Gyre pumps, reliable or problematic.

[NeilC]

I am getting back into the hobby after a 5 year hiatus. I previously had a mixed 180 that I had 4 hydor evolution 1500s on each side, alternating on a wave maker switch. I didn't like all the clutter on the upper sides but it got the job done satisfactorily.

I am setting up a 5 foot 100 gallon rimless that will actually have 3 viewable sides. The tank will be in the dining room against a wall to the kitchen that has an opening about the size of the tank so I figured I would put it in front of the opening and view.it from the kitchen counter and the dining room. My 1st dilemma is circulation and putting as many powerheads as possible on the side of the tank that will be in the corner. My other dilemma is my fiancee likes sand in the tank which means I cant simply put put a line of powerheads at the bottom alternating with a line of powerheads at the top creating an alternating gyre across the length of the tank.

I have considered a pair of gyres mounted close to the water line on each side because, while it will definitely be visible, it won't block the view like a powerhead mounted 6 inches are so down the side. The ability to mount them close to the surface is the most appealing aspect of the gyre for me.

My concern is as I read reviews, it seems like the gyres have a lot of problems like stopping, noise, and breaking easily during the often needed cleaning. Are they too much of a hassle or are the latest version reliable and easy to maintain?

 

[boacvh]

FWIW I struggled with all the reviews when I got mine too. I have a maxspect 350. I have had it for 1yr+ so maybe not long enough to give you a true reliability opinion but I have had so far absolutely 0 issues. It is extremely easy to clean and the amount of water this thing moves is unbelievable.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

I run reefwave 25's in my two main tanks. They are really quiet and have needed 0 maintenance in the 6 or so months I've been running them. I will say this though. They shred nem's like it's cool.

 

[Sharebear]

I have 2 maxspect 250 running in my 350G tank. i believe they are about 3 years old since the tank came with the house.
it was making quiet some noise, so i cleaned one at a time since I didn’t have a back up wave maker. After soaking for 2 hours and spending 30 minutes cleaning throughly, they are like new again.
Disconnecting problem only occurred to me once I hooked them up to icecap to control via apex. It never stopped by itself when they were controlled through the maxspect controller but I’ve noticed while I’m cleaning, I accidentally hit the wires connecting to icecap.. one of them stops... but at least it blinks red to lmk...

 

[steallife904]

i have 2 of the xf150s, have had for maybe 5 years. all good. I do have one now that is louder when i power it past 50%. May need to take it apart but its still working.

 

[NeilC]

Thanks for your honest replies. I have a good friend that I trust who really doesn't like them but for my application they really seem like the best option. If I get them and have problems I will get a lot of "I told you so crap" so I want to do my due diligence before I jump back in.

 

[Sharebear]

hahah just for your info, I have mine running at max at 75 at night and 60 during the day. I don’t hear anything but I can def hear a sound when it’s over 85? The video is at 100 percent. Although I doubt that you would need to go over that high....
I had a cyano issue on my rocks before Bc when I was using the maxspect controller the setting is normally set at like 40-50% a lot less... and I didn’t really know how to schedule it easily... which is why I got the ice cap. After playing around with the schedule... goodbye cyano

 

[NeilC]

I think my friend had a few bad experiences with first gyres and it left a bad taste in his mouth and now he won't have anything to do with them.

 

[Jimbo662]

I've got a 4ft tank with a pair of IceCap 2ks on either end. I have them set to run a max of 35% for LPS. When I originally put them on the tank they were on the back walls and angled so they directed water across the tank at the opposite front corner. I had them about 50% or so and they were pushing sand away from the front glass. I bought a 3rd so that I can just switch it out for one of the dirty one. They're pretty easy to take apart and reassemble. The app to control them does take a little getting used to but once they're set no issues.

 

[ReefBeta]

I had not so great experience with first gen gyre in terms of reliability and ease of maintenance. It was a major PITA to clean. And if I didn't clean it once every 3 months or so, it will stop on me. But I did like the flow it generate.

I'm looking at the 300 series gyre, the design has been changed dramatically, mostly for maintainability. So maybe it's a lot better now. Watched the disassembly video, it seems to be a lot easier to take apart.

 

[sp1187]

two Maxspect 230's running flawlessly since August 2018.

 

[NeilC]

Thanks for the responses. So the 1st gen of the maxspects were the biggest problem. It makes sense that the first one to do anything takes a beating.

My plan is to try 2 350s, 1 on each siderunning in anti sync. Adust the time and intensity to the point when the sand starts getting swept away from one side, switch to the other pump to sweep the sand back. Just a theory though. I would have to wait until the system is set up and running to see if it will work. I want to try to aquascape the rock into an arc from one end to the other only resting on 2 foundation rocks leaving the sand bed mostly open.

 

[minus9]

I have a similar tank, a 36x36x16 rimless 90g with 3 viewable sides. Think of it as a peninsula-lagoon. I originally started with 4 MP40's, two on the back wall and one on each side (left & right), but felt the MP40's on the sides obstructed the view on the sides and the flow was "narrow" for my style of tank. If it were a longer, standard 120 or 90g, then maybe it would've worked? I added two gyres 330's on the sides (they have the flow directors on them), I have them mounted just under the water surface. My next dilemma was controlling them all under one controller, it wasn't necessary, but to have them in sync with each other would really make life easier, so I bought a wave engine and couldn't be happier. I have sand in my tank and it's sps dominate, so there's a lot of flow going on. The key to gyres is buying extra cages and impellers, this makes cleaning them a snap. For the cost of two sets (one for each gyre) is roughly $10 or $15 more than a single MP40 wet side, so it's a no brainer. I also have my wave engine hooked up to my apex, so I can trigger feed mode, water change mode and even maintenance mode. Okay, back to the gyres. I haven't had a major issues with them, but I was getting a locked error message and found that it was an improper fitting of the impeller shaft, but they replaced the gyre (under warranty) and it's been working great. Like any pump, just keep them clean and you'll have great flow.

 

[NeilC]

Mine is 60 inches long, 20 inches tall, and 20 inches wide with 1 corner overflow.

 

[alain Bouchard]

have a pair of icecap 3k in a 180 for about 4 years, and they have been working flawlessly since. Cleaning them at 3 month interval, takes about 20 min with a toothbrush and is nothing complicated. I like the wifi dual controller that comes with it, but manually programming it is a pain. anyway I put it on random.

 

[NeilC]

What is everyone's thoughts on the wave engine?

 

[alain Bouchard]

looks great when you have different type of pumps in your setup. IE 1 gyre, 2 mp40 and 1 tunze. If you decide to go with only maxspect , or only icecap, might as well use their controller

 

[minus9]

Old pic of my setup, but you get the idea. As far as the wave engine, it's awesome to have my flow pumps under one hood, but it's a luxury to some and a must for me.

 

[headdr]

So is wave engine necessary to tie into Apex for feed/maintenance mode? Is its purpose just to sync different powerheads? I am considering the ice cap gyres as main programmable flow and cheaper powerhead to target dead spots.

 

[Jimbo662]

To tie the icecap gyres to an apex you need a 0-10v cable. The issue I have is the hole on the side of the icecap controller is too small for the jack to plug into properly. You have to cut down the end so it seats all the way. When activating feed mode on the apex I could almost never get it to shut down the gyres. I finally gave up and just use feed mode on the Hydros app. Other than that I have no problems with the pumps themselves.