Reeftec Vs Tunze Stream's wavemaking abilities

[Achilles Tang]

Hi SPS freakos...

As properly the only Reeftec user in Asia... I would like to give my critical assessment on a Reeftec PE-2 vs a Tunze Stream 6080.

I said before that the 'cone' wave that comes out of a PE-2 is bigger right out of the nozzle... whereas the 'cone' wave of a stream is a lot more narrower.

Well... i guess photos speak a thousand words... so here's a pix of a Stream in action. Note the surface action. Here's the stream facing right...

The Tunze stream's cone is narrow and the upper edge of the cone causes surface turbulence which is only seen at right sector of the tank... almost 3 ft away.

Therefore my assessment is that corals which are directly under it and a good 1 feet away may not even come into contact with the wave cone. A deep tank (2.5ft to 3ft) may possible require two Streams stacked on top of another to create enough current to reach the bottom of the tank.

[Achilles Tang]

Here's a pix of the Reeftec PE-2 in action. Also facing right.

As you can see, the PE-2's wave cone is much larger leaving the nozzle outlet. Surface turbulence is seen almost 12cm from the edge of the unit and continues all the way to the opposite end of the tank.

The entire 3ft width of my tank is covered by the Reeftec's cone wave as opposed to the very narrow cone of the Stream.. which IME, about 1.2ft max in diameter.

The Reeftec's my favourite wavemaking gadget based on its merits in terms of its excellent current-generating properties.

[Achilles Tang]

Here's the Reeftec and Stream that is almost side by side (actually, the Stream is a good 8cm forward), with the centre of the propellers 12cm deep below the water surface.

A possible reason why the Reeftec's wavecone is much broader is due to the larger propeller and a larger outlet diameter. Hopefully Tunze will come out with a version with similar dimensions.

Before anyone of you start asking me how much the Reeftec is and where to get it... I regret to inform you that the Reeftec DIY modification kit is unfortunately (unverified at this point of writing) no longer in production by the US reefer (jimmy chen) who made two sets for me.

It is basically nothing more than a very well-made acrylic enclosure surrounding a Little Giant pump fitted with a drive dog and propeller that PUSHES water.

I bought the Reeftecs because the Tunze streams were not out in the market for a good 8 months (i think) and they were much much more affordable than a Stream.

Unfortunately, the LG pump is not entirely suitable for SW use and close to a year of usage, the stainless steel shaft rusted and snapped. As this pump is a direct drive and not a magnetic drive device like the Streams, the shaft corroded faster due to torsional stress. One of my LG pumps gave out after a year too and was replaced (still using now). The other unit's broken shaft unfortunately rendered the propeller useless as it snapped off inside the plastic drive dog. Unless I can find a way to extract the rusted shaft, I will have to hold off another LG pump replacement.

From my experience and observations, 2 PE-2 reeftecs will outpower perhaps 4 Streams... which means it will cost a lot more money but get less turbulent water circulation/effective spread.

An effective spread in my tank using Streams would probably mean 4 units at each corner facing each other... an expensive exercise!

As there is little reports on Streams failing after the one year mark, the expensive streams may pay off itself over years.

My observation is that the Streams will probably face versions of itself from China/Taiwan copies so hopefully, a more cost-effective version may be available to the hobbyist market soon?

A good thing about the streams is that it works on very low wattage... vs the Reeftec (which I don't have the wattage), making it a very important to maintain water circulation using an UPS unit to keep your tank inhabitants alive for a good many hours should there be a power trip/failure.

I will probably add one or two more units of streams into my tank... and plan to mod one of them to drive water out of two outlets via a Y or T pipe fitting.

[Achilles Tang]

Well... that concludes my comparison study!

For SPS keepers, water circulation is highly important... and not just SPS but some corals like my sun corals, love vigorous water circulation. They seldom open a lot more comparatively when placed in areas of weaker water flow!

We shouldn't see oxygen bubbles going straight up like planted tanks in SPS tanks! *vicious dig at an amateur SPS keeper in the past!*

JOKING!

Here's my sun coral as of this time of writing... after being fed with Cyclop-eze copepods.

[Tanzy]

Streams have the added advantage over the Reeftec of having a dedicated controller for wavemaking. They look many times better too.

GO STREAM!

[sduu]

hav to agree with tanzy, go go stream go go!

[Achilles Tang]

Yeah, Tanzy... that's an advantage I left out.

But the cost! THE COST!!! LOL!!

[Tanzy]

Only a fraction of the cost of the corals. Minute fraction.

[junyong84]

how much does each of em cost??

[SharkBait]

how much does each of em cost??

hehehe,you wouldnt wan to know....

suffice to say its enough to set up a simple tank.

[junyong84]

i wan to noe...

[jinners]

but the reeftec is not available anymore

so the stream wins?!

=D

[Achilles Tang]

Tanzy bought his 4x Tunze Turbelle Stream with multicontroller kit for around S$2,251.

Check out his Product Review on the Streams here!

Bear in mind, the review was done in November last year... I think the prices have come down a bit.

[CalciumReef]

Four seems abit overkill.Wonder if two with muti controller would be good enough for 5 ft tank with sps

[Achilles Tang]

Four would be just nice actually.