"flushing" type wavemaker...

[ultra spikey]

...I went to the local aquarium and they had I believe it was a 90g reef tank set up. The thing that caught my eye was its wavemaker. Im not exactly sure how this thing works, but I wonder why I havnt seen this way of wavemaking used often.

Here is the tank...

...water gets pumped into this tank, and it looks like when the water level reaches the top of the drain pipe, it starts a syphon to quickly flush all of the water into the display tank.

...the one part I didnt really understand was this pipe at the bottom of the top tank...when the water was being flushed through the main drain, this pipe would be barely filled with water.

I drew a quick diagram just in case its hard to tell whats goin on in these pics...

 

[Fishbulb2]

I have seen these a couple times. I don't know what that bottom pipe is for in the storage tank but it isn't necessary. One main reason why I wouldn't think these are used very often is that it's nearly impossible to elimate mini-bubbles from them. They also require a large storage tank to be housed above the display. This isn't alsways convenient for people. I would like to try one of these again in the future.
FB

 

[xcreonx]

hmmm.. yeah there must be something we're not seeing in the photos. The water would just run down the bottom drain and never fill up...

Surge tanks are used in many of the large public aquariums to great success. I wish I had the facility to create a surge on my tank. LOTS of water movement.

 

[gcarroll]

personally I think they added the pipe on the bottom to confuse you. They seem to want it to look more complicated than it really is. Maybe that will deter perspective clients from a diy surge system.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8924515#post8924515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xcreonx
hmmm.. yeah there must be something we're not seeing in the photos. The water would just run down the bottom drain and never fill up...

I agree. You sure theres not a check valve or something on that bottom pipe?

 

[xcreonx]

Perhaps there's a standpipe on that drain that's higher than the siphon in case of emergency overflow.... that's all i could think of.

 

[ultra spikey]

the way i drew it is exactly how it looks.

 

[SMOOLIES]

Eric Borneman drew somehting very simular to that in his Aquarium Corals book. He calls it the Borneman flushing device It's like a toilet flushing system. Maybe the extra pipe is part of a safety incase the upper tank were to overfill and not drain for some reason?

 

[SuperNerd]

I remember Borneman making one too. In his book.

 

[Malifluous]

These have been around for 15 years. I know them as a carlson surge device. From looking at ur diagram, it seems that that the tank must fill very quickly, faster than the water flowing out the bottom drain. When the water reaches the pipe on the topa siphon is created and rapidly empties the water out . The purpose of the drain on the bottom is it will aide in siphoning all of the water out .