Wavebox on back?

[craigwmiller]

I'm looking for input for someone who has a wavebox, and possibly moved it around to find the best place in their tank :)

Back story, I'm planning a new build and want 3 viewable (unobstructed) sides. The overflow will be middle back, and I was hoping (at least that's where it is on my Visio drawing now) that I could build a wavebox on the rear panel, say 6" from the side wall... This would blow directly towards the front glass.

Tank will be 84" long, 24" wide, and between 20"-24" deep.

There will be also a closed loop circulation to keep things moving.


SO... Has anyone tried a wavebox at the end of a tank, blowing towards the front? I've seen some successful videos with a more typical proportioned 4x3x2 tank (with the wave going left to right), but definitely looking for more info before the tank specs are final :D

[monocus]

i have that set up in my 240.i made my overfow in an arc out of acrylic,with a stockman standpipe 3"away from my back wall and 3" away from my overflow(coast to coast).my wave box is siliconed to my overflow(top of wavebox at the bottom of my overflow combs)which i then surrounded with rockwork .it pushes the water at the middle to top of the tank and then the current returns it along the bottom of the sand

[monocus]

sorry- i have a peninsula tank.wavebox is mounted on the small pane area

[craigwmiller]

I found this guy who did it on a qube tank, I'm certain the wave would go the long way on a longer tank!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh57RQiDfeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH1zO4yzito

[craigwmiller]

Okay, so I decided to mock up a test, since I remembered I have a 6' long 150 gallon tank in my garage (going to be the future sump).

So I used a dollar store plastic container, and an MP40 to build a wavebox, and mounted it near one end, blowing towards the front of the glass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl0m2XwA_-Y

I may do other tests/videos since I haven't found much about this type of design anywhere, and it is seemingly brilliant for having 3 clean sides with a long-back-mounted overflow and now wavebox!

Hope this helps others!

I will update this thread if/when I do more testing. If anyone wants a specific test done let me know (I don't have any more spare pumps though ;) )


Craig

[craigwmiller]

Updated video.

I raised the water level and moved the wavebox up higher (so it's more realistic to the final height in a tank).

I stopped the video when I realized that I bought this tank second hand 2 days ago, and I wasn't exactly sure the stresses it could handle :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKeMIRxMwNU

[lastlight]

wow i've never seen a box done up with an mp40 before. it works amazingly well and not even blasting down the length of the tank. i did the same thing on my 97 (3L x 2W x 26H) with a nano wavebox and it did not work nearly as well.

[craigwmiller]

My final build will be with a WP-40, since the price can't be beat -- but the wavebox design will allow for an mp40 worst case ;)

Also it might be note worthy that there was much leakage around the MP40 outlet (what can you ask from a 2-minute, make-shift, hack job)... so with a tighter build things should be very slick - and with glass it should be more stable than 1/32" plastic :D

BUT, it showed the design will work, and might be a wavebox revolution :D

[monocus]

and you just saved a hundred dollars using tupperware instead of a box

[craigwmiller]

and you just saved a hundred dollars using tupperware instead of a box

In this case this was a small scale mockup to test (successfully) the theory, the final build will be an external wavebox using glass when the aquarium is built.

Not to say that this couldn't work in a smaller aquarium, but this mockup had ~100 gallons of water and the final will have ~200 minus rockwork, so the pressures on a plastic container would be quite severe :)


But after doing this test, if you needed a quick wavebox for more movement, this is a quick way to do it (so long as you have a spare DC pump sitting around)