DMattisonMHR
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2020
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 32
- What state or country do you live in
- North Carolina
How's it going reef2reef. I have not been very active on here before but I want that to change. I'm all over fb and Instagram feel free to add me. I've always ended up here for all the trustworthy information. So I feel like this is where I should be spending my time. Thanks for having me.
Wanted to start off with a review of my wave engine.
My review on the Hydros Wave Engine
fb: Dave Mattison
ig: @MountainHighReef

I have been running the Wave Engine for over 3 months now.
I was really interested in this product after first hearing about it being able to control all the flow in my tank from one device. It has been a very beneficial piece of equipment for someone like me who uses multiple brand wave pumps. The Wave Engine can control and power four devices, and is compatible with pump brands such as Maxspect Gyre, Reef Octopus Octo Pulse, TUNZE nanostream, and EcoTech VorTech. The 1-10 cable can connect up to four devices and actually has a wide range of possibilities including some return pumps like Varios and Abyyz.

Out of the box the Wave Engine felt a little lighter than I thought it would be, but it seems that all the ports are high quality and it uses actual air craft connectors. The Wave Engine is actually splash proof and rated to where it's fine to put under your sump. This is unlike most controllers, so it's a plus for me. Also, there is some peace of mind in knowing that manufacturer warranties will not be voided on pumps hooked up to the Wave Engine.

Once you fire it up you start to see the lights spinning around. You can toggle that feature on or off if you'd like -- I have mine on at noon and turned off at midnight. I actually really enjoy the lights. So I went ahead and ordered four direct drive cables and the 1 - 10 Cable because of how inexpensive they are (about $12 per connector). I have a reef octopus skimmer and a varios return pump that are both ran off the 1 through 10 port. I have the Eco Tech version of the Wave Engine and now have a MP 10 and 2 MP 40s running wirelessly, and 2 icepcap 2k's. One is on my display and one is on my frag tank all from my Wave Engine.

I really enjoy the cloud based app because you don't need to be an engineer to understand it. It works much like Wi-Fi smart home devices most of us are familiar with like Alexa, Google Home, etc.
Two important things to understand on the Wave Engine are two categories: Presets and Triggers. The Preset is your flow pattern of choice. The Trigger activates your Preset. When you initially set up your pumps you will select their names and once you go into the pump you will see you can change the position of where you have the pump located in your tank. You can change the speed range, the group they are in, whether they invert, and you can switch the direct ports around to what port you have it hooked to. All of this can be changed very easily through their user-friendly app. The people I see having a problem with the Wave Engine are just over thinking it because they're used to the Apex.
If you made it this far you can hear the reason that most intrigued me to purchase a Wave Engine. It's interesting how some people argue that flow should never be changed... but on the other hand there are people like James Silva, Duke_of_coral_62 on Instagram, that shuts his flow off at night other than his two sea sea swirlir pumps running off of his return. This might sound insane to many, but the results speak for themselves. He has stunning growth within 1.5 years. Because corals feed at night (a known fact) he believes that allowing a calm flow could help with food falling on the polyps of SPS corals that are known to be very small. This then allows them to eat more at night, their dominant feeding time. Latey I have been tempted to try this, but I have still personally not made the switch to stopping my flow at night. I'm hesitant to make a drastic change for what is arguably the second most important variable in this hobby.
Thanks for reading my review. Hope it helps you get a better understanding of the product.
Wanted to start off with a review of my wave engine.
My review on the Hydros Wave Engine
fb: Dave Mattison
ig: @MountainHighReef

I have been running the Wave Engine for over 3 months now.
I was really interested in this product after first hearing about it being able to control all the flow in my tank from one device. It has been a very beneficial piece of equipment for someone like me who uses multiple brand wave pumps. The Wave Engine can control and power four devices, and is compatible with pump brands such as Maxspect Gyre, Reef Octopus Octo Pulse, TUNZE nanostream, and EcoTech VorTech. The 1-10 cable can connect up to four devices and actually has a wide range of possibilities including some return pumps like Varios and Abyyz.

Out of the box the Wave Engine felt a little lighter than I thought it would be, but it seems that all the ports are high quality and it uses actual air craft connectors. The Wave Engine is actually splash proof and rated to where it's fine to put under your sump. This is unlike most controllers, so it's a plus for me. Also, there is some peace of mind in knowing that manufacturer warranties will not be voided on pumps hooked up to the Wave Engine.
Once you fire it up you start to see the lights spinning around. You can toggle that feature on or off if you'd like -- I have mine on at noon and turned off at midnight. I actually really enjoy the lights. So I went ahead and ordered four direct drive cables and the 1 - 10 Cable because of how inexpensive they are (about $12 per connector). I have a reef octopus skimmer and a varios return pump that are both ran off the 1 through 10 port. I have the Eco Tech version of the Wave Engine and now have a MP 10 and 2 MP 40s running wirelessly, and 2 icepcap 2k's. One is on my display and one is on my frag tank all from my Wave Engine.

I really enjoy the cloud based app because you don't need to be an engineer to understand it. It works much like Wi-Fi smart home devices most of us are familiar with like Alexa, Google Home, etc.
Two important things to understand on the Wave Engine are two categories: Presets and Triggers. The Preset is your flow pattern of choice. The Trigger activates your Preset. When you initially set up your pumps you will select their names and once you go into the pump you will see you can change the position of where you have the pump located in your tank. You can change the speed range, the group they are in, whether they invert, and you can switch the direct ports around to what port you have it hooked to. All of this can be changed very easily through their user-friendly app. The people I see having a problem with the Wave Engine are just over thinking it because they're used to the Apex.
If you made it this far you can hear the reason that most intrigued me to purchase a Wave Engine. It's interesting how some people argue that flow should never be changed... but on the other hand there are people like James Silva, Duke_of_coral_62 on Instagram, that shuts his flow off at night other than his two sea sea swirlir pumps running off of his return. This might sound insane to many, but the results speak for themselves. He has stunning growth within 1.5 years. Because corals feed at night (a known fact) he believes that allowing a calm flow could help with food falling on the polyps of SPS corals that are known to be very small. This then allows them to eat more at night, their dominant feeding time. Latey I have been tempted to try this, but I have still personally not made the switch to stopping my flow at night. I'm hesitant to make a drastic change for what is arguably the second most important variable in this hobby.
Thanks for reading my review. Hope it helps you get a better understanding of the product.
