sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Got a goodie box in the mail from the UPS guy, and in it was a lovely Speedwave DC pump! If you've read any review on the RLSS Waveline DC pump, well this is the exact same pump... THE EXACT SAME. This isn't a knock off, it's the same thing, different manufacturers simply sell the same thing under a different name. I've also seen another one called the Diablo pump, which is also the same exact thing except for a few of the plastic parts are red instead of black.
While I'm not going to do a complete overview of the pump, there are plenty out there that already have, simply google Waveline DC pump. Advanced Aquarist did a review, I think Reefbuilders did a review (or at least talked about it in some way), BeanAnimal gave his review on it. So no need to go over everything all over again. What I will say is the SpeedWave was $100 cheaper than the Waveline, and at $199 that makes it a very competitive price.
So why go with a DC pump? Well there are a number of factors, first of which it's more energy efficient a comparable AC pump would be the Waterblaster HY-10000 which also puts 2600gph, but runs at 125 watts compared to 85 watts for the DC pump. Also it's controllable, so if I don't want/need 2600gph you can dial it down (in 6 increments, so there's not infinite precession in dialing it in), but you can run it at lower power too for me it was $159 for the 1320gph model or $199 for the 2640gph model... for $40 extra and to let me decide how much flow I want I'll take it! Now you could probably cannibalize the controller and run it externally, however RLSS is releasing the 6000 and 12000 versions which allow you to control via an Apex or something, since they don't make the pump either, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Speedwave version soon too
Lastly due to the adjustable nature of the pump, it slowly ramps up it doesn't just apply all that power at once and stress the impeller. If you press the feed mode it stops, then 10 minutes later (or if you press feed again) it slowly ramps up to whatever setting you currently had it at, same goes for if you just turn the pump off and on (unplug it). Also this pump is cheap, DC pumps aren't new but they were not cheap at all, I think only the Red Dragon brand has one anywhere near the same ballpark, and that would easily push into the 4 figures range.
The pump itself has a really long cord, and this cord attaches to the controller via a plug that screws together with a water tight seal, so even if you do something stupid (like no drip lines, leave it on the floor, whatever) water isn't getting into the cord at all, and you can keep it far away. The controller then attaches to a big fat brick power supply since it uses DC power. The ports are 1.25" I believe, although I measured 1.5" for the threads.. didn't think the outside diameter would be that big, but it does come with 3 different sized hose barbs too if you want to go the flexible tube route instead of hard threaded tubes. One difference I see between this and the Advanced Aquarist reviewed Waveline model is that there are twice as many barbs for the Waveline, I'm guessing to screw into the input side as well as the output, no big deal for me as I plan on running this pump internally (Hey get a free heater while you're at it! Even though it's only 85watts of heater). I also really like the fact that the controller on this is sealed, so if you have wet dripping fingers you can still press any of the buttons without worrying about killing the electronics in it.
Unfortunately due to the size of the outlet (and me not having any adapters on hand) I can't test out the actual flow vs. what I already have. My current pump is a Rio HF12 (inexpensive and low power), and that has a 3/4" output. I did manage to rig something up with some flexible tube that I use for water changes and one of the barbs, however it's a long stretch of tube, and has 2 90° elbows on the end to hang it into the tank (it was made for water changes not return tubing).. well firing it up, I can say that about power level 2 (out of 6) it equals about the same return strength (judging by how high water gets in the overflow), it also is considerably quieter too. When I cranked it up to 6 I hear a light hum, a little less than a vortech pump makes, but after a bit that went away, not sure how it would compare to Waterblaster pump, the two who had them on the tank tour had them set up so they were pretty damn quiet... Jim mentioned wanting to get a DC pump, so if he wants to hook this up to try it out I'll be more than willing to let him give it a spin
Not sure exactly what direction I'm going towards, I believe they make a needlewheel impeller and with the proper volute it could easily replace my Sicce pumps on a skimmer. Using one as a return is almost a no brainer as well. Also using one on a closed loop for Mike's Future Tank 8.4b is a possibility as well. For now, I'll just run it on one of my tanks after either finding a hose barb-PVC adapater or a 1.25" to 3/4" adapter.
Here's some pictures, the box is quite nondescript, doesn't even say what pump it is, on the back it has flow curves for all three pumps. Waveline numbers them 3500,5000,10000 these are labeled after their max GPH rating, I got the SWDC2640 model (equivalent to the Waveline DC-10000). The instruction manual er... page, was also quite lacking, but it's fine if it saves me money
Crammed everything into it too, one box to rule them all!
It ain't a tiny pump either, I'm sure smaller output ones would be a bit smaller, yogurt cup used for scale.
Here's the specs on the pump.
While I'm not going to do a complete overview of the pump, there are plenty out there that already have, simply google Waveline DC pump. Advanced Aquarist did a review, I think Reefbuilders did a review (or at least talked about it in some way), BeanAnimal gave his review on it. So no need to go over everything all over again. What I will say is the SpeedWave was $100 cheaper than the Waveline, and at $199 that makes it a very competitive price.
So why go with a DC pump? Well there are a number of factors, first of which it's more energy efficient a comparable AC pump would be the Waterblaster HY-10000 which also puts 2600gph, but runs at 125 watts compared to 85 watts for the DC pump. Also it's controllable, so if I don't want/need 2600gph you can dial it down (in 6 increments, so there's not infinite precession in dialing it in), but you can run it at lower power too for me it was $159 for the 1320gph model or $199 for the 2640gph model... for $40 extra and to let me decide how much flow I want I'll take it! Now you could probably cannibalize the controller and run it externally, however RLSS is releasing the 6000 and 12000 versions which allow you to control via an Apex or something, since they don't make the pump either, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Speedwave version soon too
Lastly due to the adjustable nature of the pump, it slowly ramps up it doesn't just apply all that power at once and stress the impeller. If you press the feed mode it stops, then 10 minutes later (or if you press feed again) it slowly ramps up to whatever setting you currently had it at, same goes for if you just turn the pump off and on (unplug it). Also this pump is cheap, DC pumps aren't new but they were not cheap at all, I think only the Red Dragon brand has one anywhere near the same ballpark, and that would easily push into the 4 figures range.The pump itself has a really long cord, and this cord attaches to the controller via a plug that screws together with a water tight seal, so even if you do something stupid (like no drip lines, leave it on the floor, whatever) water isn't getting into the cord at all, and you can keep it far away. The controller then attaches to a big fat brick power supply since it uses DC power. The ports are 1.25" I believe, although I measured 1.5" for the threads.. didn't think the outside diameter would be that big, but it does come with 3 different sized hose barbs too if you want to go the flexible tube route instead of hard threaded tubes. One difference I see between this and the Advanced Aquarist reviewed Waveline model is that there are twice as many barbs for the Waveline, I'm guessing to screw into the input side as well as the output, no big deal for me as I plan on running this pump internally (Hey get a free heater while you're at it! Even though it's only 85watts of heater). I also really like the fact that the controller on this is sealed, so if you have wet dripping fingers you can still press any of the buttons without worrying about killing the electronics in it.
Unfortunately due to the size of the outlet (and me not having any adapters on hand) I can't test out the actual flow vs. what I already have. My current pump is a Rio HF12 (inexpensive and low power), and that has a 3/4" output. I did manage to rig something up with some flexible tube that I use for water changes and one of the barbs, however it's a long stretch of tube, and has 2 90° elbows on the end to hang it into the tank (it was made for water changes not return tubing).. well firing it up, I can say that about power level 2 (out of 6) it equals about the same return strength (judging by how high water gets in the overflow), it also is considerably quieter too. When I cranked it up to 6 I hear a light hum, a little less than a vortech pump makes, but after a bit that went away, not sure how it would compare to Waterblaster pump, the two who had them on the tank tour had them set up so they were pretty damn quiet... Jim mentioned wanting to get a DC pump, so if he wants to hook this up to try it out I'll be more than willing to let him give it a spin
Not sure exactly what direction I'm going towards, I believe they make a needlewheel impeller and with the proper volute it could easily replace my Sicce pumps on a skimmer. Using one as a return is almost a no brainer as well. Also using one on a closed loop for Mike's Future Tank 8.4b is a possibility as well. For now, I'll just run it on one of my tanks after either finding a hose barb-PVC adapater or a 1.25" to 3/4" adapter.
Here's some pictures, the box is quite nondescript, doesn't even say what pump it is, on the back it has flow curves for all three pumps. Waveline numbers them 3500,5000,10000 these are labeled after their max GPH rating, I got the SWDC2640 model (equivalent to the Waveline DC-10000). The instruction manual er... page, was also quite lacking, but it's fine if it saves me money
Crammed everything into it too, one box to rule them all!
It ain't a tiny pump either, I'm sure smaller output ones would be a bit smaller, yogurt cup used for scale.
Here's the specs on the pump.
