Gyre Wave Maker. Worth it?

[iMi]

I’m about to buy the ReefWave 25 and just wonder if the extra cost is worth it. What I have now is the $70 Hygger wave maker. Are gyre wave makers really that much better? Is the investment worth it? They all seem crazy expensive for what they are... or maybe it’s just me. I welcome your feedback!

 

[HB AL]

Yes they are crazy expensive for something that just moves water. Imo not worth it but if you have money burning a hole in your wallet and want one then get it.

 

[iMi]

Yes they are crazy expensive for something that just moves water. Imo not worth it but if you have money burning a hole in your wallet and want one then get it.

That’s kind of where I’m at right now.

 

[iMi]

Any other thoughts? I'm leaning toward not getting it, but welcome any other suggestions and recommendations.

 

[Hincapiej4]

I have two reef wave 45s. Happy with my purchase. Basically handles all my flow as needed. I also have one Nero 3 for just a little more flow coming from a different direction than the waves can give.

The way I have them setup, I get very chaotic flow, I'm happy with my purchase.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

I had the icecap 3k and taking it apart and cleaning it usually twice a week became too much of a hassle for me. I switched to 2 tunze turbelle or whatever it's called and it moved the same amount of water and way less maintenance.

 

[mdb_talon]

I definitely prefer my gyre style pumps in my bb frag tanks (though I use jebao so much cheaper). In my DT with sand I had a hard time balancing enough flow without stirring up the sand. That is in a 65 cube though and imagine they would work great in a longer thank.

 

[iMi]

Bump... any other feedback? I’m still on the fence.

 

[alysak6075]

I had the maxspect gyre xf350s on my 220Gallon, What garbage. When it worked it worked for a week and then you need to break them down and clean them. It gets OLD fast.

Got vortech MP-40s now. SOOOOO much better. Also run other tanks with cheap powerheads, still would rather run the cheap stuff over any gyre.

 

[twwety]

Provides a lot of flow to a large area with out been very visible. Only draw back is if it kicks up sand there's very little way to move it so it doesn't. But I love mine!
Should note i just own the cheap jebao cp-40 and didnt clean for a year and it never stopped, slowed done for sure but never stoped.

 

[iMi]

I had the maxspect gyre xf350s on my 220Gallon, What garbage. When it worked it worked for a week and then you need to break them down and clean them. It gets OLD fast.

Got vortech MP-40s now. SOOOOO much better. Also run other tanks with cheap powerheads, still would rather run the cheap stuff over any gyre.

Thanks for your feedback. I would be getting the RedSea ReefWave 25 which I hear is supposed to be more reliable and easier to clean/assemble.

 

[NashobaTek]

I bought 2 cheap $40 wave makers/ power heads, one on each end of the 125 and I have no dead spots , but I also have hob filters

 

[iMi]

Provides a lot of flow to a large area with out been very visible. Only draw back is if it kicks up sand there's very little way to move it so it doesn't. But I love mine!
Should note i just own the cheap jebao cp-40 and didnt clean for a year and it never stopped, slowed done for sure but never stoped.

What do you love about it?

 

[alysak6075]

Thanks for your feedback. I would be getting the RedSea ReefWave 25 which I hear is supposed to be more reliable and easier to clean/assemble.

Sure i get it. xf350s werent useless, dont get me wrong. But i want something that i dont need to take apart every week. If i can run a return pump for 2+ years without turning it off or any other maintenance, thats what i expect from all my other stuff. Just my 2 cents .

MP-40s have been in the tank for 3 months now. All the maintenance I did on them was update firmware. Still run awesome

 

[Greybeard]

I bought an original Maxspect gyre. Used it for about 6 months, got tired of cleaning it, and sold it off.

A good friend has a pair of the IceCap gyres. I guess they work OK, but _man_ they're noisy. Bad whine. No way I could live with them.

Another friend has a pair of Red Sea gyres. Quieter than the IceCaps, certainly. Not so needy on cleaning as the Maxspect I had. Only problem I have with them is the overly complicated control module. Ok, so they've got the online ReefBeat thing... I've not tried that, but just getting the durned things to run from the included controller is an absolute nightmare... and I'm a software engineer.

Happily, I switched back to plain old Tunze wave pumps. Simple, flexible, reliable, and powerful.

 

[twwety]

Its high and out of the way so there's no cords in the tank and the flow is so broad and strong that it easy to provide tank wide flow with out having to worry about wich way its pointed it also has provides flow to the bottom not just pointing at the bottom but across the bottom wich picks up stuff of the sand and puts it back it back into the water colum. As for the jebao speicaly its cheap and workes better then it has any right to for the price difference and if you're handy you can have a an apex control it completely.

 

[iMi]

Well, I went for it... I have the ReefWave 25 arriving hopefully by Monday. I guess I'm all in with Red Sea now. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[Clownfishy]

Well, I went for it... I have the ReefWave 25 arriving hopefully by Monday. I guess I'm all in with Red Sea now. We'll see how it plays out.

I would be interested to see what you think of them and if you are having to clean them as much as I hear others have had to.

 

[Waboss]

I see you've already ordered, but I'll give you my 2 cents too

I had the original Maxpect Gyre when it came out. Moved a lot of water, but the controller sucked and it was not really built well. I had to replace parts and cleaning it was a bear. So I switched it out for something else (I can 't remember what, at that time I was testing a lot of different pumps to get what I wanted).

Recently, I went back and tried the Maxspect XF330 and it was great. Moved a lot of water, almost no dead spots with 1 pump, and near silent. I did swap it out for an MP40 just because I wanted to see if I could get by with it (it's easier to clean, especially if you have an extra wet side). And while it definitely got the job done, in my tank, it had some real hot spots that were ticking off my SPS, so I put the XF-330 back in.

I can't speak to the Red Sea versions, but I hear they work pretty well. I have an Icecap gyre I'm itching to try out, but I hear they're hit or miss.......guess I'll see.

For folks who say the gyres are hard to clean. I think the newer ones are easier from my experience. I only "deep clean" mine about every 6 months, which isn't' too bad. About once a month I just take a bucket of water/citric acid over to my tank and put the pump in that, running, for about an hour, then put it in a bucket of clean RO for a few minutes to rinse it off and then back in the tank. No taking anything apart or pulling the wiring to take it to the sink.

 

[iMi]

I'll report back on how well the RedSea one is working. Should be here next week.