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  #1  
Old 02/16/2006, 03:00 AM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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My wave maker

I figured I would post a pic of my wave maker . Its pretty simple and works great . The best thing is its cheap to run and make no bubbles or noise and move one hell of alot of water . This is th esmall one on my holding tank all it is a peice os 8 inch pve pipe with a 2 inch electric ball valve . At the top of th etank is a float switch . when the water rises to th eswitch it closes which activates a holding realy that opens the valve for a certin amout of time which lets tha water out .
The only draw back is th eexpense of th evalve , Mine was 300 buck , but well worth it , I have a 40 gallon version on my main tank with a 3 inch valve .
  #2  
Old 02/16/2006, 12:00 PM
anthworks anthworks is offline
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Cool. I wish I could DIY like some of the people on this site. Its a surge Correct?
  #3  
Old 02/16/2006, 12:38 PM
Ibwrasstaman Ibwrasstaman is offline
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Very cool idea!
As the punch line to the little Johnny joke goes..."I like the way you think!"
Would you mind describing how it works in more detail please?
How do you get things started?
Do you set the float at the level of your tank to start with?
How or when do you refill the 8" pvc?
Thanks for sharing.
Wrassta
  #4  
Old 02/16/2006, 01:42 PM
jent46bow jent46bow is offline
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thats sweet.....any chance you can post a video of of the tank when the surge happens? How offten does it surge?

p.s. if you need server space to host the video just pm me....you can email me the video and i will post it
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  #5  
Old 02/16/2006, 01:51 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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I can try posting a video but I have never done that before.
The float switch is in th etop of th epve tube . The red line is the water coming in ,The small 1 inch pvc is a safety overflow .
The water fills the tube and hits the float switch which activates the relay.. You adjust the fequency of the waves by how long it takes to fill the tube . Mine is about every 2 minuts . This wont work an asmall system with a real small sump , when the tube fills the sump might go empty .I will try and post a wiring diagram .
Bill
  #6  
Old 02/16/2006, 02:13 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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Hers a diagram , sorry for the bad picture amd not that good at this .
  #7  
Old 02/16/2006, 06:30 PM
AcroSteve AcroSteve is offline
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For those setting one of these up, you should time it so the valve shuts before all the water runs out.

This will eliminate the bubbles. As long as the outlet is below the water line in the tank, no air can get in.

Right, Bill?
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  #8  
Old 02/17/2006, 12:42 AM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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Your right ,as long as you adjust the trim pot to the right time you wont get any bubbles .
  #9  
Old 02/17/2006, 11:49 AM
Tunjee Tunjee is offline
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Why the delay on make relay? When the sensor says ok I"m full of water now drain it out, your delay will tell it to hold off for the set amount of time before opening of the valve begins. I"m just trying to understand it I think it's really cool!
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  #10  
Old 02/17/2006, 01:39 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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My bad ,its a delay on break .
  #11  
Old 02/17/2006, 05:47 PM
Tunjee Tunjee is offline
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Ahh ha! I see now, makes sense to keep the valve open after the float switch has been made and then broken again otherwise you'd never get all the water out of the tube. I have a similiar delay on break relay but it's only two wire. I use it to keep the sump's pump off for a set amount of time while the tank is fed. Your relay seems more complicated and smarter where did you find it?
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  #12  
Old 03/03/2006, 09:45 AM
agarza agarza is offline
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Thumbs up

It's a super cool idea, please share more, will love to see your wave maker on the other tank, as well as a video of them working if you don't mind.
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  #13  
Old 03/31/2006, 06:14 PM
honey honey is offline
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Re: My wave maker

Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Wann
The only draw back is th eexpense of th evalve , Mine was 300 buck
What brand and model is it, and were could one order it from?
Does it make a lot of noise? I mean the valve when it's on, not the surge itself.
Thanks!

Hon
  #14  
Old 04/01/2006, 11:31 AM
Chaotic Reefer4u Chaotic Reefer4u is offline
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very nice...
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  #15  
Old 04/02/2006, 12:42 PM
Justjoe Justjoe is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Wann
My bad ,its a delay on break .
Bill,
Speaking for myself that has no clue about the electronic end of things, how and where do I get the control unit you describe, or the parts/ pieces to make one? I have a 300 CSD with a 3" pipe that dumps every 5 minutes in 55 seconds and I would like to eliminate the bubbles.
Thanks.
Joe
  #16  
Old 04/02/2006, 03:49 PM
AcroSteve AcroSteve is offline
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I would imagine this type of relay would work. Bill's looks to be solid state, which is basically the same thing with no moving parts. Plus, he has onother relay in there for something.




I got several of them on ebay. The one pictured will do from .3 minutes(18 seconds) to 30 minutes. They sell different models, so you need to make sure the time range is within the cycle time of your system.

Other than ebay, McMaster.com, Newarkinone.com or digikey.com would be a few retail suppliers.

I use mine on my return pump to protect against high/low water levels.

Note: I have a seperate 24vdc power supply for safety around the cheap float switches and salt water. Be sure your voltage is what you need.
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Last edited by AcroSteve; 04/02/2006 at 03:59 PM.
  #17  
Old 04/02/2006, 08:39 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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Joe
I got all my parts from mcmaster . The second clear relay you see is used to apply power to close the ball valve . When I origonaly set this up I used a 3 inch pneumatic gate valve , the force was so strong when it opened the gush of water literly blew the fish out the top of the tank and trashed a bunch of corals . so now I use 2 inch electirc valves .
If you are having trouble finding the parts I could make on for you , no big deal . What valve do you want to use ?If you have compresed air I would go with a air powered valve , they open alot faster . Ive seen your tank in person and would say a few three or 4 inch valves would get things moving nice . A 4 inch valve mounted on a 150 gallon poly tank would work so nice on your system .

Bill
  #18  
Old 04/03/2006, 05:46 PM
alien9168 alien9168 is offline
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Cool.
I saw something simmilar to this diy at the national aquarium in baltimore.
They have a surge device on one of there coral displays.

It creats alot of really good motion.
Nice work man!

-alien
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  #19  
Old 04/03/2006, 07:15 PM
Sanjay Sanjay is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Wann
Joe
I got all my parts from mcmaster . The second clear relay you see is used to apply power to close the ball valve . When I origonaly set this up I used a 3 inch pneumatic gate valve , the force was so strong when it opened the gush of water literly blew the fish out the top of the tank and trashed a bunch of corals . so now I use 2 inch electirc valves .
If you are having trouble finding the parts I could make on for you , no big deal . What valve do you want to use ?If you have compresed air I would go with a air powered valve , they open alot faster . Ive seen your tank in person and would say a few three or 4 inch valves would get things moving nice . A 4 inch valve mounted on a 150 gallon poly tank would work so nice on your system .

Bill
Bill,

Now you have me thinking abou this too. The headroom is too tight for me to this with a lot of water... but I think even a small amount of water (say 10G) at a rapid outflow may work for a 500G tank.

sanjay.
  #20  
Old 04/03/2006, 08:16 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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The trick I found was to use small diameter pvc pipe for the tank . I made one ont of 8 inch od pipe and 2 feet tall and it works great on my friends 450 gallon tank.
  #21  
Old 04/03/2006, 08:47 PM
Justjoe Justjoe is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Wann
If you are having trouble finding the parts I could make on for you , no big deal . What valve do you want to use ?If you have compresed air I would go with a air powered valve , they open alot faster . Ive seen your tank in person and would say a few three or 4 inch valves would get things moving nice . A 4 inch valve mounted on a 150 gallon poly tank would work so nice on your system .

Bill
Bill,
When did you see the tank?
I now have a 300 gallon CSD on the tank with a 3" siphon line, so it takes 5 minutes to fill and 1 minute to dump.
I was recently considering switching it to a 4" pipe for an even greater surge but am now considering changing out the siphon to eliminate the bubbles. The CSD is elevated above the tank, so my thoughts are to stay with the 3" pipe and Asahi electric actuated valve as a 3" valve is relatively much cheaper then a 4"valve.

I may take you up on the offer of help. So the way you have it set up is the valve closes at a set time interval based on how fast the chamber drains. Any reason you did this vs. putting in another float switch just above the bottom of the siphon pipe, so the valve would close just before pulling in air?

Sanjay, see you this Sunday at Pratt, yes?
Thanks.
Joe
  #22  
Old 04/03/2006, 09:43 PM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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I didnt go with the float valve on th ebottom because Iam not a big fan of float valves . They always fail , The on on th etop has a pingpong ball glued to it incas it get stuck to give it some extra boayancy . I also use a overflow pipe oncase it sticks . The timer is as close to fullproof as I can get and has never failed in years , Plus it also give you the ability to adajust the how much water comes out of the tank , You can set it to dump it all or just half or whatever you like .I agree that 3 inch valves are alot cheaper than 4 inch . I think three inch should work good for your system . Iam working on a dual valve setup right now where on tank feeds two or three valves and it cycles the valves one at a time for a true back and forth wave .

Bill
  #23  
Old 04/03/2006, 09:49 PM
alien9168 alien9168 is offline
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I would like to see apic of a tank with more than one valve..Thtd be awsome.

-alien
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  #24  
Old 04/03/2006, 11:01 PM
Sanjay Sanjay is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Wann
The trick I found was to use small diameter pvc pipe for the tank . I made one ont of 8 inch od pipe and 2 feet tall and it works great on my friends 450 gallon tank.
I only have 20" of headroom above the top of my tank. With the valve and pipe taking up some room, that would leave me with may be 15-18" at best.

Are you going to make up a lsit of parts that you got from McMastercarr ?

I may still play with it.

Joe, I will see you this Sunday.

Thanks,

sanjay.
  #25  
Old 04/04/2006, 12:13 AM
Bill Wann Bill Wann is offline
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Sanjay
Ill amke up a parts list for you , You could put the valve sideways to save some space then all you have is a 2 icch 90 elbow off the bottom of the tank .Ill rig one up to a five gallon bucket tonight and see how it does , that should be about the right size .

Bill
 

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