Anyone using a wavy sea to move a stream?

[Sullyman]

Hey Steve, how did you connect 1" fittings to the wavy sea? Is this metric sized? When I did a trial, the 90 keeps falling off the pipe coming from the bottom of the wavy sea. It's got 2 o-rings on the pipe but they don't hold the 1" 90 tight enough. Is this something I need to use pipe tape on to make it snug, can't have a stream loose in the tank.

 

[Steve Atkins]

For some reason we still use imperial sizing for pressure piping so the elbow I used was the same as you would use (in fact it had a USA label moulded onto it).

I had the same thing happen on the second Wavysea. I was thinking of getting fatter O rings but in the end drilled a hole in the front of the 1" elbow and used a s/s screw to lock it together. The point of the screw just slightly sticks into the side of the Wavysea pipe and I made sure the hole was drilled where I would not hit the O rings. It has gone fine for nearly a week like that.

The 1st Wavysea did not have this problem but I added a screw for that one also. That Wavysea looks to have a slightly fatter O ring, and it was definitely harder to push the elbow on to it, so going the O ring route probably would have worked also.

The second Wavysea turned out to be a Wavysea Plus (supplied at the same price) but for what I am dong that makes no difference.

Steve

 

[Sullyman]

Steve, what's an s/s screw?

 

[Steve Atkins]

Stainless steel. It was a fine threaded stainless steel wood screw. I tried one of those speed screws (also s/s) but it did not hold. You could use a machine screw but would probably have to cut a thread to make it work.

 

[Sullyman]

Thanks again, off to the hardware store before they close.
Bob

 

[Sullyman]

Well it's up and running. It turned out a street 90 fit perfect, so did a 1" joint but I went with the street elbo. I got a s/s too, will put it in tomorrow and post some pics.
This is an amaizing combo, will have to play around with it tomorrow, set the stream down to 60/70 percent and the tank
I've got to find out how to use the controler for the stream, never used one before.
Thanks again Steve.

 

[Steve Atkins]

Good to hear it worked.

I have ordered the last pieces of the system, the 7091 and the 7092.340. And that will be the end of the tank upgrades for a while.

Steve

 

[Sullyman]

A couple pics.

 

[Steve Atkins]

Looking good.

Interesting, we don't have that elbow, with both a male and female ends, down here. Not that I needed it on this occasion.

I used cable ties also, when I set up the first one, but after a while the rubber washer seems to grip better and I don't need them now.

You have the front of the stream on upside down, with the closed section at the bottom. This should be at the top to reduce the chances of the pump sucking in air.

Steve

 

[Sullyman]

I don't trust the plastic nut, it's slipped once so I put an extra tie on to keep it aimed higher. I didn't even think about the stream cover, will make that change.
This is better than expected, tunze should design a stream oscillator.
Looks like there will be no need for the other stream kit and wavebox, the water movement is great with this set up.
Now I can start to move my sps into the new tank, thanks for the help Steve.

 

[Steve Atkins]

I had my doubts about those nuts also and was thinking about replacing them with stainless steel. But, so far so good, even after using a spanner to tighten them.

I suspect Tunze will stick to their knitting. The only way to seriously improve on the Wavysea concept would be to make it completely submersible and attach to the side using the magnets. The issues around sealing it for operation under water would not be insignificant. They would probably have to use magnetic connection like the pumps or, more likely, similar to the Vortex pumps, except using a slow revving geared motor, or a stepping motor.

 

[Konadog]

Where are you guys getting your kits for this?

 

[Sullyman]

I got mine from AquaCave, Steve's kinda on the other side of the world, so he probably didn't. Nice to be able to get advise from all over the world.
Steve, I set the wavebox up, going to sell it but wanted to see how it worked. I have a few questions, what is the importance of having the top out of the water? It came with a blue sponge like wrap around the stream's bezel, is that normal or a packing item?
How long does it take to get a wave going?

 

[ostrow]

I'm using a sea-swirl to move a Maxi-Jet stream. Lower cost all around, and I thought lower profile but it looks like the Wavysea might have me beat there.

 

[Steve Atkins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9263747#post9263747 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sullyman
...... I have a few questions, what is the importance of having the top out of the water? It came with a blue sponge like wrap around the stream's bezel, is that normal or a packing item?
How long does it take to get a wave going?

You only need the top to be just out of the water when the wave gets to that end. The tops of mine are only about 1-2mm above the top of the wave. I started with them a bit higher, before I knew how high the wave was going to be, then lowered them.

The blue sponge is supposed to be round the back part of the pump and acts to hold it in place in the wavebox housing and to deaden sound, although I think it was just a cheap way to mount the pump without making new mounting brackets and the sound deadening came as a bonus. It needs to remain there but it should not cover the pump inlets - it is not a filter. Also, the pump should be upside down, with the blanked off section on the bottom and the grills at the top.

You should notice a wave after about 30 seconds. Start off around 12 oclock and move it in small increment (2-3°) first anti clockwise then try clockwise. Mine dials in at about 3 minutes past 12. This is on a 400USG 2.4 m long tank so I would expect yours to end up somewhere just before 12 oclock since your tank appears to be shorter and should have a shorter wave timing.

Steve

 

[Sullyman]

I set the box up again yesterday, after making the changes, screws in the holes on the back of the box and the blue sponge around the pump housing. The wavebox is doing it's thing and doing it well, would be better if it wasn't mounted to the overflow wall, I've got to be loosing a lot of the wave as it washes into the overflow.
I'm still going to sell the wavebox though, since I'm getting the great results with the wavy sea/tunze set up.
Bob

 

[Steve Atkins]

I suspect I could get a bigger wave without a corner outflow but still consider the waveboxes worth while as they get water moving in places the pumps don't reach easily. I have found this to be more importent as the corals have grown.

 

[Steve Atkins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9263595#post9263595 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Konadog
Where are you guys getting your kits for this?

As Sullyman says I am probably a bit far off for your purposes. However, the Tunze equipment and Wavyseas each come from different suppliers based in Auckland, about 750km north of here.

Steve

 

[Sullyman]

Steve, the longer I leave it running, the more I like it. I may have to re-think this this wavebox, it's really making a nice wave but looks like a bit of an eye sore, since my tanks not that large.
If I moved it to the center of the return wall, it would be aimed at the rock work about a foot in front of it, do you think it would still work set up that way?

 

[Steve Atkins]

It might but not as well. I would tend to move it not right to the side but far enough sideways so that it has a mostly clear shot down the tank. It would not matter much (from my experience positioning them) if the flow glanced off the side of the rocks but right at them might be a bit much. You could then put the Wavysea in the equivalent position on the other side of the overflow.

Like this

Mine is set up like this