Stay away from WAV, 1Link - pumps start to fail after 1 year.

ReefHog

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I bought a WAV pump 3 years ago and it failed after 11 months. After quite a bit of back and forth with Neptune, they replaced it for free with a new one. At the same time I bought a second one. Both have been running for over 2 years now with no problems. I really love how they just connect right up to the power bar (EB832) with no controllers or power supplies. And how simple it is to put them in low power mode when the power goes out and my system switches to battery backup.

I'm sure it's been said before but remember that no one starts a thread just to say that their WAV pumps have been working fine. It's possible that 95% of them are running like champs and we just never hear about it.
Was your first one that failed connected to a 1Link? Seems the issues I read about always seem to be tied to the 1Link.
 

Joe Rice

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Was your first one that failed connected to a 1Link? Seems the issues I read about always seem to be tied to the 1Link.
Nope. It was connected to the EB832. But it was one of the earlier WAV units and I think they worked out some bugs. If I remember correctly, it seemed more to be a software problem that a hardware problem.
 

New Wave Aquaria

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I’ve been running over a dozen WAV’s on various tanks in our store for the past 2 years or so and haven’t had a single problem. Additionally we have dozens of WAV’s on different tanks we maintain and we rarely have problems with them and in the cases where there have been problems, Neptune’s top notch staff takes care of things immediately. Extremely powerful and versatile pump that can’t be beat for the price!
 

italquam

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I said once and I'll say it again. Some of the best tanks I've seen do not utilize these so called "Controllers" I was never a fan of the WAV.....didnt like that it has to plug into a Neptune unit as opposed to an electrical outlet. I have 2 Maxpect Gyres XF-250's on my Reefer 450 and I could not be happier. So much flow at my disposal and sooooooooo powerful, I'm actually running them at 10% out of 100%

I use the Apex Jr. only for my DOS and ALD module, and as a $400 power strip to turn things on/off

Honestly, if I could go back in time.......I would have taken the money spent on the Apex and put it towards corals, or other high end equipment.

IMO. Neptune makes some innovative products, but their business model and customer service is not the best.......
and don't even get me started on LiveAquaria.......................LOL.

I think you have all valid points, and I am starting to feel the same way. Rather than keep sinking more and more into Neptune products , I am debating to just go with Tunze or Gyre pumps and call it a day.

Now I have to send the entire Wav setup into Neptune, can't wait to see how this plays out......guesses anyone??
 

jsnicholas

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I just thought I would jump in and give my experience with the WAV pumps. I am a long time APEX user and used the controller they had before that. I have a 400 display tank and 8 WAVs in there and a frag tank with one WAV. Over the past 4 years, I have replaced WAV 9 pumps (6 different tickets). The fist time was under warantee, after that they gave me a 50% off coupon. Not bad, but the cost keeps adding up. Meanwhile I have 1 ECO Marine Vortech MP40 (original) that is probably 7 or 8 years old and no problems (replaced the wet side once). I thought I was saving money with the WAV pumps, but it has not turned out that way. At the moment I have 2 more dead one and I do not think I want to replace with the WAV even with the 50% off. I may switch back to Vortech.
 

italquam

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I don't understand why they don't improve the problems, they replaced my at 50 percent discount , so I have to give Neptune props for giving a discount showing they care about the customer.

I think early generation pumps might have had more issues than newer ones. How old are the Wav pumps that failed on you
 

ReefHog

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I ended up buying two pumps for my 220 over the holidays at the 10% off price. So far I love them but only time will tell if it was money well spent.
 

Highgrade

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Seems the WAVs only have a 1-2 year life span. Recently I just had another one replaced under warranty that was just at the 1 year mark. I've had 4 total replaced under warranty ranging from 1-2 years old. Longest lasting pump was 2 years and 2 weeks old. Neptune honored the warranty for that one. Neptune stands by their product but it seems like a known issue they wont admit to.
 

mitch91175

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Why do people even buy these pumps? All I’ve heard or read are bad things about them after warranty expires? Giving you 50% off of a trash pump doesn’t make it better. Sorry.

Also I still have an MP40 for ages ago that doesn’t seem to ever want to die. Even better, the wet side rusted and Ecotech sent me another one. Never have had any issues with them outside of that issue. Not they aren’t directly controllable with the Apex unless you have the WXM, but does that really matter at the end of the day?
 

RobertP

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I have 3 WAV pumps and two of them are about 3 years old and 1 is slightly newer at about 2.5 years old. The catch is that after 1.5 years I had to shut my tank down and put all my equipment into storage for 1.5 years. Got the tank running again and yep you guessed it, WAV pumps down! 2 out of 3 were dead. I played around with them and finally got 1 working again but one of them is definitely a paper weight now. I can tell that the one I got working again is not well and I expect it to die at some point. Already pulled it and put it in the refugium which is not really needed. Right now I just bought a jaebo powerhead to get by. I doubt it will last more than a couple years but for the price point I expect that. Right now I will not be buying a replacement WAV...I didn't even bother calling them.

I failed to mention that my energy bar 832 would not work after storage. I got a ticket and sent it in and there were 3 pieces of the board that were burned out and the whole thing had to be replaced. Seriously? It was working just fine when I put it in storage. Of course it was out of warranty so I got a discount on a new one. I must admit that I am not Neptune's biggest fan right now. As expensive as all their equipment is you really only give me a 1 year warranty? Sicce has 5 year warranties on some powerheads and 3 on many others! Oh and my Sicce Syncra5 pump is still going strong! I would love to have a trident but no way I am paying that much for something they wont stand behind for more than a year.
I really want to buy American as much as I can but you wont even stand behind your products?!? I doubt I will ever buy ecotech pumps because they are pretty expensive and only give you a 1 year warranty?!? Yeah I have heard they might last longer but I cant buy "MIGHT" with cheaper pumps!
 

Raptor72

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Wow, this post is really an eye opener. With that said, if anyone has an extra Eb4 or 1Link cable, DM me.
 

mitch91175

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I have 3 WAV pumps and two of them are about 3 years old and 1 is slightly newer at about 2.5 years old. The catch is that after 1.5 years I had to shut my tank down and put all my equipment into storage for 1.5 years. Got the tank running again and yep you guessed it, WAV pumps down! 2 out of 3 were dead. I played around with them and finally got 1 working again but one of them is definitely a paper weight now. I can tell that the one I got working again is not well and I expect it to die at some point. Already pulled it and put it in the refugium which is not really needed. Right now I just bought a jaebo powerhead to get by. I doubt it will last more than a couple years but for the price point I expect that. Right now I will not be buying a replacement WAV...I didn't even bother calling them.

I failed to mention that my energy bar 832 would not work after storage. I got a ticket and sent it in and there were 3 pieces of the board that were burned out and the whole thing had to be replaced. Seriously? It was working just fine when I put it in storage. Of course it was out of warranty so I got a discount on a new one. I must admit that I am not Neptune's biggest fan right now. As expensive as all their equipment is you really only give me a 1 year warranty? Sicce has 5 year warranties on some powerheads and 3 on many others! Oh and my Sicce Syncra5 pump is still going strong! I would love to have a trident but no way I am paying that much for something they wont stand behind for more than a year.
I really want to buy American as much as I can but you wont even stand behind your products?!? I doubt I will ever buy ecotech pumps because they are pretty expensive and only give you a 1 year warranty?!? Yeah I have heard they might last longer but I cant buy "MIGHT" with cheaper pumps!


Yeah I purchased a Trident and sold it. The build quality on it isn't great at all. And to require sending it in for maintenance was a deal breaker once I saw the actually quality of the product. Kept my Alkatronic and it may have it's issues, but that think it build quite well. Been running strong for 2 years now with the Alkatronic. Only time will tell about the Trident. Wanted to like it just to have it but not at the price point and have it potentially dying once out of warranty with the only means to get it working again is to send it in to Neptune Systems.

I am not against Neptune System by any stretch, but outside of their controllers, the product line is riddled with issues. Every product made has issues, but I see too many surrounding Neptunes other products to invest further into the ecosystem outside of tank monitoring. I do has the DOS and they seem to work fine but will see how that goes. It only gets light usage so maybe that'll help extend it life expectancy.

Used to have a Reeflo Hammerhead pump for my tank and that thing just works. No issues whatsoever. No wonder they offer a 5 year warranty. They know their product will last 10 years.
 

Amado

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I had a problem with my wav pumps I had 3
And they all had problems. I have two auto feeders that don’t work and the original atk that doesn’t work. I have a grave yard of bad apex products. I Had an opportunity to buy a trident and I passed. I can’t trust them to make a critical product like that.
we have also seen in the last year a lot of companies like kessil/ ecotech maxspect make products that are not compatible with apex.
 

RobertP

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Yeah Mitch I bought a few Reeflow Dart pumps used and while they are rather loud, that thing is STRONG and works. Since it lives in the fish garage loud does not bother me much.
I didn't mention that my DOS had one of the heads that didn't work when I pushed the button. It wasn't a head issue, it was a motor issue or the switch. After I ran it a while it started working more and now it works every time so maybe it was an issue with sitting for so long. That head is dropping calcium so less important than Alk but still pretty critical. At this point I trust it more than my cheapo jaebo doser so there is that.
No way I would think about buying the neptune light they are talking about. I bet it will be priced close to the new radian gen5 and have the same coverage...but that is purely speculation.
I know I am complaining a lot but I really love the apex...it is just all the other stuff they make that seems to be inferior products.
 

Tucker64

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Just had two fail on me. Bought them just over two years ago. Cleaned them all the time. First one failed, pulled it out to start messing with it over this weekend and replace it with a spare MP40 I had temporarily. Then 3 days later the second failed, clean both pumps extremely well. One does nothing and the other one twitches for like a second and then stops. Both seem like they’re working on the apex. Definitely seems like planned obsolescence . Might try to reach out but I bet they won’t do anything. Probably switching to MP40s.
 
U

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Yeah I purchased a Trident and sold it. The build quality on it isn't great at all. And to require sending it in for maintenance was a deal breaker once I saw the actually quality of the product. Kept my Alkatronic and it may have it's issues, but that think it build quite well. Been running strong for 2 years now with the Alkatronic. Only time will tell about the Trident. Wanted to like it just to have it but not at the price point and have it potentially dying once out of warranty with the only means to get it working again is to send it in to Neptune Systems.

I am not against Neptune System by any stretch, but outside of their controllers, the product line is riddled with issues. Every product made has issues, but I see too many surrounding Neptunes other products to invest further into the ecosystem outside of tank monitoring. I do has the DOS and they seem to work fine but will see how that goes. It only gets light usage so maybe that'll help extend it life expectancy.

Used to have a Reeflo Hammerhead pump for my tank and that thing just works. No issues whatsoever. No wonder they offer a 5 year warranty. They know their product will last 10 years.

Service is 18 - 24 months. Options they are tossing around currently are a deposit & replacement turn-around. Self service. Or they will let you send it in for service and return it. All viable options. Live stream in February, the 20th I believe, they mentioned this. Also Terrance mentioned something about his wave pumps.

I know the waves are sort of a running joke but he noted a couple running close to 4 years and hardly ever cleaned. Who knows. I don't. What I do know is that we don't know how many are being used by people who don't have issues (just as much as those who don't comment here and have them). Sort of a mixed bag.

My only concern when I looked at them was the size. I ended up going with 1" Sea Swirls matted up to 1 Cor 15 and another on a Cor 20 (longest plumbing line) and a Gyre XF250. Next upgrade I will continue to use the Sea Swirls but will ditch all forms of power heads and go with a closed loop.

I'm tired of large object wave makers in the display...
 

Butcher333

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Vortech mp## rear magnet not submersible. So it won’t matter what anyone says about how great they are, they won’t end up on any of my tanks. I won’t have things poking out of the sides of my display.
I notice someone mentioned that a member has had some WAV’s for 4 years and rarely cleans them, and has had no issues. Are people using vinegar to clean them? This will ruin the pump. Google it. Vortech recommends cleaning with vinegar in the manual and probably shouldn’t. They have issues also with housings splitting. I already bought the Apex dream bundle so..... too late to be swayed. Icecap seems like great deal but the reviews everywhere are bad. ☹️ I like the gyre concept but they are huge and lots say a pain to clean, noise etc. Was really on the cliff with them despite their size. Big flow. I love the look and design of the AI Nero 5 as well as their flow, but would not want to shred fish and magnet is said to be too week. Maybe my weir is only half inch. Too bad it didn’t come with a bigger magnet and a cheap plastic guard already. I would hate to have a powerhead flying around the tank crashing into everything. Hmmm. The rear of the WAV’s are submersible and they are not huge like a gyre and I already have an Apex, but I read something about the flow being too much and they couldn't get it dialed down even at 1%. Maybe a diffuser. I’m not interested in any strange obscene water storms ranking and putting a pump and controller through extremes. Just want flow and don’t think coral or fish care if their environment is utter chaos. I guess I’ll get the WAV’s despite posts.
 

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