sea swirl or wave2k?
 

Which would you choose and why? I can't decide which would better.
I have a 92 oceanic bowfront so I'll have to measure and see if it'll fit in the center of the back. Oh and any factors other than price please =)
Anyway.. opinions please ! :D

amanda

I have a couple of wave2ks in my 180g and I love them for the amount of water movement that they make. There are a few issues with them; they require a fair bit of real estate, can be noisy, are ugly, and require some maintenance. To take care of the ugliness I made a great big live rock wall to hide them behind.
I decided on the wave2ks for my tank as I had to tear one tank down and put the other in its place, in the course of a few hours. The wave2ks served my purposes well.
Chris

Also to consider are the oceansmotions products to provide varying and random flow.

I wouldn't trust a wave2k in a bowfront. The swaying motion it creates can be very hard on tanks. And with bowfronts being known to bust a seal...
If it were me Id not want 92G of Saltwater on my floor..:eek:

ok...... I've never heard of that before....

The oceans motions cost alot and I really don't want to have to do any plumbing


amanda

welp its true, the bowfronts are week tanks because of the joints where the bow meets the ends. tunze who makes the wavebox is good enought to warn their customers their product will weaken the strenght of tanks something like 15%. i would imagine that number would be much higher on bowfronted tanks.

The Tunze Wavebox constantly changes levels in the tank about 3/4-1" I think. That high flow constant surging could cause some damage.
The wave2ks move a lot of water yes, but there isn't a high pressure, and the water level doesn't change. When I first got them I was a little disappointed because I didn't feel a high pressure coming out of the box. When I started putting in the soft corals and saw the nice gentle waving action, I was impressed. It is nothing like the (2) 3/4" concentrated flow out of the discharge of my sump return pump at 1780 gph(even diffused). That blows the hell out of the corals.
If I had the time to set up a tank over a few months, I wouldn't hesitate for the ocean motions, and take the time to plumb it right. However by the time you add a decent pump, the price does add up.

What about the sea swirls ? Do they provide a comparable flow ? Would I need more than 1 in the back centre of the tank ?
thanks alot

amanda

Just to add my 2 cents in...there has never been evidence that bowfronts break their seal anymore than rectangle tanks do....the seals and pressure are no different on a rectangle or bowfront. There USED to be concern about independently made bowfronts that were made with thinner glass than what was required...thus would cause 'flexing' in the front glass and therefore leak. AllGlass and Oceanic have NO flex...therefore are no different than a rectangle in pressure...the framing is also the same.......

Sea swirls and Wave2k work differently. I do believe the largest seaswirl can only handle 600-800GPH through them. There's also a new product out called Wavysea which I think is an attachment for powerheads that pans them back and forth like a sea swirl.