Tunze 6105 ORCA Initial Review

[Nor'easter Reefer]

That is interesting. So maybe the concept of using the larger pump, the 6105, at a lower power to mimic the 6075 at a higher power (but having headroom to push it harder down the road for more flow or a bigger tank) is not really a valid idea.

I have the 6075 and have it up to 95% at some points of the arc. If I get a second one I was considering the larger 6105. In my mind the flow pattern (with the wide attachment) would be wider than the 6075 so agitate the water in a wider area at one time and allow for more headroom to not be running the pump so hard.

I know Roger commented some about the flow difference (one sucking water back in as it pushes it out) but maybe Roger or someone else can elaborate more specifically on the attributes of the flow pattern and capabilities of one vs the other?

I second this. I'd love some practical experienced insight as to what kind of flow we should expect if the pumps aren't simply "more pump, more flow" but instead more nuanced

 

[RobertK]

That was a good find. Here is mine on the brace as well. I should have took a picture before it was attached for the actual mounting piece and parts. Didn't think of that :(

It is a snug fit in case anyone is curious. The three screws secure it well. The screws and bracket are 3D printed but very high quality. There is no slop in the thread and once it is tight it doesn't come undone. I have checked mine a couple times out of curiosity.

Say would you mind telling me how far is the Orca shaft from the edge of the eurobrace? Also how far down below the underside of the eurobrace does the Orca mount extend? Thanks!

 

[areefer01]

Say would you mind telling me how far is the Orca shaft from the edge of the eurobrace?

I may not be able to answer this properly but let me put up a photo and we can maybe go from there. The Orca head unit is about 2". The shaft is center. Then there is the mounting piece. In all the Orca is about 3 1/2 off my EURO brace. My brace is 4" which is bringing the end edge of the Orca at about 7".

I'm not exact here mind you - just took a quick photo.

Also how far down below the underside of the eurobrace does the Orca mount extend? Thanks!

This may vary depending on the overflow weir. Here is what mine looks like. Pretty much just the bottom of the unit. It is dirty - sorry.

If there is anything I can clarify please let me know.

 

[RobertK]

I may not be able to answer this properly but let me put up a photo and we can maybe go from there. The Orca head unit is about 2". The shaft is center. Then there is the mounting piece. In all the Orca is about 3 1/2 off my EURO brace. My brace is 4" which is bringing the end edge of the Orca at about 7".

I'm not exact here mind you - just took a quick photo.

This may vary depending on the overflow weir. Here is what mine looks like. Pretty much just the bottom of the unit. It is dirty - sorry.

If there is anything I can clarify please let me know.

Yes thank you that is very helpful. Looks like the center of the shaft is 2-2.5" from the edge of the eurobrace, thats what I needed to know. On the side view I was wondering if the bottom of the mount contacts the water surface but as you said that would depend on the weir height.

 

[zheka757]

I just got orca 6105, and Im am not impress with tunze pump, there I said it! It dosent flow as nearly enough flow compare to my old jebao pp20 I had set up on my seaswirl.
Having said that, have you guys tried to combine orca with 6255 tunze?

 

[Jamie814]

I just got orca 6105, and Im am not impress with tunze pump, there I said it! It dosent flow as nearly enough flow compare to my old jebao pp20 I had set up on my seaswirl.
Having said that, have you guys tried to combine orca with 6255 tunze?

According to Roger from Tunze the ORCA & 6105 can run at 24v

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tunze-6105-orca-initial-review.1143814/page-3#post-14118207
"A 6105 and a 6255 are the same pump, one is running on 12V , one is 24V, when you buy a 6255 most of what you are paying for is the super strong magnets for 1" glass which are useless with the ORCA so you buy the 6105.501 and replace the power supply with 6101.240."

The 6255's do move a lot more water as I have both the 6105 @ 12v is weaker but a lot more efficient in terms of watts per gallon of flow.

 

[zheka757]

According to Roger from Tunze the ORCA & 6105 can run at 24v

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tunze-6105-orca-initial-review.1143814/page-3#post-14118207
"A 6105 and a 6255 are the same pump, one is running on 12V , one is 24V, when you buy a 6255 most of what you are paying for is the super strong magnets for 1" glass which are useless with the ORCA so you buy the 6105.501 and replace the power supply with 6101.240."

The 6255's do move a lot more water as I have both the 6105 @ 12v is weaker but a lot more efficient in terms of watts per gallon of flow.

Well I just learned something new! Thank you, I guess I have follow up questions to that, but I think ill start new thread!

 

[areefer01]

I just got orca 6105, and Im am not impress with tunze pump, there I said it! It dosent flow as nearly enough flow compare to my old jebao pp20 I had set up on my seaswirl.

Ed, Sea Swirl creator, did a great job on both the return on the power head adapter. It was innovative at the time. As you probably already know that the ORCA will allow more control over the oscillation compared to the Sea Swirl. I still use the Sea Swirl returns as they are rock solid units.

 

[MasterClassReefs]

I just got orca 6105, and Im am not impress with tunze pump, there I said it! It dosent flow as nearly enough flow compare to my old jebao pp20 I had set up on my seaswirl.

Ed, Sea Swirl creator, did a great job on both the return on the power head adapter. It was innovative at the time. As you probably already know that the ORCA will allow more control over the oscillation compared to the Sea Swirl. I still use the Sea Swirl returns as they are rock solid units.

Just got 2 sea sweeps from ed. Excited to put them to use. Hard to go wrong with the original design.

 

[rtparty]

At 30% my 6105 pushes water 4 feet with no issue. I can’t imagine what this thing would do at 100%

 

[zheka757]

At 30% my 6105 pushes water 4 feet with no issue. I can’t imagine what this thing would do at 100%

Well at 100% being in the middle if my 8ft tank, I dont feel it does much. I even chage the heads to make it narrow flow.

 

[areefer01]

Well at 100% being in the middle if my 8ft tank, I dont feel it does much. I even chage the heads to make it narrow flow.

Well 8" of tank with mature colonies is a different story and may require a different tool set. Having said that you are probably better off swapping those gyres to the back and set them 24" off each side then put the orca with the updated power supply in the middle at 48". Test how far you can extend the shaft vs power level and look for shaft torque. Not sure how far it could be extended down thus my thought of testing. The 6105 has some torque and can go as low as .10 ms. So it creates torque.

The shorter distance is back of the wall to the front. Also less obtrusive in my opinion. Push the water, flow, back to front. Or measure center between the two overflows and then place a pair of orca's evenly spaced. I can understand the flow challenges with your display. I've been going through a couple of designs upgrading my 10 year old reef to a similar length (96x30x30).

 

[zheka757]

Well 8" of tank with mature colonies is a different story and may require a different tool set. Having said that you are probably better off swapping those gyres to the back and set them 24" off each side then put the orca with the updated power supply in the middle at 48". Test how far you can extend the shaft vs power level and look for shaft torque. Not sure how far it could be extended down thus my thought of testing. The 6105 has some torque and can go as low as .10 ms. So it creates torque.

The shorter distance is back of the wall to the front. Also less obtrusive in my opinion. Push the water, flow, back to front. Or measure center between the two overflows and then place a pair of orca's evenly spaced. I can understand the flow challenges with your display. I've been going through a couple of designs upgrading my 10 year old reef to a similar length (96x30x30).

96x30x30 is my tank size. Everything in center of the tank is doing great, but I cant have good flow at each end of the tank with my current setup

 

[minus9]

96x30x30 is my tank size. Everything in center of the tank is doing great, but I cant have good flow at each end of the tank with my current setup

Put some Stream 3's in the corners and enjoy the tank again.

 

[areefer01]

Put some Stream 3's in the corners and enjoy the tank again.

This would be one of those things that it would be nice to try before one buys. Especially since I recall reading somewhere on this forum back in April that Tunze noted the gen 2 streams are being worked on.

One has to remember that the in this hobbyist case the tank is 96x30x30. Even with large coral colonies that takes a lot of force and energy to move water around. Don't get me wrong, I like the Tunze pumps and have a couple of 6105s myself. But there are limits narrow or wide flow cage aside.

 

[Jamie814]

One has to remember that the in this hobbyist case the tank is 96x30x30.

My tank is 130x30x30 and I run 4 6105 ORCA's, one on each front side corner that sweep about 90° back and forth and two in the center of the tank back wall about a foot apart that both sweep about 180°.

2 6075's on my frag tank and 2 6075's on my dual refugium's.

For overly large or long tanks Tunze recommends splitting the tank into 2 (or more) sperate areas and focused flow in each, instead of trying to blast current across the entire length.

 

[X-37B]

96x30x30 is my tank size. Everything in center of the tank is doing great, but I cant have good flow at each end of the tank with my current setup

You could add another 6105 in the middle and upgrade the power supply and have 6255's.
I run 2 6255's on sweeps in a 60×30×21. They only run around 30% and one will easily push water the full 60" at 30%. They have serious flow. I ran 3 6105's in my old 120 and the 6255's are very strong pumps. If I run them to 100% one will easily push water 8'.
For reference.
Pic 1 30%
pic 2 100%

 

[areefer01]

If I run them to 100% one will easily push water 8'.

You are asking too much for a single unit to try and reach the opposite side even at 100%. Even if one changed the cage. Also note that the propeller only has so much surface area to work with not to mention the fact it is probably designed more for efficiency / low power than thrust.

 

[X-37B]

You are asking too much for a single unit to try and reach the opposite side even at 100%. Even if one changed the cage. Also note that the propeller only has so much surface area to work with not to mention the fact it is probably designed more for efficiency / low power than thrust.

One in the middle is only pushing 4'. I said 2 in the middle. Each push 4'. 2 6255's mounted that way would provide more than enough flow and not even require 100%.
They are that strong.
In my 5' @ 100% the flow is stronger than I need or want at 5'.

 

[winxp_man]

Response from Tunze (email)
Not easily, basically you can take the two pieces, cut the long onto about 4.5” and glue in a piece of the small one as a bushing and then you have to redrill the holes for the screws, it destroys a $70 carbon fiber pipe so keep that in mind, it is real German carbon fiber, it is not some cheap chinese print on plastic. It does cut and machine easily, it is messy, you will be covered in carbon dust. You can only gain about 1.5, the rest of the space is needed by the motor end and the clamp end. The length it has is the absolute minimum it can be and remain adjustable, believe me, I tried. One of the biggest users is large tanks, and people with 500 gallon plus tanks generally want a couple running deep and a couple shallow so the pipe is a compromise that gives the shortest possible but still allows a deeper option.

This is the simple way to raise it if you have perimeter brace. You can take off the 3 clamps and flip them around, this lifts up the clamp and the entire ORCA a couple inches.

I know it’s been some time, but in regard to your post, I’m just going to get a bracket 3d printed to get mine more shallow. It’s what I was looking for and was bummed when I saw that the unit can’t life any more that about 3-4 inches from the top of the water line to the top of the head unit.