pros and cons on vortech or Tunze Wavebox

[bluewater921]

seems like everyone is going more for the vortechs but to me i would rather have the wave box due to wires hanging on the side of my tank .. anyone else want to touch on this .. please let me know your pros and cons on either ...

[D-Nak]

Vortech - Pros: motor on outside of tank which adds minimal heat to the tank, creates a lot of flow which can be customized with many different modes. Cons: motor on outside of tank which means there isn't any water to insulate the noise. Some think they are loud. IME they get louder over time and need to be cleaned periodically. After a cleaning, mine quiet down.

Wavebox - Pros: quiet; can create good laminar flow. COns: takes up real estate in the tank

Also, keep in mind that you can place the Vortechs on the back wall of your tank and they work fine. I have two on the back wall of my 120. I've got kids and I don't want them touching them, which is why I didn't put them on the side walls.

[Reefer94]

The Wavebox doesn't have near the customization options of the Vortech, but part of me wonders if they are necessary. The only mode I ever use is Reef Crest, and I switch to feed mode/night mode which I think the Wavebox can also do. I do wish the Tunze offered a similar "ramp up/ramp down" feature for more sporatic flow patterns - rather then 15 sec fully on/15 sec fully off and so forth. Variety in the flow pattern would be a total sell on the Wavebox for me, as I also don't like the pump assembly hanging outside of the tank with the wires etc. either.

Sure you can put it on the back, but for me and I'm sure many others, that's not an ideal spot for flow creation. You can't "corner" mount etc either, and the flow is not point directed so you can't "aim" the vortech - which is both positive and negative.

The only thing selling me on the Vortech atm is the randomness and the unique flow patterns. Pretty much everything else - I don't like.

[bluewater921]

yea it seems like to me the more i read and look into the vortechs it seems alot of people are having probs with them .. thanx for your input D ..

[s4chico]

I have been running a tunze wavebox for years and just picked up a vortech. I am currently running them both until I can get another vortech. The wavebox is not wireless...so you will have wires hanging on the side regardless of which pump you use. The wavebox does take up a lot of real estate.

[D-Nak]

Originally Posted by bluewater921

yea it seems like to me the more i read and look into the vortechs it seems alot of people are having probs with them .. thanx for your input D ..

I think it's actually quite the opposite -- Vortechs in general have a very good reputation, as does Ecotech Marine. It may appear that a lot of people are having problems with them, but it could be just with so many of them in use, those who are complaining about them are more vocal than those who are pleased.

You just need to understand what you're getting yourself into -- Vortechs have obviously have their motor on the outside of the tank, which means they'll take up space on the outside of the tank and will have a power wire exposed. Some prefer this aesthetic rather than having wires inside the tank. The wetside does require periodic maintenance since algae grows on it and gunks collects inside it over time. They have a very wide spread, so they can't be aimed, but this wide flow is considered a good thing for most people, so they can just leave it on the side or back of their tanks and not worry about them. They aren't silent and does take some getting used to. If you're willing to deal with these issues, then you'll be happy with a Vortech, since they undoubtedly provide excellent water flow.

[BeanMachine]

Tunze are more reliable than vortechs in my opinion. Overtime the parts need replacing in my experience with the vortechs, and they get louder and louder overtime. Someone mentioned a good cleaning helps but I cleaned mine pretty regularly and still had the prblem. Tunze pumps are almost silent but you may hear a little click from the wave box . But as someone else said they are are a bit of an eye sore and you'll have to deal with the cord. Both are great their are just pros and cons to both. Good luck.

[Craig Borowski]

Originally Posted by Reefer94

The Wavebox doesn't have near the customization options of the Vortech, but part of me wonders if they are necessary. The only mode I ever use is Reef Crest, and I switch to feed mode/night mode which I think the Wavebox can also do. I do wish the Tunze offered a similar "ramp up/ramp down" feature for more sporatic flow patterns - rather then 15 sec fully on/15 sec fully off and so forth. Variety in the flow pattern would be a total sell on the Wavebox for me, as I also don't like the pump assembly hanging outside of the tank with the wires etc. either.

You bring up some very good points here so I thought I would chime in. The main thing that caught my attention was your wondering about the necessity of multiple 'random' flow modes. We've definitely looked at diversifying our controllers to allow for more randomization and even ramp up/down patterns, but they are, to put it bluntly, unnecessary. They do not more closely mimic water movement in the ocean and they do not by themselves result in a healthier aquarium. They do, it seems, attract many aquarists, so I suppose they're advantageous from a commercial point of view.

If you've ever spent time on a reef in the ocean, you'll have noticed there are not many currents that steadily and smoothly ramp up and down in intensity. What you find instead are currents which alternate back and forth on either a short or long time scale, these are waves and tides respectively. And these forms of flow are what we design our controllers around.

A Wavebox is a great way to make a standing wave in a tank and it's generally the most efficient way of making one. The benefit of a true standing wave is that it will keep all the water, almost every square inch, in movement. This prevents detritus from settling and allows a powerhead to 'stir' the water around and keep any detritus from just see-sawing back in forth in one area. Without a standing wave, the powerhead would need to be much stronger in order to prevent the detritus from settling in the first place.

This brings us back to the OP- the Wavebox fills a very specific role, so the comparison suggested here isn't really a good place to start. A more accurate comparison would be to our 6095 or 6105 coupled with a controller. Running one of the controllable Stream pumps in Pulse mode, where the pump's intensity is switched from 30% to 100% (or any point in between) at set intervals, is generally the best use of a single pump. Pulse flow works by colliding a faster moving column of water with a slower moving column of water. It is in our experience the best for mimicking natural reef currents- advancing waves colliding with receding waves, resulting in a natural randomization.

Superior to that option is using two pumps on opposite ends with the controller set to Interval mode. This runs one pump as described above in Pulse mode while running the other at low speed. Then at set intervals, minutes up to many hours (6 hours is suggested), the pumps swap roles. This recreates the main two types of flow, waves and tides, mentioned above.

[bluewater921]

i think im going more for the wave box .. cause i can hide the wires in my canopy and come down the back .. why would you put vortechs on the back of your tank . you would not get the coverage that you would with a wave box .. but like i said there is so many reviews on vortechs that is kind of making me think are they really worth all they are built up to be .. thank you craig for the good reading and the pluses on it ..