://www.cmas-md.org/iB_html....bed.JPG

 

http://www.cmas-md.org/iB_html....200.JPG

[michaelg]

Rich- that was one thing I was wondering about these units is the amount of flow they can handle.  Is there an upper limit, or point of no return (especially for the ones that have only 1 port open at a time)?  

Would the only drawback on smaller systems be the extra plumbing?  I have long felt that the next big surge (no pun intended) of improvements to the hobby would be in water motion.  Seems like there are some affordable (these things are relatively cheap IMO if they last) options FINALLY about to come to surface. I am still suprised though that no one is making small surge devices- I would think one of the acrylic folks would have started by now, but these devices are largely DIY to date.  

Michael

[AquariaUSA]

Hi Michael,

I know one person is using one of the 4 ports (I think it was a HD4 not an 8) to drive over 10K gallons per hour. The way they are made, I don't see any issues coming up with point of no return unless you try hooking them up to a 5HP pump :p If I can find more amperage at the warehouse, I will hook one up on a Dolphin 9700 gph pump to test it!

 

On the surge boxes..there are a lot of nice designs on RC, even small acrylic boxes that sit on top of the tank (9x12s)...only thing I would say is keeping anyone from making and selling full-time is patent issues. You can make and sell something like that with no problem...however, so can everyone else unless you patent it.

 

I like the simplicity of using the OMs via the return lines. Plumbing can seem complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, no big deal. On most large systems you have lots of plumbing anyway

[michaelg]

On the surge boxes..there are a lot of nice designs on RC, even small acrylic boxes that sit on top of the tank (9x12s)...only thing I would say is keeping anyone from making and selling full-time is patent issues. You can make and sell something like that with no problem...however, so can everyone else unless you patent it.

 

Is a patent that big of an issue for them to make $ though?  Especially when NO ONE is making them currently? Look at all the people making becket based skimmers, TMK none of them are patent protected, yet production brings in a pretty penny for all of them.