The Conch Aqua Wave-maker Review

leslie hempel

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The Conch Aqua Wave-maker Review


So, as you may have noticed I like getting my hands-on new marine equipment and toys, I like to test them and put them through their paces to check if they are worth the cash dropped on them!


Today I will be reviewing a newly imported pump from conch aqua, I am fortunate enough to have been able to get both the Slim-7 and Slim-8 to check out.


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To give you some idea of my pump owner history I have owned and tried the following pumps:

· Tunze
· Vortech
· Jebal RW/SW/OW range
· Maxpect Glamorca Gyre/ Jebao Crossflow


All these pumps have a place in the market, but some being more expensive than others drive us to seek cheaper yet reliable alternatives.

Which is why I found the Conch Slim 7 & 8 interesting prospects
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Initial impressions after receiving the pumps and opening:

1) Very Nice packaging
2) The controller is not your average cheapy, its quality with and LCD backlit display somewhat more advanced than the Tunze but not quite as fancy as the Maxpect which I would rate is a bit better or on par.
3) The pumps are made of a quality mat finish plastic similar to a Tunze and Vortech Finish and do not look cheap-ish.
4) Discrete magnets for mounting but I doubt the magnets will stick to glass thicker than 12mm, I have not tried.
5) The slim 7 sports a small directional inner portion to the magnet which the Slim 8 does not. Bit bummed about this, but I’m assuming the pump diameter has something to do with this as it may conflict with the glass using this part.


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The thickness of the exterior magnet is low profile and I've tested it for up to 12mm glass successfully!



Included in the box is:

· Controller
· Instruction manual
· Pump
· Power supply
· 3m adhesion pad for controller mount
· Magnet to attach pump to glass
· Slight directional inner (only with Slim 7)


The pumps in general move ALOT of water! But their flow dissipates after about 800mm – 1m (setting dependant)

Not entirely a bad thing, I believe flow is of utmost importance within a marine system but too much DIRECT or FORCEFUL flow causes corals to close (e.g.: frogspawns and hammers) which detracts from their full display potential.

Ratings on the pumps flow and electrical consumption is as follows:

Slim 7
41L x 72.6w x 72.6w mm
12w
500lph – 10000lph
Comes with own controller


Slim 8
44L x 82w x 82w mm
24w
500 – 15000lph
Comes with own controller

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Size compasrision of Slim 7 (top) vs Slim 8 (bottom)

Controller functions are pretty extensive and possess the following features:
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The pump features wireless Communication with other conch pumps similar to that of Vortech and Jebao.

Motor speed setting 30% (minimum) ~100% (maximum)
Master slave setting

Modes
Async
Sync
Sequence
Long run

Pre-set sequences
Feed
Nature
Tidal
Normal
Shallow
Reefs

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The day night sensor steps the pump down in strength (If option selected) to allow for calmer flow at night. A nice feature to have which I think is pretty much standard amongst most propper wavemakers these days.


The Construction
Ok so this pump looks very Vortech like but without something I HATED on Vortech, the alignment of two separate parts!! This in my mind has never sat well with me as its bound to contribute to wear on the pumps. The conch pump has the motor on the wet-side of the pump and it is tiny! The two main attractions to this pump are powerful flow and compact slim design!


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Slim 8 compared to Tunze 6105 in the background

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Slim 8 pictured in my hand

Operating noise
The pumps are not completely silent in all honesty but have a far less noticeable noise on the lower settings, they are damn near silent though and under the same conditions of my system I would usually have heard the Vortech or the Jebao’s switching flow pattern, in comparition to my Tunze’s they are on par noise wize on constant flow which you do get accustomed to!


Draw backs
Quite honestly I don’t see any, other than the cable being inside of the tank which is PAR for the course for most pumps unless you go Vortech!

In Closing
Th conch Aqua slim is a nifty little pump snuggly suited to fit in between Jebao and Vortech and Tunze in the mid price range but upper reaches of the quality scale!

Price rating
7/10
Design rating
10/10
Flow rating
8/10
  • Wider more dispersed flow and a few more pumps would be needed in a bigger tank on par with Vortech.
I hope this review has given some insight as to these pumps and their application. im personally very happy and im currently running 2 x Slim 8 and 1 x Slim 7 on a 1.8m x 1m x 700mm, 1200lt system

my intention is to run 4 x Slim 8 on my system i could run 8 i wont even see them as they are soooo discrete!

Happy reefing!
 
Last edited:
hey bud so far the pumps have worked 24/7, only mishap i had was when i came home the other day and saw a red light flashing on the sensor of the one pump, the one pump had gotten a snail stuck in the impellor and shut itself off to protect from damage.

im still impressed i have run them full bore on purpose to try break them! still going 100!
 
I presume you sell them.

i imported the first batch to test and supply outlets but i wamted to be 100% sure the product could withstand the SA eksdom volatility. these pumps deffinatley have a place in the market and i have had good feedback from the oulets who have recieved them.
 
Great. Can't wait to see them for sale in SA. Maybe we should talk about the Tunze pumps you selling in the mean time. Will chat later.

MRC in George and a number of other stores around SA have gun stocking them.
 
Leslie, out of all of the wavemakers you've used which had been the quietest?
 
You got me stumped trying to remember all my first impressions when switching them on.

These are very quiet probably second to tunze only.

I dont even hear mine and I sit rite near the tank in silence working late at night.

Usually the ramping up and down on a pulse mode would annoy me to the point where I would switch the pump off (as with jebao)

I cannot comment on vortech as I have not owned the newer generation pumps which I have heard have had significant noise reduction.

There are many good pumps on the market today. What attracted me to this one was flow for profile / slim design, and quality controller. (Simplier than many to use).

I hope that gives you something to think about?
 
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