Coral Box Pumps or Current USA

[amcgee2842]

Trying to decide between coral box pump DCA 12,000 and wave makers vs Current usa Eflux pumps and wave makers. The coral box have more program flexibility which I want however its hard to find reviews and they seem like a new company. Current USA has been around for a while and I have seen mixed reviews. This is for a tank in the living room so being silent is the most important. Any advice on the two?

 

[Fishfishfishfish]

I have 2 of the CoralBox wave pumps. I can only tell you that they are the "large ones" and while they are great so far, and completely silent, it does stress me out that they are hard to identify, find, and source replacement parts for. I really appreciate the master/slave relationship you can set up. I have had these for 6 months, and again I am VERY happy with them. However a lifetime of working in Supply Chain has taught me that there is a lot to be said for ease of finding information and replacement parts. Also worth noting that the instructions they came with were written by crab people, for crab people. They made absolutely no sense so I just had to experiment. I will keep these until they die and be happy, but I will then go with a mainstream brand that is readily available at common retailers.

So weigh that against what you are looking for. Ease of availability, maintenance, and repair vs. price at the pump. Typically, the two don't align in our hobby unfortunately. Again, VERY happy with them, just scared of what happens when I need to replace an impeller or repair a controller.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I run six of the current eflux 2100 gph and twin return 3500 gph on my 240. All I can say is they are fabulous and the support they come with is true amazing. I havnt had any issues since they have come out and make no mistake they definitely have the power to move water.

They are absolutely dead silent, and the dc return pumps actually sound really awesome starting up. It’s similar to a turbine starting up but once it’s going (totally of like five seconds if that), tou cant hear them anymore at all. What most people don’t realize is with the current pumps they have way more options if you hook them into the new Bluetooth feature device. It’s kinda unlimited then, and even with out they have tons of options.

I will say this it’s much easier to (depending how many you have) to use separate control modules. Now as I say this doing it this way kinda makes a headache to set up, but I’m a girl and I was able to lol. Here are some pics on how I did it.

 

[Pntbll687]

I had a set of current 660's in my nano tank. They were ok, nothing special. The downside to the current products are the amount of wires they need. Each powerhead had the wire from the head to the hub, then another wire to power source. Then from the wavemaker hub a wire to the light hub, with two cords for each light. Then if you want the return pump, you guessed it, another wire to the bluetooth hub, then two wires for the pump.

It was my first experience with a system that can be controlled, and I was disappointed. The MAJOR downside is that current uses power adapters at the plug, not in line, which take up room of the plug next to it, and across if the strip has two rows. Therefore you could only fit a max of 2 plugs into a 4 plug outlet row. Not only that, but the adapters at the plug were so large they made it impossible to plug anything in the next row on the powerstrip. So on a 8 outlet powerstrip ( two rows of four) I could plug in a total of 3 current items.

Did the current usa system work, yes. Do you need excellent wire management skills? YES. There is so many cords and everything that current came out with a "mount" for all of the stuff, to hide the nest of wires that results.

 

[Fishfishfishfish]

Do you need excellent wire management skills? YES. There is so many cords and everything that current came out with a "mount" for all of the stuff, to hide the nest of wires that results.

+1 to this. I do have a current wave maker in a 20 long that looks like an octopus. So much cable management required on these.

 

[rcpalmer1]

q

 

[rcpalmer1]

Hello,

I run six of the current eflux 2100 gph and twin return 3500 gph on my 240. All I can say is they are fabulous and the support they come with is true amazing. I havnt had any issues since they have come out and make no mistake they definitely have the power to move water.

They are absolutely dead silent, and the dc return pumps actually sound really awesome starting up. It’s similar to a turbine starting up but once it’s going (totally of like five seconds if that), tou cant hear them anymore at all. What most people don’t realize is with the current pumps they have way more options if you hook them into the new Bluetooth feature device. It’s kinda unlimited then, and even with out they have tons of options.

I will say this it’s much easier to (depending how many you have) to use separate control modules. Now as I say this doing it this way kinda makes a headache to set up, but I’m a girl and I was able to lol. Here are some pics on how I did it.

Do you have all 6 power heads controlled by the Bluetooth controller? If so How are they connected?

 

[Sarah24!]

Do you have all 6 power heads controlled by the Bluetooth controller? If so How are they connected?

Hello,

Yes all of them are connected but Brandon from current usa was the one who told me how (gotta give credit). So it may sound confusing so I will try my best.

First there are only three spots to hook wavemakers in. So you take number one from Bluetooth to hub 1, then from that hub connect the second wave maker. Then number 2 you connect to hub number 2. Use separate hub manifolds or they will all run the same. Then three acts as a Slave so take the cord from that into hub manifold three and from each manifold you can run two wave makers. Now port three is still a slave, so it mimics port one. But I have found if you go from port four on manifold one to the port four then you can change it. Each led plugs into port three of I remember correctly so I can see the difference.

Now with my return pumps there is only one pump port so that was tricky. Now because I run the marine orbit 4114 leds the high powered ones not the loop ones, my light ports are open. So I run one return to the Bluetooth, and plug the other into light one because the 4114 light power supplies are the same as the large 3100 gph power supplies. So this one I don’t have control of, except the dc knob but I can still change flow with the knob and can power it down. Then the speakers plug into the speaker port and you can change the sound when you hit certain feature on the loop manifold controller.

It’s easier then said but it works great and I can tell each wave maker what I want it to do.

 

[rcpalmer1]

Hello,

Yes all of them are connected but Brandon from current usa was the one who told me how (gotta give credit). So it may sound confusing so I will try my best.

First there are only three spots to hook wavemakers in. So you take number one from Bluetooth to hub 1, then from that hub connect the second wave maker. Then number 2 you connect to hub number 2. Use separate hub manifolds or they will all run the same. Then three acts as a Slave so take the cord from that into hub manifold three and from each manifold you can run two wave makers. Now port three is still a slave, so it mimics port one. But I have found if you go from port four on manifold one to the port four then you can change it. Each led plugs into port three of I remember correctly so I can see the difference.

Now with my return pumps there is only one pump port so that was tricky. Now because I run the marine orbit 4114 leds the high powered ones not the loop ones, my light ports are open. So I run one return to the Bluetooth, and plug the other into light one because the 4114 light power supplies are the same as the large 3100 gph power supplies. So this one I don’t have control of, except the dc knob but I can still change flow with the knob and can power it down. Then the speakers plug into the speaker port and you can change the sound when you hit certain feature on the loop manifold controller.

It’s easier then said but it works great and I can tell each wave maker what I want it to do.

thanks for the reply. I got some of the original pumps with misprinted instructions. When I called they didn't know how to set them up. They had to get Ike on the phone. He was the one who designed them. They got them up and running. I just want sure if I could add more pumps.
So when you open the app does it shows 6 pumps?

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

No mine is like yours but that’s why I use the led displays also. So when mine shows wave pump 1 I know there are two pumps in that mode. If I want them to be different like one on stream or one on wave etc then I have the ic loop hub and controller w the remote to manually change what I need. Yes it’s a wiring nightmare but gives me complete control over everything well except my 4114 orbit marine pro lights.

The only difference is the dc flow pump I only have one. But I have two of the 3100 gph returns. Not sure how you were able to get two of the return pumps to show up. Of all the people to speak to, Brandon is probably the best and really nice and knows his stuff. My system was so complex he didn’t know either, but he was the one who figured it out by using ones there. He is also the best to call about warranty issues if you ever need to.

 

[Fudsey]

I have (2) Eflux 3170 return pumps(1 backup) and CoralBox QP-9+ wave makers and I love both of them.

 

[Dual40IM]

I use the Eflux 3170 also and it has been great. Been running for a year with no problems.