DIY Wavebox

G

givemeajob

New member
I decided to try and make a wavebox with the 6100 pumps I had. My initial design used a tupperware container attached to the side of the canopy. It worked well in concept but was very ugly.

Since it did work I decided to have a couple of boxes made by a professional (my acrylic skills are not so good). I did drill the holes and create the mounting brackets though.

Here is the final result...

mini-PICT9470.JPG


It works amazingly well. I'm getting well over an inch wave out of it. I am using a 6091 controller to operate the pump.

Now that I think about it, the only real part that is DIY is the box itself and the mounting bracket.

The cool thing is that I have another box and pump so I was going to see how big a wave I could get with both.

Here are some links to some videos as well...

http://www.likethecat.com/videos/PICT9474.MOV

http://www.likethecat.com/videos/PICT9474.MOV

TJ
 
awesome,, any tips on making one of your own... how would something like that do on a 55.. or would it be way to much for one.
 
TJ,

Great job it looks just like the "real thing" from Tunze. Where were you able to buy the 6091 controller? I didn't know that they sold them separately.

Jon
 
Thanks for the kind words.

I bought it from an individual who purchased two waveboxes instead of buying one wavebox and an extension.

TJ
 
You can control it by adjusting the pulse frequency but only slightly. To far one way or the other and you'll get no wave. I'm not going to do that though as I'll just remove one of the boxes if need be.

The box dimensions I used were 5" x 5" x 14" which is a tad bit bigger than the Tunze boxes. These are sealed at the bottom so the pump needs to be inserted from the top which requires removing the impeller cover. Than you can push the cover through the opening, slip the pump back onto it, and turn the cover to lock it in place. This does not hold the pump firmly in as there is still a gap behind it so I used a filter sponge to asically lock it in.

I used most of the Tunze mounting brackets to make the mounts.

Other than that it is very straight forward. It only took me about 1 minute to tune the wave.

TJ
 
Figured I had better give credit as this idea was not mine. Check out...

http://ealex.aqua-web.org/wavebox/index.htm

Some people have inquired about using relays to control the cycles of the pump.

I believe he said that he originally used relays but went to the timer instead.

I think the relays would be problematic for a couple of reasons. Small incremental adjustments to the pulse would be difficult and from what I've noticed with my box is that the water level does not rise/fall to the same level each time the pump cycles. Probably due to the position the impeller stops at or some other variable like additional current from return pumps.

TJ
 
I want to see if I understand this right.

Basically the box is water tight so the water can only get in/out by passing through the tunze. The box fills then the pump turns back on and shoots the water out creating a surge effect in the tank?
 
In essence it is water tight because the open top of the box is above the water at all times.

It is the flow of the water out and back into the box that creates the back and forth. Without the box you can still get a small wave with a pump but no where near as dramatic as with the box.
 
Nice job on those waveboxes. Does it affect the water going into the overflows and sump or does the water continue to drain like normal?
 
Sump is uneffected. It does splash up and over the overflows on both ends but noise is minimum.

I've actually got it setup now that one wavebox comes on with the center MH and than the other comes on when the other two MH come on. Gives it a gradual ramp up and down of the wave action.
 
Sorry - we don't allow buying and selling in the DIY forum.

Cheers

--beerguy
 
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