Built in external wave boxes

[tuberider]

Anyone gots any info/links?

Any info/links regarding pumps or box size?

Any experience?

I'm starting my master plan for a new tank and need to get some #s together

 

[Gomer]

as in a surge tank?

 

[tuberider]

Right the whole tank, not a surge fraction tank.

 

[Gomer]

Adin on Nanoreef made a surge tank for an LPS only tank. I'll try and dig up the thread. Was quite cool :-D

 

[iani]

Doug here also knows how to do it. He actually may have a surge tank sitting around.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Do you want that surge action where it uses air to push the water out, then kablewie lets it all back in?

Unless Doug has a few surge tanks sitting around, I got his surge tank

 

[GreshamH]

[quote author=sfsuphysics link=topic=3722.msg43270#msg43270 date=1210771527]
Do you want that surge action where it uses air to push the water out, then kablewie lets it all back in?

Unless Doug has a few surge tanks sitting around, I got his surge tank


[/quote]

Reverse Carlson Surge Device is what you speak of Mike

 

[tuberider]

I don't want to to a separate surge tank, more thinking of building a couple of waveboxes to be mounted externally like an overflow would. I'm pretty sure I can work out the actual dimensions of the boxes, I'm more concerned with getting a reliable pump, and having the correct amount of slots to get the "wavebox" effect.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Thanks Gresham, mind doesn't work too well 'memberin stuff in the morning.

Jeremy, have you talked to anyone who has the tunze wave boxes? I'm not exactly sure how the pumps inside of them work, but that would be my first idea for building an external version of that.

 

[tuberider]

I've seen them in action a few times, the stopping and starting makes me a little leery of the project, but then again would be bad ass to have the boxes external. Obviously, the Tunze boxes use Tunze pumps, I was thinking Maxi mods, or even modding a koralia (the latter probably wouldn't work for one reason or another (starting?).

 

[GreshamH]

IMO the starting with both the MJ and the Koralia will defeat that part of the project for you. Use a real stream and you should be fine, or a Vortec

 

[Gomer]

if you are looking at setting up a standing wave, you can likely just use two powerheads setup on a chaurvet timer and dial it it.

 

[GreshamH]

The Chauvet isn't that accurate IME and normal powerheads don't really like getting turned on and off that fast.

 

[tuberider]

[quote author=GreshamH link=topic=3722.msg43281#msg43281 date=1210780722]
IMO the starting with both the MJ and the Koralia will defeat that part of the project for you. Use a real stream and you should be fine, or a Vortec
[/quote]Thanks Gresham, I'll look into streams to "Keep it Real"[quote author=Gomer link=topic=3722.msg43283#msg43283 date=1210780981]
if you are looking at setting up a standing wave, you can likely just use two powerheads setup on a chaurvet timer and dial it it.
[/quote]That's not cool enough Tony, my new tank has to be cool.

 

[Gomer]

Jeremy, we can install underwater blue LEDs into the propellers and then they will be cool.

 

[tuberider]

Perhaps we could put them on the diving dog so it would look like laser beams

 

[Gomer]

only if we can put an air pump powered treasure chest in the tank as well.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I'm with Gresham, you need a powerhead to ramp up quickly and push a lot of water fast, streams are designed for this. That's not to say that a modded maxi might not work, just as the size of the box/tank volume gets larger the size starts to matter more.

Saw this on Youtube, DIY wavebox with a 6000 Stream (is this a controllable model?) But seems fairly straight forward. You have... a box... instead you have a pump. Don't see why this couldn't be an external jobber.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1duSSdjRb4

However if you don't care about the standing wave, I think you can very easily get away cheaper components, the two main ideas is you drain a ton of water from the external box into the tank (via pump) very similar to a surge (if you have a 10g surge that dumps in 15 seconds, that's the equiv of 2400 gph which is where Streams pop into the picture). Then you get the pump to shut off, and the reverse will happen as water rushes back in (most likely not the same amount simply because the tank does need to fill back up from your return pump as your overflow will get swamped). So you get a series of two surges per pump cycle. Who needs a standing wave!

If it were me, I'd find a really junky acrylic tank, and just build a smaller version as a proof of concept to see how it'll work, realizing as you scale up things change drastically (also when you add silly things like rock & corals )

 

[tuberider]

I'll be consulting with Gen on the construction, I believe he's built a few. Problem with the old junky tank is that acrylic doesn't bond very well as it ages, and that would lead to potential failure that may not be an accurate representation of the design.


Yes I do want a standing wave, and will be using a coast to coast overflow, so splashing should not be an issue. Also, I plan on running the boxes on two 6 hour cycles, with pulses every 14-17 seconds to simulate ground swell.

Thanks for the link Mike, that's about as simple as it gets.

 

[xinumaster]

Here is a thread on an DIY MJ wavebox.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1007362&highlight=wave+box