Review: Aquarium Systems Newave NWA 1.6 adj

Length of Time In Nano Reef Tank:

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Why?

Personally, I think wave/current control in the Nano Reef Tank is, from a beginners perspective not something that is paid much attention either by themselves or in some instances the retailer. For me, when I see a natural reef on TV I’m aware that at the top of the reef there can be a lot of water movement and I wanted to replicate this effect as best I could. I also wanted the surface water in the tank agitated and the meniscus to be in a constant state of flux.

Solution: Aquarium Systems Newave NWA 1.6 adj

When I reviewed the JBJ Ocean Pulse Duo it was powering this powerhead and its larger stablemate the NWA 2.7. But why do I have 2 different sizes in my tank? A mixture of impatience – when I sourced the supplier they only had 1 NWA 1.6 in stock and I did not want to wait! I’m running both and whilst the NWA 2.7 is double the physical size of the NWA 1.6 it does provide a benefit of more flow (obviously) and I believe the net result is beneficial for the tank.

But back to this model. I did not know how it would fare by being partnered with a wave maker. It needed to withstand being switched on and off 175,200 times in a year (every 3 minutes) and I have no way of measuring if it is capable of surviving other than my first hand experience. This review is being written on day 146, and so far, so good. I have cleaned it once to date and it is now slowly being encrusted by Coraline, which incidentally, I’m intending to leave alone. This will probably hasten the demise of the head but I’m willing to take a gamble on this. I tried a variety of different positions and found that the best position in my tank is at two thirds from the bottom, angled at the surface and the back of the tank. This diffuses flow off the back of the tank in way that provides strong current at the top, moderate middle flow and a slower bottom flow. Every tank is different and aquascaping also plays a significant part in wave behaviour.

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The NWA 1.6 is held in place by a suction cup inside the tank and whilst this is a good feature, it could be said that it makes it slightly more difficult to whip it off for maintenance. The other downside is that the suction cup has to be of a certain size to hold it in place and because of this the NWA 1.6 is further into the tank (approx. 15mm) than a comparative model being held by an external magnet. This is worth considering on a smaller Nano Reef Tank.

Noise levels are low and to date I have not experienced any noise from the impeller vibrating or rattling which can happen with lower priced powerheads.