DIY Sea-Squirrel - AquaGate Oscillating Return Unit

[ReefVan]

Canadian Man,

Did you have a prefrence or opinion on what worked better, the reef-rat or seasquirrle

I really like the Sea-Squirrel, it was my first project although more complex. It works great.

The Reef-Rat, although still in development, is much easier to build. The big problem is the torque required to swivel the nozzle. The water rocketing out of the return pipe exerts quite a load on that pivoting nozzle.

Needs more work prior to release.

StirCrazy,

hmm how hard would it be to link two nozzles to a commen shaft

The torque loading on the motor and mechanism will probably be too high. The mechanism would fill the box, if it would be big enough.

These motors typically have a 4 or 5 watt rating. As it is many Sea-Swirls had a failing motor problem, part due to heat and part due to motor rating and size, they work hard and wear out after a while.

Probably easier just to add a modified sch40 nozzle fitting on the return nozzle.

Van