Wavemaster Pro sucks

uberlink

Active Member
I bought one of these things to control the powerheads in my new tank. What a piece of crap. All it does is scare the heck out of the fish all the time and stress them out. Well, that's not all it does. The constant on-off of the powerheads seems to make them come loose from the walls of the tank much more often, and I can't imagine it's the best thing for the motors. What a joke!
Word of warning...
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cannonman
One word......... seio
Imho the jury is still out on them too. I believe "Seio" is made by Rio. At any rate, any affiliation to Rio pumps makes me nervous.
 

cannonman

Member
yeah I know... but I braved it and got the set up anyways.... have NEVER been happier with a power head.
Kind of like comparing Black and Decker to DeWault.. both made by the same company but one is of superior quality.
 

uberlink

Active Member
What's the advantage of Seio? Do they snap on and off, or do they ramp up a bit more naturally?
 

cannonman

Member
The advantage in my book is that they give the same effect as the much more expensive models---- basically just what I was looking for at half the cost.
 

zman1

Active Member
Uberlink,
You left out one of their disadvages. Unless they have made a prod. change. They do not keep their settings after a powerfail. It resorts back to the default marine setting.
 

zman1

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cannonman
The advantage in my book is that they give the same effect as the much more expensive models---- basically just what I was looking for at half the cost.

They must have done something extra special with the SEIO controllers, I had them (PH) on a Red Sea wavemater and they rattle alot on the so called soft start ups. I took them off the wavemaker.
 

uberlink

Active Member
I don't know what the advantages are of the more expensive models you mention. How are they better than the wavemaster? I'm not trying to be difficult; just trying to understand if there's something out there that would work better than this piece of garbage.
 

cannonman

Member
I'm confused, how do you have a seio controller on a wavemaker??? A seio power head you mean?? They clearly state to only use them on their brand of controller because they don't turn off and on, they ramp up and down so putting them on a different brand controller was probably a really bad idea. In fact I forgot to mention that- there's no on/off like many wavemakers.. they ramp up and down but not off and on- much better that way. Seios also have the wide disspearsed stream vs. the stong narrow stream of the cheaper types.. as far as what the more expensive heads have... IMO it's a brand name thing, they cost more, they are nice, but worth that much more than this seio set up?? that I don't know about. Some of the higher shelf models come with magnents to attatch the ph's which is a really nice feature, unless you plan to hide your ph's in the LR anyways - in which case you're not going to be moving them around much. As far as the settings in the power failure... guess I'll have to check that, our power just came back on...... I'll check. If I have to "re-set" it, it's still no big deal, I have to press two buttons, takes about five seconds and we have power outs here maybe five times a year for a couple of minutes...
 

zman1

Active Member

Originally Posted by Cannonman
I'm confused, how do you have a seio controller on a wavemaker??? A seio power head you mean?? They clearly state to only use them on their brand of controller because they don't turn off and on, they ramp up and down
so putting them on a different brand controller was probably a really bad idea.

Originally Posted by zman1

They must have done something extra special with the SEIO controllers, I had them (PH
) on a Red Sea wavemater and they rattle alot on the so called soft start ups. I took them off the wavemaker.

The is the part of a 120V AC pump I would like them to explain how they ramp up and down -- The extra special something....
 

cannonman

Member
I have no idea what you're saying. They don't turn OFF and then ON they alternate back and forth from 50% power to 100% power with what ever frequency you want (from 15 seconds to 30 minutes or something like that) I can't explain the "extra something" that you're seeking...just a great water moving system for the price.
and again, the ph and control both clearly state not to use in conjunction with other brands (red sea for example)
 

uberlink

Active Member
Interesting. I may look into that. The Wavemaster + maxijet combination is horrible. I just have the maxijets on all the time now. A lot of flow, but it beats the heck out of terrifying the fish all the time.
Thanks for the info.
 

zman1

Active Member
Do the Sieo controllers use the standard 120VAC (PH) powerheads?
I don't understand how they are running at 50 percent. That can't be good for the motor. As you know when a motor winds up it draws more current through the windings until it reaches synchronous and the counter EMF then limits current through the windings. If it's using diffrent PHs with a tap for running different speeds then I could understand that...
 

cannonman

Member
Funny thing is.. I was so close to getting the same set up as you did with the maxi jet 1200s and then after a short debate and a beer went with this one on gut instinct...thank god for beer and gut instinct.
no seriously... there's better things out there and a lot of worse things out there, ask around, I can only tell you that with my little 75 set up and the two seio 1500s with controller that I am VERY HAPPY.
 

cannonman

Member
No, Seio controllers don't use a "standard" ph, you have to use seio model 1100, 1500, or 2600 and nothing else, just the same brand. These power heads aren't power heads in the traditional sense... originally pw were meant to circulate water for under gravel filters and now skimmers and a host of other things.. they were ever designed to be used for stricly water movement in a tank.. thus the single strong stream emitted from them.. where as these seio models are designed and meant to be used just for water movement in a tank. I don't know the specifics of what volt or whatever... but they do in fact not ever turn off, they go up and down in intesity as mentioned above in a frequency that you set.
 

hatessushi

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Imho the jury is still out on them too. I believe "Seio" is made by Rio. At any rate, any affiliation to Rio pumps makes me nervous.
IMO Rio is one of the best of the cheaper pumps now. I have had no problems for the last year. They are really quiet to. Also IMO the maxijet are way over rated. I found them built cheaply since the housing falls off easily and the 2 I have just quit working after a month. I also have a microjet made by the same company that quit after about 3 months running a phosphate reactor. So when everyone say get a Maxijet because they are so reliable well that may be their opinion which is not mine at this time.
I haven't any experience with wavemakers though so I can't comment on them. In the future I will look at them, probably this summer.
 

zman1

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cannonman
No, Seio controllers don't use a "standard" ph, you have to use seio model 1100, 1500, or 2600 and nothing else, just the same brand. These power heads aren't power heads in the traditional sense... originally pw were meant to circulate water for under gravel filters and now skimmers and a host of other things.. they were ever designed to be used for stricly water movement in a tank.. thus the single strong stream emitted from them.. where as these seio models are designed and meant to be used just for water movement in a tank. I don't know the specifics of what volt or whatever... but they do in fact not ever turn off, they go up and down in intesity as mentioned above in a frequency that you set.

Sorry I meant Seio PH when I said standard - standard Seio powerheads that can run by themselves without a Seio controller (Like the 1100) or are they special Seio powerheads for the Seio controller.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...highlight=Seio
 

uberlink

Active Member
I have had maxijets running trouble free for a solid year in my smaller tank. I've never had a problem with them at all, which is more than I can say for several other brands.
My favorite cheap way to go is a maxijet plus a hydor rotating flow deflector. Inexpensive way to get some nicely varying flow patterns.
 

cannonman

Member
The seio controller is only used for seio pumps model 1100 1500 or 2600. I had been using maxi jets (1200s that pump 295 GPH at optimal performance)... sps weren't a good idea.. just not enough flow from these.. problems with dead spots and detrius settling on my sand bed...several problems really, then I put these in with a combined flow of 3000GPH and wow, what a difference, no more discolored sand, no more dead spots, no more detrius settling out, everything stays suspended and goes through the overflow.. now my protien skimmer actually gets a work out where as before I hardly ever had to empty it (nothing stayed suspended long enough to get caught up) my over all flow rate is around 40-52X my tank volume and my tank is now cleaner and healthier than it has ever been.
 
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