Wavebox(es) for 10' tank with corner overflow?

[pmrogers]

Just as I was about to pull the trigger on a 6305 to replace one of the six 6200s in our big tank I decided to revisit adding a wavebox to the big tank. I didn't include a wavebox in the initial design because of the thick top bracing on the tank, but I'm now comfortable enough with how overbuilt the tank is to be willing to cut out a breathing hole for the wavebox.

Related to this, my questions are:

1. What wavebox configuration would you recommend for generating a wave down the 10' length of a 10'x4' tank with one corner overflow (overflow dimensions are 1' x 2', oriented with the 2' length along the 4' tank side).

2. Is there a magnet holder strong enough for 1" acrylic?

Thanks!

 

[rvitko]

How wide is the brace? No cutting may be necessary, you may be able to leave a small void space between the brace and wavebox or if the brace is less than about 2" wide it may be fine as is.

1) One wavebox and one extension on the same side should do the job.

2) The magnet holders included are the strongest we have for the wavebox and the max is 3/4".

 

[pmrogers]

How wide is the brace? No cutting may be necessary, you may be able to leave a small void space between the brace and wavebox or if the brace is less than about 2" wide it may be fine as is.

The brace is 12" wide in the area in front of the overflow where I'd like to put the waveboxes. The air gap between the water surface and top bracing is just over one inch.

2) The magnet holders included are the strongest we have for the wavebox and the max is 3/4".

Dang. Do you happen to know if the magnet holder can be made to work by replacing just the outer magnet with a stronger 3rd party magnet such as the Magnavore 10?

Thanks,

 

[rvitko]

You could possibly use the old rail holders, but this would require drilling the bracing. It may work to use an off the shelf magnet cleaner on the outside, but this gets tricky, the 6200.500 has 3 matched pairs of magnets on each side of the H, you could run into trouble with magnet polarity, my best suggestion would be to buy some bulk rare earth magnets of high strength, line them up and then device some sort of way to water proof them and case them after you get the polarities and positioning worked out. Being outside nothing absolute is required, but rare earth magnets don't handle water well, they corrode very quickly so they need so sort of coating, I would either router out a piece of hardwood and pour in epoxy or possibly place them in a PVC tube and pump it full of silicon, Regal plastics likely has square plastic tubing.

 

[pmrogers]

Thanks for the suggestion, Roger. I'll try the bulk rare earth magnets experiment with the wavebox on our smaller tank, sandwiching a 1/2" piece of acrylic between the outer magnet and glass to make a 1" gap between magnets.

If I can get a workable magnet mounting do you think I'd need to cut a breathing hole above the waveboxes on the acrylic tank, or would a 1" air gap between box and bracing be sufficient?

 

[rvitko]

Even a 1/4 to 1/2" gap would be sufficient.