Wavemakers

[BeltwayBandit]

I am looking into buying a wavemaker for my setup.  I am leaning towards the Red Sea one, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with the Natural Wave power strip wavemaker.  It is about half the price of the Red Sea one and am just wondering what the difference is.

 

Thanks

BB

[Sph2sail]

Depending on your system, people have been talking a lot about:

 

- traditional wavemakers (e.g., Red Sea w/powerheads)

- Tunze Stream

- Closed loop using a SCWD

 

I have both a closed loop w/SCWD and the redsea.

 

s

[michaelg]

I have had a wave strip for about 4 years now.  Not as adjustable as the red-sea one, but works fine.  The red sea one I think you can adjust each pump individually, whereas the strip you can time the interval between the pumps= but constant....Hope that makes sense...  A sqwd device is nice as well to hook up to the return pump as you get alternating flow on 2 ends from your main return.  Cheap also- and mine has been running for 9 months with no need of service.  Sea-swirls are the bomb for current- but one costs about the same price as a red-sea wave maker.  If you have the space for it, personally, I'd make a dump bucket.  Nothing can compare to the surge created by 2 gallons being dumped over a 30 second interval......  Also- one final option to consider is the wave2k device.  hopefully they have the belt issues resolved...

[pez]

If I could do it over again, I would use a series of close loop systems rather than any powerheads.  That said, I have an Ocean Motion that has been chugging along for 7+ years (knock on wood).

 

-T