Why You Want A Wavebox

[andywg]

These two pictures show how much the water level varies in my new half set up reef, from the Tunze Wavebox:

And this video shows the wave action even better:



For more pics of the new tank, regardez ici.


As you can see, Tunze are right when they claim that the wavebox moves all the water. The odd bits of debris can be seen moving underneath my live rock (all just dumped at one end at the moment).

I only wish now that I had a tank long enough to get a double wwave. Must look pretty cool.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Now thats water movement!

 

[andywg]

Now thats water movement!

Indeed. 100 imperial gallons of water moving back and forth at an average power consumption of less than 30W (I don't have it on full bore at the moment, as the box is designed for tanks up to 1,200 Litres - somewhat more than my 456).

 

[James B]

whack it on full and its a quick way to do a water change

 

[mark7616]

Quick question does it not build up a rythem and start going over the edge of the tank?

 

[norite]

Those wave boxes look great, but at over £300 , very very expensive! I bet it's possible to knock together a home made one for a fraction of the cost!

 

[andywg]

Quick question does it not build up a rythem and start going over the edge of the tank?

Nope. The rhythm is what make the waves. It takes a few goes before it gets going. You have to tune the timing of the pulses to the length of the tank to get the waves. Too short, or too long and the water doesn't move right.

Those wave boxes look great, but at over £300 , very very expensive! I bet it's possible to knock together a home made one for a fraction of the cost!

I think you'd do well. You would need a pulse operating pump (so most pumps available would not be suitable) which is DC controlled to allow changing of the power from it. Add to that all the controller software and the light sensors and I reckon you will be quite hard pushed without industry contacts to beat £300. And I wonder whether a home made one would last as long as most Tunze gear?

I admit, the theory is simple, it just pumps a square box of water out, and then lets it come back in. But the application is somewhat more complex to get the full wave system. Finally, these can deal with tanks up to 1,200 litres (317 US gallons). Think how much it would cost to get powerheads to cover that sort of size, and even then the pwoerheads will not give as good a type of flow as the box.

I think the waevbox is money well spent on any decent sized tank (4 foot and up certainly).

 

[norite]

Sounds like a challenge to me!

 

[rictheredneck]

very cool never seen one working. whats the noise like from it?

 

[andywg]

The noise is ok. It's slightly more than would be idel in a bedroom, but the light sensor means it is off during the day.

I did have an issue with vibrations. I found it could be heard too well downstairs underneath it, so just put a bit of thin polystyrene between the magnets and the glass and this cured it.

 

[N1z]

Very cool, i think i might look into one of those for my next tank! But it does look a bit scary going up near the top of the tank lol.

 

[Maximus]

Is it really tricky to match the water level at water changes?

Or do you simply turn it off, and reset it to the new level?

Because I imagine the slightest change would knock it off ryhthm??

Either way, a cool bit of kit 8)


Maximus

 

[BigC]

Hi Andy,
Those things are excellent for water movement, I sure wish they would make one on a smaller scale for tanks around 24". Wave timers just dont have the same effect.
Thanks for the post and vid.
Regards
BigC

 

[andywg]

Is it really tricky to match the water level at water changes?

Or do you simply turn it off, and reset it to the new level?

Because I imagine the slightest change would knock it off ryhthm??

I run a sump so there are no issues there. The water change only lowers the water level in the sump return chamber. I would guess you would want it off for water changes without a sump. It is not as sensitive to water level as you think though. The pulses are tuned more to the length of the tank than the height or volume, so you can have some variation in the water level.

Hi Andy,
Those things are excellent for water movement, I sure wish they would make one on a smaller scale for tanks around 24". Wave timers just dont have the same effect.
Thanks for the post and vid.
Regards
BigC

I know for a fact that it works on 3 foot tanks, as I trialled it on my 3x2x2 FW when I got it. It might work on 2 foot tanks, if you want a real tidal blow zone.

Interestingly, you can link the wavebox up to the Tunze Stream Multicontroller so that you have true tides. It has 6 hours of the wavebox and the Streams (tide coming in) 6 hours of just the streams (slack) 6 hours of wavebox and stream (tide going out) and then 6 hours of just the streams again (slack).

 

[Danno]

Im looking at all of that water movement...couldn't that be extreemly hard on the structure of that tank? I've never had one and I don't want to do that math so I am clueless at best on this.