I have a 400G room divider 78"x36"x36". The overflow compartment is on one side and takes up the width of the tank so it is 6"x36". The usable space in the tank is therefore 72"x36"x36". I am thinking of adding a wavemaker. I use a barracuda pump with 4-way OM as return with 3/4" lockine at each corner of the tank. Is it going to interfere with the wavebox's operation since my return is alternating with the 4 ways and some of the lockine water return will be aiming toward the water flow from the wavebox.
400G room divider and wavebox?
- Thread starter swannking
- Start date
I don't quite understand what you mean. You were saying that my overflow box would run dry or the wavebox? I am not worry about my overflow "box" running dry. It is not really a box but part of the tank which was partitioned out with the width and the depth of the tank and 6" in lenght (6"x36"x36"). The surface water is more than 1" above the bottom of the tooth openings. So even with a 1/2" wave, there is still 1/2" of water to overflow into the overflow box.
Steve Atkins
New member
If you plumb your overflow box such that the outlet pipes come up to only, say, 2cm below the top of the overflow box then it will remain full and you will have very little noise from your waves going over the overflow.
At least that works on mine where I have a corner overflow and two large diameter outlet pipes rising to just below the top of it. This sort of works like a two stage overflow and the waves entering it are a lot quieter than the waveboxes themselves.
Steve
At least that works on mine where I have a corner overflow and two large diameter outlet pipes rising to just below the top of it. This sort of works like a two stage overflow and the waves entering it are a lot quieter than the waveboxes themselves.
Steve
My pipes do come up to near the water surface in the overflow compartment. Otherwise, I would have water falling thirty some inches to the bottom. So, is it still an issue? I think my main concern is the water return from the baracuda aiming against the current of the wavebox will make the wavebox less effective.
Steve Atkins
New member
I think that will go a long way to reduce noise. My tank is 2.4m long by 1.0mm wide by .65m deep (about 400USG) and with two waveboxes and a corner overflow I get about a 2.5cm (1") wave with very little overflow noise. I find that the water from the previous wave is still going down the pipes when the next one comes into the overflow box.
It possibly helps that the outflow pipes are at an angle so the water flows down a slope rather than dropping straight down and they were designed this way to reduce noise even before I heard of waveboxes.
Unless your pump outlets were aiming straight into the outlet of a wavebox I doubt they would cause any problem. It is the differential movement caused by the waveboxes that does the work not the absolute amount of pumping they do relative to your overall flow.
Steve
It possibly helps that the outflow pipes are at an angle so the water flows down a slope rather than dropping straight down and they were designed this way to reduce noise even before I heard of waveboxes.
Unless your pump outlets were aiming straight into the outlet of a wavebox I doubt they would cause any problem. It is the differential movement caused by the waveboxes that does the work not the absolute amount of pumping they do relative to your overall flow.
Steve
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