Best position for 2 Wavebox in 500G tank

[snadaud]

Hi,
I am making a tank which will be abt 8ft long x 4ft wide x 2.5ft tall.

I bought 1 wavebox + extension and am wondering where is the best place to put them :
- side by side pointing along the long side of the tank, or
- on opposite small ends of the tank pointing toward each other in a reverse mode ?

The tank will have rocks and corals only in the middle, and the flow will be open all around this "island".

I also plan on having 2 turbelle on a tidal mode.

Finally my overflow will be abt 2ft long, along one of the small sides of the tank ,and I am wondering how much of a difference in water level I should expect there between wave in and wave out.

Thanks in advance for your help !
Sylvain

 

[Jar*Head]

Hello Sylvain,
I would recommend to place your waveboxes side by side with the min of 12" distance between wavebox that way it will help cover the wide of the tank. The flow direction will be across length of the tank for nicer wave action. If you have an overflow box on 1 side panel, i would put the waveboxes on the same side. Make sure you raise your durso pipe up a bit to avoid noise and reduce to size of your wave due to the overflow box.

I would add more than two more stream for directional esp in that tank size if you don't have any CL.

Thanks
Steve

 

[snadaud]

Thanks Steve !

After posting yesterday I came across the movie of your tank with the 4 external wavebox and I was quite impressed by the size of the wave you generated !!

What I would like to get is a gentle rocking action in the softies and desedimentation of the rockwork with a wave a little as possible running as slowly as possible.

My tank will be approximately the same size as yours.

I know that the frequency I need will depend on the size of the tanks, obstructions, etc...

But in your experience, in a tank that size, is it possible to get the the resonance frequency of the tank while having the wavebox run on intervals as long as possible to get a slow back and forth motion of the water ?

Another thing I am hoping is that the wave will not be too high, so that the water level in my overflow box stays over a certain level.

The overflow box will be external like yours. It will not use a durso pipe, but 3 pipes will come out, one of them being an active siphon feeding the skimmer. The water level in the overflow box should never go lower than the intake of this pipe.

If you have ever tried to run a wave like the one I described on your tank, do you remember how long the tank water was flowing over the overflow vs how long the tank level was to low to get to the overflow ?

Finally, one last question
Would it be better to place each wavebox at the opposite corners of the small panel, pointing along the long one, or will the result be pretty much the same as long as they are separated by more than 12" ? They will be on the same side as the overflow.

Regarding the extra circulation, I was planning on having the return pump plumbed into 2 sea swirls placed in the diagonally oposite corners of the tank, and starting with 2 streams and then adding more as needed.

Thanks again for your input !
Sylvain

 

[Jar*Head]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13913299#post13913299 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snadaud
Thanks Steve !

After posting yesterday I came across the movie of your tank with the 4 external wavebox and I was quite impressed by the size of the wave you generated !!

What I would like to get is a gentle rocking action in the softies and desedimentation of the rockwork with a wave a little as possible running as slowly as possible.

A: You can adjust the size of the wave as well as the speed. With 2 waveboxes you will have plenty of option

My tank will be approximately the same size as yours.

I know that the frequency I need will depend on the size of the tanks, obstructions, etc...

But in your experience, in a tank that size, is it possible to get the the resonance frequency of the tank while having the wavebox run on intervals as long as possible to get a slow back and forth motion of the water ?


A: As i mentioned above. You can adjust the speed of the wave as well as the heigh

Another thing I am hoping is that the wave will not be too high, so that the water level in my overflow box stays over a certain level.

The overflow box will be external like yours. It will not use a durso pipe, but 3 pipes will come out, one of them being an active siphon feeding the skimmer. The water level in the overflow box should never go lower than the intake of this pipe.

I have a very similar plan with one drain go direct into the skimmer and the other two will go to the filter sock. I still use 2 durso pipe to make sure the water will never go low in the overflow box.

If you have ever tried to run a wave like the one I described on your tank, do you remember how long the tank water was flowing over the overflow vs how long the tank level was to low to get to the overflow ?

A: Even with a slow wave motion, the overflow will not drain fast enough to run dry. You are looking a few sec between the up and down cycle.

Finally, one last question
Would it be better to place each wavebox at the opposite corners of the small panel, pointing along the long one, or will the result be pretty much the same as long as they are separated by more than 12" ? They will be on the same side as the overflow.

The result should be the same but i prefer two waveboxes on the same side panel because you already loose 5" of viewing area on one side, there is no reason to loose another 5" for the same result.

Regarding the extra circulation, I was planning on having the return pump plumbed into 2 sea swirls placed in the diagonally oposite corners of the tank, and starting with 2 streams and then adding more as needed.

If you are planning on Softies tank, i highly recommend 2 tunze 6301 or 6305 that will take care of the flow in the tank along with 2 sea swirl..

Thanks again for your input !
Sylvain

 

[snadaud]

Thanks