Reef Discussion

[Dr. Schell]

Hi guys, what are your thoughts on wave boxes and surge pumps. I run both a SCWD and a Tunze Wavebox simultaneously and swear by them.

I am interested in others thoughts/ experiences

 

[Luke]

I don't have one , But i will get something After i work out what sort of LED lighting i will get,
I love the idea , Keeping detritus in suspension with more chance of it going into the sump . for easy extraction

 

[MTG]

if i want to i can create waves with my vortech, i cant say i do it often tho!

 

[Dr. Schell]

how do you ensure that you have "non-linear" flow in your tanks. After all, the ocean (what it is that we are trying to replicate) does not GENERALLY have flows that last more than 6 hours at a time (i.e. tidal flows).

 

[MTG]

my vortech changes between 20-50 pct over time. i need to play with its settings tho and see if i can make it more effective

 

[Dr. Schell]

yes, would achieve the effect of wave surge. Anemones and corals do requre randomised flow to thrive and have full polyp extension. Nothing better than to watch the polyps move around, back and forth in the current.

 

[Talmier]

I haven't looked into the equipment so I don't really understand how it all works yet.
I have a which allows you to set a schedule for each socket.
If I was to set a powerhead up at each end and then schedule each power head for six hours on and the other off, would this give the same effect?

 

[VaultBoy]

I haven't looked into the equipment so I don't really understand how it all works yet.
I have a which allows you to set a schedule for each socket.
If I was to set a powerhead up at each end and then schedule each power head for six hours on and the other off, would this give the same effect?

Some people do this but it will shorten the life of your pumps as AC motors dont like being switched on and off.

 

[MTG]

Some people do this but it will shorten the life of your pumps as AC motors dont like being switched on and off.

+1 if you want alternating pumps invest in some decent quality dc pumps like tunze, vorech, koralia

 

[Synodontis]

Well I just learnt something new! "AC motors dont like being switched on and off" That's a really good point when looking for pumps and powerheads!
Thanks VB

 

[jashay]

what are peoples thoughts on running pumps at either end that are on constantly that basically collide with each other from different angles creating a random flow?

as I dont have a wave maker or scwd I have had to run 4 power heads to create random flow, one high on one end, one medium on the other end, the intergrated filter head in my unit flows into this current and another from lower down pointing up and into the flow of the two power heads that collide with each other.

I would like to get the proper flow pumps and have found some reasonable priced ones on ebay. will get the link soon. gotta go get my kids from school first!

 

[nick_s_h]

Link.... haha

 

[jashay]

heres the link. I cant say how good the quality of these are. but at the price if they last a year or two then your laughing. the only issue I could see that might be a problem with them is the possible electical current residue that can be released into the water. I have heard this can cause a problem with some fish in the sense that it can cause "popeye". this happened to a coral beauty that I had and the LFS said this can be the cause from submersible pumps, dunno if there is any truth to the matter but the LFS was good enough to replace the fish, which was good of them. (actually they didn't have another coral beauty at the time, I ended up putting another 20 bucks to the cost and got an emperor which is what I really wanted at the time, the missus wanted the coral beauty, she doesnt want one now though hahaha).

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110688624629&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

and another

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320723629769&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

and another

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120743188129&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

ebay has heaps and heaps of these sorts of items. mostly direct from Hong kong. has any one else had experience with these sort of items?

 

[BooY]

Some people do this but it will shorten the life of your pumps as AC motors dont like being switched on and off.

I disagree with this comment, AC motors will do fine being switched on and off as long as u dont cycle the power on/off/on/off very quickly in succession, having a pump on a 3-4-5-6 hour cycle will not damage an ac motor

 

[n0rk]

what are peoples thoughts on running pumps at either end that are on constantly that basically collide with each other from different angles creating a random flow?

as I dont have a wave maker or scwd I have had to run 4 power heads to create random flow, one high on one end, one medium on the other end, the intergrated filter head in my unit flows into this current and another from lower down pointing up and into the flow of the two power heads that collide with each other.

I would like to get the proper flow pumps and have found some reasonable priced ones on ebay. will get the link soon. gotta go get my kids from school first!

For what it's worth, this setup would create static flow. The only way you'll achieve randomised flow in a true sense is to have multiple sources with a real-time randomisation algorithm controlling speed, and even then it's nothing like true randomisation (which should more properly be chaotic movement, for what it's worth). Basically, where their flow interfaces lies you'll encounter a static channel of turbulence, and the turbulence structure will be pretty static. Sure, it's probably better than the alternative, but it's still nothing like a truly dynamic water movement structure.

As for oscillating flow/waveboxes, they're something I've always been interested by. Being able to uniformly move the water column has inherent benefits, this is one aspect of them I really like. The aspect that I don't like as such is that the uniform movement swaps direction with a 180º surge rotation every second or so... it provides the movement and surge, sure, but from a personal perspective I'd prefer to create a ring oscillation with additional directional surge. For this purpose my new system will use a pair of gyre closed loops to create the bulk of the directional "tides" paired with Tunze pumps on a dynamic pulse setting to create the baseline surge, and a CSD (Carlson Surge Device for those not in the know) operating during the photoperiod to provide heavy surge crash every few minutes. I feel this is the best compromise to the idea in my case while still allowing some dynamic nature.

Waveboxes for frag setups are fantastic as well, for what it's worth.

 

[Jonny Glover]

I have my main return line going into the steam of one of my vortechs, it puts more random flow with the other vortech on the parallel wall.