instruction confusion

[jklaw]

hi,
i just purchased a multi controller and 2x 6000 pumps from premium aquatics. they came in yesterday and i immediately set them up on my tank.

the instruction manual was confusing to me though.
with regards to interval setting it says that the red light should come on. however, on my multicontroller it is a green light. i don't think it can switch to red, is this just a misprint.

second, in the pulse part of the instructions it says to hook the two pumps up to socket 8 and 11. however, in the trouble shooter regarding why the interval light doesn't come on it says that the cause is a pump is not hooked up to socket 9 or 11, but in the remedy part it says to hook up a pump to 8 or 10. ( i hope i have this right, i'm at home doing this from memory because i left the manual at work where my tank was, i distinctly remember that the cause and the remedy did not make sense.

third, i have a 125 all glass aquarium pre-drilled with the aga overflows. I attached the pump to the overflow and pointed them at each other.

is there a suggested setting. i have softies and lps and clams. i think that there are so many options that i don't know which to choose. in the spirit of constructive criticism, i really felt like the multicontroller instructions would be better if you gave some suggested settings and explained what they would be good for or even referenced your web site and had examples of different peoples tanks with the settings they use.

the setting i was thinking about was to have the pumps pulse and alternate turning off and on every couple of minutes. is this okay, or do you think it would be better to have one pump pulse for 6 hours (like a natural tide) and then shut off and have the other pump pulse for 6 hours. sorry this is so long

[rvitko]

The setting you want to do what you want to do is Tide Mode. If a full manual for the multicontroller was provided I think it would look like a textbook. It is largely a trial and error experience. The LED is now green, we changed it about six months ago. Pulse Mode does use sockets 8 and 10. Tide Mode uses 8 and 11. The Tide mode does Pulse the pump that is on. The only caution about using tide mode is with small fish, they may enter the pump when it is off and be injured on start up. Further, snails particularly stomatid snails can enter the pump and break the shaft when it starts up because of the hard impact.

[jklaw]

can i put screening over the opening or will that be bad for the pump or impede the flow too much
by the way thanks for your quick reply i was impressed especially on a saturday.
i really wish you would considered asksing people who contact you to describe their setting and just post it on your website. but i suppose if you re answering emails on saturday, you already have plenty to do.
anyway,
thanks, john

[rvitko]

The website is run from Germany and everything is chaos at the German office as we get ready for interzoo. Every two years the industry puts on a huge trade show in Nuremburg, it is 7 football fields in area and having a booth can cost from 20,000 to over a million dollars so everything has to go off without a hitch and it takes months of preperation especially with almost a dozen new products nearing completion for us. I try my best to keep up here, especially since my weekdays can be so occupied with shipping and recieving and lately trying to help iron out R and D issues in phone conferences. We really do plan to improve our media offerings. I recewntly have set up to produce some videos that will be featured on the website but this likely won't happen until summer and we are working to rewrite the manuals and if deadlines permit I should get to proofread them to smooth out the english translations. German is a very effective blunt technical language and it doesn't translate smoothly to english sometimes.

Screening the outlet drastically reduces flow, it is has very little pressure behind it. If you run pulse mode you will eliminate the risk to small animals because the pump will always be running, tide mode unfortunately carries some risk especially to small animals who seek refuge in caves or coral heads.

[jklaw]

i think i finally understand what you're saying about pulse mode. it can be used like tide mode but instead of turning the pumps completely off i just turn it down all the way so that it is always running.

i really appreciate your lengthy reply and maintenance of this forum. knowing what is going on in the company makes me feel like its not just a huge corp. that doesn't care about its customers. the forum is incredibly helpful. also i am looking forward to the new products.

finally, if you need some help proofreading, or want some input on the readability of the new instructions, i would be more than happy to donate some time. i don't like to complain without offering to be a part of the solution.

i think tunze is wise to redo the instructions, because this is a premium brand that people pay a lot of money for and they will be disappointed if the instructions aren't just as premium. i'm not talking about setting suggestions because when i read through the manual i felt like i was reading something that was word for word translated from german without really translating the full meaning. it was awkward and a little surprising since i paid almost $647.00 for the pumps and multi-controller.

thanks again,
john

[rvitko]

Tunze is pretty far from a big company- about 35 people today. 3 of them have the last name Tunze. It is the only aquarium company I have ever known that really felt like a family business and innovation comes before money. I know people may laugh when they know the prices but it really does cost a lot of money to make low volume products in Germany largely by hand and owning all your own tooling and absolutely everything is custom, even our plastics are special proprietary formulations. I know the manuals need work, I wish that I would always get one to proofread but sometimes the lady who writes the manuals and does all the PDF and Adobe work is on a tight schedule to have it printed and ready to go when the product is ready to go to market. I catch what I can and note things for the future revisions. Thanks!

[Silmar]

Hey guys,

Do you know what the maximum time interval for turning off a pump in tide mode is? Ive ordered 2x6000 and a multicontroller for a 4 ft and would like 6 hours in 1 direction and 6 in another. Would I need additional timers for this?

Could I use an Aquacontroller to just turn the pump power off every 6 hours if the 7094 cant handle it?

[rvitko]

Tide mode allows anything from1min-12hrs between pumps.