Built in Waveboxes

[blfuller123]

James came over today and we came up with a way for the external Tunze wave boxes. On his tank, we are doing one on each side of the overflow. They will be like the ones pictured in EnderG60's drawing, except the grove is on the back of the box. (you owe me one now James )

 

[Jar*Head]

Nice...

 

[EnderG60]

Yup thats basicly what I was thinking of.

Im gonna have to swing up there for a looksy some time

 

[blfuller123]

Come on by

 

[FFrankie]

I am starting to get interested in this thread. Thanks for keeping it going.

 

[chriscobb]

Definitely got my attention.....

 

[46bfinGA]

Brett ,those look sweet!

Now I just have to figure how best to make the bracket.

Heres some specs/pics of the pump just in case it helps anyone....

 

[46bfinGA]

The pump is......
1. 4 3/4" long from front to back.
2. 3 7/8" Back of pump to front of Shroud + 1/4" O-Ring (4 1/4" Total)
3. Width of pump is 2.5" and height is 3.5"
4. Circumference of the pump outlet is 2.5"

 

[blfuller123]

Here is a picture of one of the boxes I built. It is just leaning against the tank sitting on a piece of wood. Not the best picture because of the flash on the camera reflecting.

 

[OnlyCrimson]

Ahh yes i've been waiting to see someone do this for a long time.

 

[46bfinGA]

Cant wait to test these and see how they work. Thanks for the help on this Brett.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

looks awesome.. you've made me seriously reconsider the plumbing and flow in my tank.

 

[46bfinGA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11610467#post11610467 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elliott
jnarowe and Steve Weast, I believe they may be able to shine some light on the subject of built in, hidden waveboxes. I think it's a great idea and plan to explore it as well for my next tank.

Im surprised neither of these guys have jumped in on the thread? We could use all the ideas that we can get. Im thinking its fairly simple and it should work well. The only problem I can foresee would be the location of the overflow in relation to the Waveboxes.

Next problem to overcome would be hiding the Tunze 6101's so they are not much of an eyesore. Im really not a fan of the Tunze Rocks. And with an open rock design hiding the cords would be seemingly impossible using the Rocks.

 

[chriscobb]

I'm following this thread closely and like the idea, but was advised that it would cause problems with the overflow being mounted on the same end as the wave boxes.....but I've heard as well, that the overflow box issue can be solved as well.....

 

[Elliott]

46bfinGA, I posted that so you can pm them, they probably haven't seen this thread yet

 

[steve the plumb]

Gib it looks nice .I thought of doing something similar with my wavebox but I already have water in it.I think the only thing you will need is to make a hole for the tunze pump to throw the water out.Meaning like the way the pump sticks out of the wave box.I wouldn't worry about the overflow being next to the wave box.The box trows a pulse wave so the wave on the opposite side of the tank is bigger than the wave on the side of the wave box.You will get some slurping on the overflow side.I do get it with my wave box but its not that bad.I would also keep the eye sensor because it does shut the unit off at night(unless you want it running 24/7)I have a center overflow so maybe this does affect the wave a bit more than having the overflow on one side of the tank.The wave box only goes back and forth so you still need another source of water movement.My LFS guy told me to get another tunze pump and mount it at the opposite end of the tank aiming it so that the water would be pushed around.So when the wave box goes on the other pump goes on and moves the water in a circle.You will get the back and forth movement plus a swirling movement for better circulation.

 

[steve the plumb]

 

[46bfinGA]

Thanks Steve,
Their will definately be a hole for the pump to blow out And I have 4 of the 6101 Tunze Streams for additional flow. They will be controlled by either my 7095 controller or an Aquasurf. My two waveboxes will be controlled by the controller that came with them completely independant of the other streams. It may take some fiddling for awhile to get some sort of balance.

I like the idea of the night sensor and plan on using them both on my streams and on the waveboxes.

 

[46bfinGA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11666762#post11666762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elliott
46bfinGA, I posted that so you can pm them, they probably haven't seen this thread yet

I pm'ed JnaRowe but cannot find Steve Weast's Screenname. Thanks

 

[jnarowe]

Right now I am just in the design phase but do have some ideas. For me, any gurgling doesn't matter since my tank is in-wall.

I don't have a drawing yet but I believe a slanted dual rail near the bottom of the box will work to slide the pump and hold it in place.

Some factoids mostly from Roger @ Tunze USA.:

1. The tank must have a wall thickness at least one size larger than standard to cope with the wave action.

2. The standard wavebox will generate 15,000 gph in an 8' tank.

3. Waveboxes CANNOT be used as your sole source of flow because they do not get detritus suspended into the water column.

I plan to use substantially larger boxes and a specialty Tunze pump made mostly for public aquariums (6301) which produces nearly 8000 gph and "de-tune" them so that I don't make a wave but get large amounts of very efficient flow.