My 300 gallon acrylic tank

[steve the plumb]

I am thinking I would be able to go with a 1" wave maybe a bit more because of my overflow teeth and my return pump.The water level is pretty high.I don't care so much about wave height more the wave action.I think that does depend on the height.I don't know if tunze power heads do a better job of that.

[jnarowe]

I am not convinced that visible waves (at the surface) matter as much as random flow, but it is nice to see these wave devices working well and producing results, especially with all the problems with the Vortechs.

I am seriously considering building waveboxes onto my next tank.

[steve the plumb]

I regret not building one into the tank.I looked at e bay and the same seller has several wave boxs and tunze pumps and controllers.I wonder how the hell do they get there hands on them and afford to sell them at discounts.I placed a bid for a single pump and controller.I will keep trying to buy from this seller if the price is good.If the bid goes to high I won't bother.It seems this guy keeps having the stuff in stock.

[steve the plumb]

I am looking for that random flow.Because I have the 8 way I just want to toss it up a bit with the wave box.I know its not cheap but at least its not an energy hog.I have yet to take a look at my electric bill.I think my wife will have a fit if she sees a big increase.

[jnarowe]

and it won't jamb up like the 8-way. got a link for the ebay store?

[steve the plumb]

The 8 way has been running fine ever since I changed out the drum.The original was way to tight a fit.Its a guy selling tunze stuff.wave box and poweheads but it seems he has more than one because I see he is selling another wave box.He also has the vortech pumps.I don't know how much of each he has

[steve the plumb]

its this guy he seems to be selling the stuff http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfishyman1203

[steve the plumb]

He has another bid for the wave box

[jnarowe]

wow, nice stuff. since both those product lines are from heavily controlled margins, he might be picking it up in a bankruptsy or other strange situation.

[chris wright]

I don't know much about these wave boxes, but I have seen vid's and the wave looks great. I only wonder how the heck do you keep your water levels consistant in the sump? I'd imagine that if the skimmer was getting random fluctuating feeds of water it would not work to well. I could be of base here, but like I said I don't know much about them.

I'm with J, I would think random and turbulent flow would be what I'd strive for. Point the outlets of power heads/closed loop returns to the surface, and in a manner that the flows cross paths and bingo you have turbulent water.
Of course you'd still need flow lower in the tank, but I would think this would be easier, and would cause less variation in the surface level of your water. I know some people like this, but I would think a consistant feed to the skimmer/sump would be better. Just my opinion.

Oh Yeah, Aussies like boat's to

Cheers

Chris

[jnarowe]

Chris, good points of course. In my case with gravity feed to the skimmer, it is indeed and issue, but with a decent wave and the skimmer feed centered in the tank, probably not much interference. I could also go to a sump/pump driven skimmer.

Another potential problem is that I keep animals in my overflow. Sometimes shrimp, sometimes, urchins, sometimes fish, and none of those fare too well going dry.

[chris wright]

Mate your overflow probably has more capacity than my display tank

I like the idea though of having some animals in the overflow, even if they are not supposed to be there, ie fish. I've often thought about apsitia this way, if they could be prevented from returning to the display, they would make a great form of filtration.

Cheers

Chris

[jnarowe]

Mine is full of aiptasia. It's the only place they grow now since I put the CBB in the display.

The fish I have in there now are two neon blue gobies. There is only about 4" of water in my overflow though. I don't like deep overflows.

[chris wright]

Originally posted by jnarowe
Mine is full of aiptasia. It's the only place they grow now since I put the CBB in the display.

The fish I have in there now are two neon blue gobies. There is only about 4" of water in my overflow though. I don't like deep overflows.

Cool, do you think they make a difference? I hope that's were they stay I have 1 that I know of in my display, right where I can't get to it, Oh well

[jnarowe]

Well, I had a serious aiptasia problem that developed from an incoming rock from another hobbiest. I did not QT it as I should have and put it in the fuge. Then I saw the baby aiptasia and tried to get it out. Whule doing that, I actually watched it eject pieces of itself into the water column, and watched them flow into the powerhead, and overflow into the display.

Some time following that, I got tired of the damn filter socks and removed them. That was a big mistake. I feed fairly heavy and all frozen food so the amount of food flying around in the system can be startling to the uninitiated.

What grew out of that were literally thousands of the buggers, some measuring 3 - 4" across. I tried the various remedies with zero success, but that sweet little CBB has taken care of them right nicely.

As far as making a difference in the overflow, based on their doubling in mass every 2 weeks, I'd say yes. I now have a pre-sump floss filter box and I think that will keep their numbers down, but in the scheme of things, with a healthy CBB, I am not really worried about it.

[chris wright]

You'd be the one of the few reefers that have had success with copperbands, but with a natural food source ....

I'm surprised to hear that you didn't qt the live rock, considering your belief in qt, but I agree 100% when you tell everyone to qt. I have set up a tank for this purpose, but since I will not be adding anything to my tank, the other tank is for snails.

[steve the plumb]

If you can get the cooper band to eat frozen foods you can keep them.Its to bad mine died with that silicone disaster.I may get another one I will have to see.If I want to go on vacation I don't want to get stuck with feeding.I have a feeder that I am using now.To end up feeding frozen foods I would have to get someone to come over everyday.Most people won't do that.Of course when my old tank had that kalk disaster everyone said why didn't you ask me to take care of your tank.

[jnarowe]

I know. It was a moment of weakness. The guy was so proud of it. I inspected it on the sly and everything looked great. At the time, there was some reason "why" it wouldn't do well in the QT...can't remember though.

As far as success with CBBs, I have only had mine for maybe 2 - 3 months so I don't consider that a success, but I do feel my reef size does make it more likely that it will survive. There are so many feather snails and I am sure aiptasia babies to keep it in food forever. I am still very stumped as to how it decimated that huge population of very large anemones in less than two weeks.

[steve the plumb]

the fish likes to eat.

[steve the plumb]

I do notice that my gobies are making good work of the sand.They are munching on the sand all over the tank.I see mouth marks everywhere.The yellow head stole the burrow of another goby.One guy dug it the other decided to take it for his own.

[steve the plumb]

Jonathan its hard for a Jewish person to refuse free stuff.

[chris wright]

Originally posted by steve the plumb
If you can get the cooper band to eat frozen foods you can keep them.Its to bad mine died with that silicone disaster.I may get another one I will have to see.If I want to go on vacation I don't want to get stuck with feeding.I have a feeder that I am using now.To end up feeding frozen foods I would have to get someone to come over everyday.Most people won't do that.Of course when my old tank had that kalk disaster everyone said why didn't you ask me to take care of your tank.

I'M always worried about anybody looking after my tank. I've had fresh water tank problems when they were looked after for extended periods, so you can imagine the sleep I loose when having to go away for a weekend. My old man looks after both my tanks for me, but he was diagnosed with MS this year, so I have to be understanding when he screws up the feeding and maintenance. On my next tank I need to automate things for his convience more than mine.

[steve the plumb]

Thats one reason I got a controller. its impossible to feed frozen foods if your not around.The trick is to try and get the stubborn fish to eat pellets or flakes.I used selcon but I am going to get that garlic

[jnarowe]

Originally posted by steve the plumb
Jonathan its hard for a Jewish person to refuse free stuff.

ouch.

As far as feeding frozen foods, I think it can be done, but it will take some serious DIY time and money to make it happen. I have been thinking about this for about two years now and I have a couple of decent working ideas.

[JohnL]

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