My 30g w/ 400w MH and Tunze wavebox

[vijaym85]

Just thought i would post a few pics from my 30g Reef tank. I saw some really impressive things being done with smaller tanks and so i decided that I took would take part in this new trend. I got a lot of inspiration from ppl here on RC so thanks to you all. The tank is simple and pretty self sufficent. I am in college so I can't be overtly consumed by taking care of it. The tank is 2.5 months old and was seeded using LR and water from my older FOWLR tank, to demish a cycle need. Sorry I am new to aquatic photography. Give me some time to get better. Tank looks nicer in person, just can't capture it...

Trumpet coral

Brain

Brain

 

[vijaym85]

Frogspawn

LT plate

Galaxia

 

[vijaym85]

Bubble coral, clam, giant cup mushroom and leathers and small Lobo.

assorted coral

 

[vijaym85]

Gonioporia

 

[vijaym85]

Cave, future home of an Elegance coral

 

[CamBarr]

how does a wave box work in a 30???

 

[motlot77]

how 'bout a full tank shot???

 

[Texsun]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9497983#post9497983 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CamBarr
how does a wave box work in a 30???

I'd like to know as well. The Tunze are difficult to set up even in a 4' tank.

 

[vijaym85]

Ok so the story with the wavebox.

Originally I bought it for my 150g but I decided I had too many fish to have a easy time conttrolong params for it to be a reef, so I put it on my 30g. The tank is 3ft long and 12 inches wide and 16inches tall. My rockwork is basically a reefwall with a large cave in the center. The wavebox is at the right end of the tank and basically it flows behind the reef wall to keep the water movement good in what iis generally a dead spot and also keeps the water from being excesively strong on corals when it shots out water. Since the bottom portion of my reef wall is hollow water movement is easy and there is no dea spots. The wavebox can create up to a 1.25 inch wave from what I have observed.

I have had great success with it and since its output current is not directed at any coarls its not dangerously strang since the tank is small. I owe a lot of my success with the unit to my rockwork .

 

[USC-fan]

i would really like a picture of your rockwork around the wavebox. i'm debating putting a wavebox in my 4ft 90gal.

 

[Texsun]

Sounds like an interesting setup. My concern would be with the tank's integrity and not so much the coral. Also, I assume it takes up a good chunk or room.

Any pics of the setup?

 

[vijaym85]

 

[vijaym85]

 

[vijaym85]

 

[USC-fan]

wow nice setup!

Do you have the back of the tank open? I trying to find the best way to set up live rock for the wavebox. What have you found to work best?

 

[FishMachine]

isnt the 400 watt a lot for a 30?

 

[vijaym85]

The reef wall is only hallow at the bottom the top part has rock on it. When the wavebox fires it pushes water through the entire back length of the tank and all the hallowness allows water movement to flow back to the front.I never fire the wavebox on max power, or my Goni closes up and all the Lps move violently. I use a mild wave of about .5-.75 inches.

400w is a lot but my bulb is not that high on PAR and is a 12k lighting temp but looks like 20k so i need a bright light as it is dim at lower wattages for this particular bulb. Also the tank is 3ft long so a single 400 seems to make the whole thing look bright, even the sides. Plus I had the unit lying around so I did not want to spend extra money buying a new fixture. Its only on for about 6hrs a day also.

 

[vijaym85]

ok so I just figured out how to use Photobucket and thought I would show you some of the same pics that have not been compressed.

 

[vijaym85]

few more better resolution pics

 

[StunnaShadez]

nice setup! awsome shots