Hi Folks,
I've had my apex jr a couple weeks and yesterday is the first time I tried any real programming. I'm starting up a new 133 gallon tank and I purchased two Jebao PP15 wavemakers along with the Jebao to Apex control module and a VDM. I'll control my Kessil lights and my wavemakers both with the same VDM.
My aim was to place one powerhead at either end (left and right) of the 5 foot long tank and have them pulse on and off opposite of each other to generate a back and forth wave. Alternately I'll try out placing them both on the same side of the tank and generating a gyre flow, but that's a topic for the future.
I ran into some challenges that I couldn't find documented anywhere which are the main reason I'm posting this and which I'll discuss below in greater detail.
The profile programming for this is pretty straightforward and I found multiple examples on this forum so I won't go into it much except to post what worked for me and my tank:
ID:1
Name: PwrHeadL
Type: Pump
Synchronise: not checked
Divide by 10: Checked
Initial off time: 0
On time: 4
Off time: 4
Minimum Intensity: 0
Maximum Intensity: 100
ID:2
Name: PwrHeadR
Type: Pump
Synchronise: CHECKED
Divide by 10: Checked
Initial off time: 4
On time: 4
Off time: 0
Minimum Intensity: 0
Maximum Intensity: 100
The key points here are that the second, even numbered profile is synced to the first, which would normally make them pulse on and off at the same time, however because I set the initial off time for the left powerhead to 0, and the initial off time of the right power head to 4, they actually operate in anti-sync, or totally opposite of each other. Thanks to a post by @RussM to point out that neat trick.
A comment about synchronization in general - It seems to make sense that if the sync button is checked, the profiles will be in sync. Does that mean that if the sync button is not checked, they'll be anti-sync? In my experience they are not, and they'll run independently of each other and the timing is based on when you set each one to automatic. While this is likely a common understanding to experienced users for a new user it took some testing for me to figure out.
The main reason I'm making this post is that I had a heck of a time keeping the powerheads in sync with each other. Despite having the sync button checked on the second, even numbered profile, whenever I made a change to the on\off pulse timing they'd get out of sync. I'm not sure if this is a problem specific to Jebao wavemakers or to the apex itself. Eventually, I realized that after making any kind of change to the profiles, I had to turn off sync on the second profile, save it, then turn it back on to put them back in sync. They didn't stay in sync if I made any changes, despite the sync button still being checked. Had to actually turn it off and back on to 'reset' the sync, then it worked fine.
It meant an extra step and an extra save but once I figured it out it worked fine.
I'd also like to discuss pulse timing. There is a good amount of general discussion on this topic already available but to summarize, fluid (water in this case) moves at a pretty constant speed across the tank, driven by your powerheads. It creates waves as it does this. In a container such as our tanks these waves are confined, so the fluid essentially sloshes back and forth. Your job is to encourage this back and forth motion by finding the right pulse timing.
Incorrect pulse timing will fight the fluid's natural back and forth motion, because as the water is moving left (for example), your leftmost powerhead may pulse on, pushing the water back to the right and fighting the flow. Instead, we want the left powerhead to pulse on as the water is just starting to halt it's leftward motion and begin moving back to the right. If the timing is right, the flow generated by the powerhead will reinforce, and not fight, the back and forth motion. It's pretty amazing how big a difference a single 10th of a second can make on this. Once you find the sweet spot it's pretty obvious and within a minute or less you'll see the water start moving dramatically back and forth.
if you want a good wave a shorter pulse timing is your friend. In most cases, a one-second pulse is too much. You'll want to check the divide by 10 option so that an on time of "1" is 1/10th of a second, and not 1 second. For my 5-foot tank 4-10ths of a second is ideal.
Once you get your pumps running in sync, just start low, around 2/10ths of a second, and make sure to uncheck and recheck the sync option so they are still running synchronized, but let your powerheads run for at least a minute or two to see what kind of wave develops. Keep your eyes on the corners of the tank and measure the rise and fall of the water to see how effective your wave really is. Increase your timing in 1/10th of a second intervals until you find the sweet spot. In my tank, 3/10ths and 5/10ths gives me barely any wave, but 4/10ths is a nice dramatic back and forth wave action with standing wave ripples that is going to be amazing once I get this tank finished and stocked. In the corners of my tank the water level is rising and falling over a range of 2 1/2 to 3 inches.
Anyway, that about sums it up. I can't really claim credit for any of this info I posted since I learned it from a wide range of posts and discussions. I just wanted to consolidate some of it into one post and discuss in more detail some of the concepts that I personally struggled with at first in hopes it'll help out other new folks.
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