Wave in my tank

I

ipluu

New member
I was at my cousin's dental office and got an email on my blackberry that the controllers were delivered. I rescheduled my dental appointment and rush home to play around with them.

After 2 hrs playing with all diff modes, I was able to get the wave going. The max wave I am able to get on my 80G is about 1 inch. All the soft coral starts to wave nicely and they are all in sync with each other. Those fish chilling at the top end of the tank are moving up and down with the wave. Things at the end of the tank move up and down; ones in the middle wave left and right. I got a little dizzy by looking at wave motion of my fish and coral. They probably need to get use to this and so do I.

Anyone else experiences seasick from the wave action going on in your tank?

Thank you very much for creating such a cool and wonderful equipment.
 
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139055061026_wave_strong_vlrg_9a_widec.jpg
 
I don't have one and it's nice to have waves in the tank. Do you think the fishes are happy with that ? How are the corals respond to wave?
 
Anyone else curious about the long term skimming effects of having a wave in a tank?

I know the whole point of overflows (whether internal or external) is that they constantly skim a thin layer off the surface (where organics tend to clump up... fat on surface), to be taken somewhere where they can be dealt with. However with a wave constantly moving up and down, you'll be getting a larger "layer" of water that's constantly being pushed over rather than just the a smaller surface layer.
 
Why wouldn't the overflow still work? Just because the water surface is in a wave form? Seems to me the same amount of water will have to drain regardless of what you do with waves or water movement inside the tank. The return pump still moves the same amount of water. Maybe I just don't get it (wouldn't be the first time either).
 
See, it's not the same amount of water that's the issue, is the fact the stuff that mostly gets skimmed is the the junk that's literally floating right on the surface. So you still get the same volume of water, it's just the amount of surface that goes over decreases because you get a larger volume in a shorter time (with a break in between). It's the same reason that any HOB skimmer without a skimming box to pull directly from the top really sucks poo (not literally), they work but not as effectively as they could.

Now I'm just hypothesizing on the potential skimmer issues, not trying to scare anyone away. But I recently read an article about how surge systems can make your skimmer slightly less efficient because while it is the same volume of water moving through your sump you get a huge rush of it all at once, giving your skimmer less time to suck the gunk out. Granted this is quite a bit less volume than a surge, but it could potentially have issues.
 
If you have enough surface agitation to avoid surface film build up because of your "wave" the net amount of filtration is the same isn't it?
 
Plenty of people with the Tunze wavebox and I've never seen complaints about surface skim. I've seen several in person and no surface film.

This post makes me pretty happy. I've only hooked up two and they're on the same side. I have them in sync - and pulsing but I can't get a wave or surge. I'd be happy with half that wave, I wonder if I can create a small wave with two on the 160XL.

Are you at 100%? And about where is your interval? (one more reason that I hate that there are no metrics on the dial!!!!) And are you in Anti-Sync?

Beautiful tank BTW!
 
you'll be getting a larger "layer" of water that's constantly being pushed over rather than just the a smaller surface layer.
Click to expand...

doesn't matter one bit. the total amount of surface proteins going down the drain are the same with a 'thin' layer and a 'thick' layer. it hits equilibrium either way within the range of differences we are talking about. the faster you skim that layer off, the cleaner that water will be. the slower, the dirtier. but it equals out to be the same either way. and even if it wasn't, it should matter if you have a decent protein skimmer in the first place. stuff shouldn't build up to the point where you need that theoretical slight x% help anyway.
 
Fliger,

I have 2 pumps on each side. I am on anti-sync, 75% throttle, about 5 little clicks from 0 for pulsing. If I go with the 100%, it will spill for sure.

To adjust pulsing, start at 0 and slowly increase it up. Wait for a minute or two before adjusting again. About 2 very small increments, I got high frequency waves, about 3 waves across my tank width (~~~). With 2 more increments, I got a long, single wave length (~) as you see in the video. When you are adjusting the pulse, stand on the side of the tank and look at your water level. Your tank is longer and much bigger so it will be a little different on the pulsing speed. For your tank, you need another pump on the other side to anti-sync. You probably go with 100% throttle and increase the pulse slowly until you get a nice and long wave.

I really love the action going in my tank. My fish love it, especially those tangs. They like to leverage the flow to travel across the tank. Corals look like they are in the ocean. I am sure they love and prefer the waves instead of uni-directional flow
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10973118#post10973118 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ipluu
Fliger,

I have 2 pumps on each side. I am on anti-sync, 75% throttle, about 5 little clicks from 0 for pulsing. If I go with the 100%, it will spill for sure.

To adjust pulsing, start at 0 and slowly increase it up. Wait for a minute or two before adjusting again. About 2 very small increments, I got high frequency waves, about 3 waves across my tank width (~~~). With 2 more increments, I got a long, single wave length (~) as you see in the video. When you are adjusting the pulse, stand on the side of the tank and look at your water level. Your tank is longer and much bigger so it will be a little different on the pulsing speed. For your tank, you need another pump on the other side to anti-sync. You probably go with 100% throttle and increase the pulse slowly until you get a nice and long wave.

I really love the action going in my tank. My fish love it, especially those tangs. They like to leverage the flow to travel across the tank. Corals look like they are in the ocean. I am sure they love and prefer the waves instead of uni-directional flow
Click to expand...




In the video it looked like only one pump on each side. At least the left side. The right was harder to see on my monitor.


Did you add another set since the video?
 
Are the pumps any quieter when in "wave" mode than in full blast?
Click to expand...

The wave mode is a little bit quieter but more annoyance. I don't think I able to sleep in the same room where the tank is. It makes zZZZ zZZZ hum sound every 1/2 second which is annoyance for me. I prefer a steady hum than a on off hum like that.
 
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That's so cool. I'm getting two Vortech's too very soon with the wireless controllers for my new System 120 as well. I was thinking of mounting them on the back of the tank, though I won't get that cool wave.
 
Kinetic,

You can still get a wave with the VorTechs mounted on the back of the aquarium. Your pulse frequency will have to be a bit faster, but it is very doable.
 
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