Emulating tides in a Reef Tank

[Slphappy]

I'd like to think this has been done/tried; but I'm wondering if this would work or not and if it's even practical.

I have been toying with the idea of using two pumps (same make and model), each running it's own, seperate, closed loop. Pump #1 would circulate water around the tank in one direction for, say, 5 and a half hours and then shut down. Then a half hour later pump #2 would kick on and circulate water in the opposite direction for 5 and half hours and then shut down. A half hour later later pump #1 kicks on again and starts the cycle over again.

Would this be practical? In my head (which is a scary place :lol: ) it seems that this might emulate tidal currents and such. Would it be beneficial for the corals (which would be mostly SPS with a couple gorgonians and a few LPS and softies thrown in for good measure)? Havs anyone on RC actually tried something similar?

Any input would be appreciated... Thanks all.
Todd

[Randall_James]

is done all the time... can help with preventing ditritus buildup in any one given spot. I like using Tunze dual controls myself. They shift flow every couple minutes (more wave action than tidal)

[Slphappy]

Randall_James,
Thanks for the reply... I know about wave boxes, PW controllers, SCWDs, and Sea Swirls and such. They change direction every few seconds or every few minutes creating more of a random flow.

The type of flow this set up would try to emulate would be a more laminar flow for 5.5 hours (tide coming in) then very little flow for half and hour (tide changing direction) then a laminar flow in the other direction (tide going out). Maybe this is done alot... Can Tunze controllers do this as well? Just trying to gather info...

Thanks all,
Todd

[Randall_James]

Nope, they do not have that wide of a timer range. I personally prefer a more turbulent flow pattern as to avoid any laminar flow.

Not sure how much research is out on the subject but it appears that the lions share of timers and pumps like this prefer the more rapid switching of flow.

[Slphappy]

Anybody else have any insight?

[silverwolf72]

There is another idea I just can't remember it. WEIR tank maybe. the bottom of the reef structure is lifter off the bottom, flow is pushed down one side of the tank across the bottom and then back up the other side thus creating a circular flow.

[silverwolf72]

GYRE theres a thread in the advanced topics about it that some one made

[audioaddiction]

it's definitely possible!

have two basic timers and two powerheads, one for each timer.

these two can create this type of flow change every few hours, reversing circulation in opposite directions to correspond to a tide sequence. it's what i'll be doing in my upcoming 90.

it'd be best to have more powerheads in the tank in conjunction with the primary "tidal" powerheards, running more often and more randomly to keep things somewhat turbulent. you want these making sure fish waste and uneaten food are kicked up and given the chance to be filtered out.

awesome!

[MSU Fan]

Same as audioaddiction mentioned, but use a coralife timer that has daylight and moonlight outlets. Place 2 PH's on the day outlets, 2 on the moonlight outlets.

The non-digital version just uses those little jumpers to indicate on or off, and work in 15min increments. Just need to set them for every couple of hours to switch to the other outlets. With this set up, it's clean and repetitive, and you don't have calibrate two independent timers to work together (huge pain in the butt!). HTH

[Slphappy]

silverwolf72, thanks for the response... I took a look at an article about weir tanks, and that's pretty much what I was thinking about doing... except without the divider.

audioaddiction, Since you're trying it in your 90.. I may have to go ahead and "give it a go" in my tank and see what happens. I don't think it will kill any corals if it doesn't work out the way I think it will. I'm hoping it will actually enhance the growth and health of the corals, just beacause it more closely resembles natural tides (or at least I hope it does anyway).

MSU Fan, thanks I may try something like that as well...

Thanks all for the replies...

[silverwolf72]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature
Just some more good reading.

[Slphappy]

Thanks silverwolf,
That's exactly what I was looking for... Good read... I guess I'm going to try for a gyre (not weir :lol: ) style type of flow.

Thanks again,
Todd

[spleen93]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9800807#post9800807 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Slphappy
Randall_James,
Thanks for the reply... I know about wave boxes, PW controllers, SCWDs, and Sea Swirls and such. They change direction every few seconds or every few minutes creating more of a random flow.

The type of flow this set up would try to emulate would be a more laminar flow for 5.5 hours (tide coming in) then very little flow for half and hour (tide changing direction) then a laminar flow in the other direction (tide going out). Maybe this is done alot... Can Tunze controllers do this as well? Just trying to gather info...

Thanks all,
Todd

Actually the Tunze 7095 multicontroller can set a switching interval up to 12 hours. So yes, you could set up one or two Stream pumps to pump in one direction for 5-6 hours and then have another one or two pumps in the opposite direction for 5-6 hours afterwards. The controller manual describes this as "tide simulation" oddly enough :D It would definitely be more energy efficient than running two closed loops with their pumps.

But the gyre tank concept sounds cool too ...

Spleen

[Randall_James]

There is an issue with trying to setup this "tidal" flow.
The physics are the main issue, if you want the water to travel in a direction for 5 hours and then the other, you are going to need some sort of water raceway to get the water back to the point of origin.
What goes up must come down thing.. what goes left, must go right in this case..