Northstar24
The Tang Herder
So, I lost about my third Koralia and I needed to resolve the flow issues in my 180. I saw that Coralife introduced a wavemaker that was at a price point far below the Controllable Koralia's, the Tunze's and the Vortech MP's (which is what I really wanted I just can't afford the price right now, and even if I could my wife would likely be VERY upset)
I was searching far and wide for a review of these wave makers by Coralife, but I could not find anything. After talking with my LFS, I decided to go with the smaller 2600, they also have a 5800 as well.
For $265, you get two Coralife 1300 controllable powerheads and the brain box. Everything is packaged very well. I was a little hesitant about the suction cup mounting system and wondered why they didn't use magnets. The reason they didn't use magnets is because Hydor has a patent on one type of magnet, while Tunze holds the patent on the other.
Setup was fairly easy, though my only complaint is the 3 feet of cord on each pump is not enough for setting these up on a 6 foot tank, it would be really nice to have either a little bit longer of a cord (say an extra foot or so) or extension cables like the ones offered by Hydor for the controllable Koralia's. This is a entry level wavemaker, so a flaw like this is probably over lookable.
The wave maker has several modes
I also added a Mini Polario 7M to the back wall of the tank behind the rock work, it and this wave maker has given me some very nice, random flow in my tank. My current turnover is 24x - I suppose that it should be more for a full SPS tank, but right now I have mainly softies and some LPS
Overall, I think the Coralife is a good option for an entry level wave maker. The only real drawbacks I see are these
1) Cord length - too short for 6 foot tanks. I know that not everyone has 6 ft tanks, but I think they're common enough that Coralife should have thought about this a little more
2) Brain box can only control two pumps, and only the size that came with it. If I want to upgrade to the 5800, I'll need to buy the whole kit, and adding a third controllable pump is not an option. The other thing I was potentially thinking about was using one of the larger pumps with one of the smaller ones as my flow needs go. That isn't an option either
I was searching far and wide for a review of these wave makers by Coralife, but I could not find anything. After talking with my LFS, I decided to go with the smaller 2600, they also have a 5800 as well.
For $265, you get two Coralife 1300 controllable powerheads and the brain box. Everything is packaged very well. I was a little hesitant about the suction cup mounting system and wondered why they didn't use magnets. The reason they didn't use magnets is because Hydor has a patent on one type of magnet, while Tunze holds the patent on the other.
Setup was fairly easy, though my only complaint is the 3 feet of cord on each pump is not enough for setting these up on a 6 foot tank, it would be really nice to have either a little bit longer of a cord (say an extra foot or so) or extension cables like the ones offered by Hydor for the controllable Koralia's. This is a entry level wavemaker, so a flaw like this is probably over lookable.
The wave maker has several modes
- Continuous Flow Mode: Adjust either pump to flow from 40-100% of maximum power to eliminate specific dead zones or create more current for coral health.
- Tidal Mode: The two pumps are positioned at opposite ends of the aquarium. Pump A runs at maximum flow while Pump B runs at low flow for 12-hour cycle. The two pumps then switch speeds after 12 hours so Pump A runs at low flow, while Pump B runs at maximum flow, simulating a natural tidal ocean current.
- Turbulence Mode: Both pumps begin at the lowest flow settings and increases up to maximum flow, then power off for five seconds before repeating. The run time to get from the lowest to maximum flow can be adjusted from 10-60 seconds.
- Continuous/Turbulence Mode: Pump A runs continuously from 40-100% of maximum power while Pump B is in Turbulence Mode.
I also added a Mini Polario 7M to the back wall of the tank behind the rock work, it and this wave maker has given me some very nice, random flow in my tank. My current turnover is 24x - I suppose that it should be more for a full SPS tank, but right now I have mainly softies and some LPS
Overall, I think the Coralife is a good option for an entry level wave maker. The only real drawbacks I see are these
1) Cord length - too short for 6 foot tanks. I know that not everyone has 6 ft tanks, but I think they're common enough that Coralife should have thought about this a little more
2) Brain box can only control two pumps, and only the size that came with it. If I want to upgrade to the 5800, I'll need to buy the whole kit, and adding a third controllable pump is not an option. The other thing I was potentially thinking about was using one of the larger pumps with one of the smaller ones as my flow needs go. That isn't an option either
