Tunze 6000's and controller -vs- Tunze wavebox

[morganind]

I am setting up a 120g SPS tank and I have questions about the Tunze pumps. I love the amount of water movement in the video's of the Wavebox, but I am concerned about the lack of variety. That is the water just sloshes
back and forth with no change in direction on intensity over time. Does the controller allow for any kind of programmable changes in the rhythm or intensity of the "waves". On the other the hand the 7095 controller offers
lots of programming options for the 6000 pumps. Could I have 2 6000's pointing in oppposite directions timed such that randomly one increases
towards max flow while the other is drecreasing towards min flow? Or is there
a better way to use these pumps? So the delimma is should I go for the Wavebox for greater flow or the 6000's for greater flexibility or both which
seems like too much for a 120g tank. I have 2 400W MH's and I am trying
for a high energy setup.
Also the tank is drilled with 2 overflows in the back that lead to a 90 sump
and a mag7 for return.
Thanks
Brian

 

[Krish]

Not sure about the wave box (eventhough I have seen the video clips and looks pretty cool), but I have 2 Tunzes and love um! I have them at opposing ends of the tank and pointed at the front glass at the center (as Sherman suggested) and gives me great random flow along with my sea-swirl and small closed loop.

Could I have 2 6000's pointing in oppposite directions timed such that randomly one increases
towards max flow while the other is drecreasing towards min flow

You could do that and I've heard of people doing it like that, but IMO, it is basically doing the same thing as a wave box would do if you really think about it...Hopefully someone will chime in who has a wave box. Best of luck

 

[morganind]

That's kind of what I am hoping to achieve. I would like to try to simulate the way waves come in groups of large waves followed by groups of small waves and so on. I am wondering if the programmablity of the 7095 is flexible enough for me to create a pattern of waves that changes thoughout the day.
thanks
Brian

 

[Scooterman]

I don't know much on the box but the controllers can be set to increase & decrease in speed thus making random movements, I think you can do that with several at once & get good motion randomly, I liked mine had it a few years with nothing but solid performance from the unit.

 

[Krish]

That's kind of what I am hoping to achieve. I would like to try to simulate the way waves come in groups of large waves followed by groups of small waves and so on. I am wondering if the programmablity of the 7095 is flexible enough for me to create a pattern of waves that changes thoughout the day.
thanks

Ahh..Gotcha! Sorry Yeah you can set them like that. Not sure if it will be as wide of a flow pattern as the Wave box just running 2 Tunzes though...

 

[liveforphysics]

Well, let me tell you, having the water slosh back and forth is really an exellent improvment over your typical circulation setup that just sprays constant out of fixed locations. I think water just sloshing back and forth is pretty much as ideal as you are going to find in this hobby.

 

[morganind]

If you watch the wind blow through a pile of leaves on a windy day, the
leaves never really go far. They pretty much just move out of the current to areas with less air motion. Though the Tunzes seem like great pumps, they can't remove all of the dead spots simultaneously. That is, at any instant in time there will always be relatively dead areas somewhere in the tank. I am wondering if to some extent when we use powerheads ,we are just moving a large part of the detritus from one dead spot to another. By moving the whole volume of water at one time, the waveboxes won't allow detritus to accumulate in any one area. If I add a couple of 6000s for turbulence, maybe that will give me the ability to keep food particles up and swirling around long enough to be eaten by both fish and corals.
Also one of the Tunze websites says that a 7095 controller can also control
the wavebox. Does anyone know exactly what that means.
Thanks for your responses
Brian

 

[Krish]

Also one of the Tunze websites says that a 7095 controller can also control
the wavebox. Does anyone know exactly what that means.

Not sure man...But I can find out tomorrow if you don't get a response tonight

 

[marinelife]

Ok the wavebox does not slosh, the water just moves back and forth causing100% of the tank water to move, leaving you will little to no dead spots in the tank.
The 7095 only turns the wavebox off, this is sometimes usefull if you have other streams and want the wavebox off while the pump on the other side of the tank is running
I run the wavebox in a 180 with two 6100 streams. I do not have the wavebox on the 7095 controller with my streams, I do not see a reason to have the wavebox off at any time during the day. It does have a feature so it is off at night if you want, which is what I does.
The longer the tank the better, if your 120 is only the 4foot model I do not think the wavebox would be a good idea. You would just not get a good wave out of it. Tunze says you can do it and I love the wavebox but can not say it is good for a short tank

When I first installed the wavebox I was amazed at how much stuff started floating around the tank. I think the wavebox and other pump combo on a long tank is best

 

[Krish]

Marinelife...Do you have any photos of your setup with the wavebox? I looked in your photo gallery and I see the two Tunze streams, but it looks like they are on two overflows or are they wave boxes?