Wavebox on back?

[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

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

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

[monocus]

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

[craigwmiller]

Originally Posted by monocus

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)