very cool DIY Wave box...

[reefgeek84]

This is pretty, cool...I am not sure if it is much cheaper then buying the real thing...but if you know someone that can work acrylic well, then you might be able to do one cheaper...there is pretty much no write up that I can see, but some pics...kind of cool.

 

Who knows, maybe it could be done with another company's controllers..

 

http://ealex.aqua-web.org/wavebox/index.htm

[tidalsculpin]

Wow!

I have been searching for wavebox diy project this evening too!!

I am trying to figure out how to create one without a tunze. So far it does not seem possible to use a maxijet 1200 mod with a box. A wave box for less than 100 bucks would be nice.

[reefgeek84]

Wow!

I have been searching for wavebox diy project this evening too!!

I am trying to figure out how to create one without a tunze. So far it does not seem possible to use a maxijet 1200 mod with a box. A wave box for less than 100 bucks would be nice.

 

I was thinking a seio and there new controller..but not sure.

[tidalsculpin]

Yeah, just checked it out on the rc thread. Seio controller looks good. I think the key is determining the harmonic of the wave that you create. The tunze wb slows to 20 percent. The seio controllers reduce to 30% power. Don't know if this helps. I think the seio controller is 160 bucks.

[reefgeek84]

Yeah' date=' just checked it out on the rc thread. Seio controller looks good. I think the key is determining the harmonic of the wave that you create. The tunze wb slows to 20 percent. The seio controllers reduce to 30% power. Don't know if this helps. I think the seio controller is 160 bucks.[/quote']

 

Well if the seio equipment would work, then you could do one for around 250 bucks...half the price... that would not be bad for most people.

[Nyles]

I like his main page showing his coral growth for 2002 till current WOW! Gives me high hopes! LOL

[tidalsculpin]

This guy in singapore has created his own controller but it is with a tunze.

The directions are pretty clear. I just don't know if it would work with seios.

 

There are videos too!

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250715

[impur]

LOL I just was checking this out yesterday too. Great DIY project.

[H20cooled]

Yeah the big problem is finding a pump that has a large output (the Tunze one is somewhere around the 4 or 5k) that can handle being turned off every couple of seconds or less. Most pumps will fall apart with this kind of abuse, the Tunze one is a special one made to handle this.

[izzypop]

I guess I don't see the point in this totally UGLY pointless setup when you could just get a TUNZE for the price and a warranty. This person has way to much time on there hands with no direction. They should have cleaned there tank and maybe a water change instead. Oh and with that extra time take that seachem intank petco test kit off.

Sorry guess I'm jealous of this guys free time. That was a wasted 20 seconds of my life.

[Ronjunior]

Sorry guess I'm jealous of this guys free time. That was a wasted 20 seconds of my life.

Be thankful you have a reason to be jealous with having a job and all.

[reef165]

i was also thinking, for those of us with acrylic tanks, what if you made a box and glued it to the outside of the tank with a same size hole drilled into the side of the tank thatway the big box wouldent be in the tank. also for the timer, some are using the double float switsh for the auto topoff, if one was to use that in the wavebox and mount the upper one to be adjustable basicaly to time the thing

[WAVES]

I dont see the point of these wave boxes at all. It only makes the coral sway about 1/2-1 inch (from the videos I have seen) this is useless. Waves are needed to "flush" the corals, if the same body of water is simply occilating on top of the coral there is no flushing being done. an OM on a CL or dual Tunze on a controller are far more realistic wavy motion. This way the corals actually have water rushing over them for 15-30 seconds then back the other way, that is wave motion.

 

I also feel watching corals wave back and forth so dang fast is almost unsettling, its not slow chill and soothing like a reef tank should be. But thats JMO.

 

Im with Shawn, big ol waste of time.

[H20cooled]

Joel,

What the wave and wavebox does is create a lot more natural flow for the corals, and because of that you get amazing polyp extension and growth. The Tunze wavebox puts out around 25k of flow which goes right throw the rocks and everything else, so this pulls out any dead spots in your tank. You still need to have other flow to get the junk out and into the water stream but there is not better at killing dead spots then a wave that moves through the entire tank.

 

I think the perfect setup would be an outside mounted wavebox and with a hidden closed loop, then you would have no ugly boxes or powerheads inside the tank to look at. This would be great for an inwall setup and its what I plan to do some day.

[WAVES]

well from any footage I have seen of these in operation (like Greg/ringwurms video) it looks next to useless. Wave motion does not equate to "flow", moving detritus 1/2 inch back and forth is hardly removing dead spots.

 

Rich, on that note OM is going to be releasing an OM Surge device,,, that has me curious, I dont have any details yet. Surge makes a ton more sense to me than these wave makers, I still believe they are useless.

[WAVES]

Ok no offense to Greg, but here is my point:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/littleichiban/fish/330_setup/?action=view&current=torch_wavebox2.flv

 

see how that torch moves back and forth about 1 inch? its the same water simply wiggling back and forth, its not flushing the coral. Also it almost makes me uneasy its so quick, its not sirene like it should be IMO.

[fly guy]

 

Rich, on that note OM is going to be releasing an OM Surge device,,, that has me curious, I dont have any details yet. Surge makes a ton more sense to me than these wave makers, I still believe they are useless.

 

 

i cant wait to see this new OM device. (clap) I just heard of it the other day

[H20cooled]

Joel,

yes it does move stuff back and forth an 1 or more but what that does is leave the detruis and other stuff suspended which is hard to do especially in rocks and other tight places. With the addition of a good closed loop or power head you can then move the suspend particles out and into the skimmer.

 

A Surge setup would be awesome the problem is doing it without a bubbles.

 

Ok no offense to Greg, but here is my point:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/littleichiban/fish/330_setup/?action=view&current=torch_wavebox2.flv

 

see how that torch moves back and forth about 1 inch? its the same water simply wiggling back and forth, its not flushing the coral. Also it almost makes me uneasy its so quick, its not sirene like it should be IMO.

[Piero]

I see what Joel is observing but am interpreting it a bit differently. I suspect that the seemingly small 1" movement is actually an indicator of a large amount of total water body movement...large volume can create such a seemingly "small" movement i think because it is in the form of a surge and not a steady stream.

 

Although I would not currently justify the space for these things inside a tank over a CL, I do suspect that they are effective at keeping particulate suspended. And certainly they are a very interesting area of advancement in the trade.

 

Steve W. is much better with fuild dynamics....maybe he'll speak up....but it is my understanding that a seemingly small 1" of movement is actually indicating a huge overall shift in the water column...idunno.

[oldbrownies]

I would think that the "wave" isn't the only movement, and it just keeps things from settling, and your other flow through the tank would sweep it up?

[ringwurm]

You would be surprised how much the wave moves things around. I usually feed with the wavebox off but all the pumps still turned on. After 7 minutes the wavebox will turn back on and the fish are trained to goto the center of the tank because they know it will kick up all the food that has settled to the bottom. I have very little of your typical dead spots where detritus likes to collect. It is definately not a substitute for flow but it does a great job of keeping things in suspension.

 

"its the same water simply wiggling back and forth,"

Thats not actually true. I'm fighting a microbubble problem in my return which makes it easy to see how the water is moving through the tank. The water actually appears to surge through the tank instead of going back and forth. Its hard to explain without seeing it in person.

[tidalsculpin]

I was initially interested in these devices for their tide like movement in a tidepool setup without the major bubbles and saltcreep. Surge tanks appear to be decievingly simple with many fine tuning adjustments that always end up in a mess around the tank. The wavebox or imitation of it seemed like a low heat, low bubble (saltcreep), high movement (if not hi flow) circulation solution. I think for this purpose it will do quite well. I am not worried about unsettled lps movement in my set up as that is exactly what the Oregon coast is like. Maybe they don't work esthetically for an sps tank. I am not worried about that in this case. I just wish the tunze wavebox was not 500 bucks.

 

I think I am going to pursue this with a seio controller and a couple of seio 1500s and some acrylic.

I'll achieve more flow, and good tidepool movement for less money than a tunze wavebox.

[ringwurm]

Ok no offense to Greg' date='[/quote']

 

I am highly offended and now require you to sell me something very cool to make me feel better. A nice healthy Gigas clam would work very nicely. (whistle)

[ringwurm]

Here is another DIY on reefcentral. The video looks pretty good.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1007362