Wavebox Users -- Water level ideas?

[ostrow]

I had a wavebox on the reef that I lost this summer. To use it (Oceanic tank), I had to dremel the teeth on the overflow box by about 3/4".

I had ask the mfr of my new tank to make the overflow teeth extra long. Now, having paid for that and assuming it was done, I heard back that their jig for some reason would not allow them to do that.

I will still talk to them on Monday but their overflow boxes are glass, covered by ABS. So dremeling on my own is not going to be an option.

The teeth on their overflows are 1" long. I have a 5' long tank. Any ideas for lowering the water level enough to enable full use of the wavebox? Makes no sense to me to use the box on anything less than maximum wave as with a 5' tank you get about a 1.25" wave at best.

I'd love to hear from people who managed to figure out the dilemma without cutting the teeth or otherwise modifying the overflow box.

Thanks!

[Jar*Head]

All you need is 3/4" gap between the water surface and the top of the tank. Once you have the wavebox dialed in the water level will drop....

[ostrow]

How do you figure that? Anyway, this was not the case on my last tank. I noticed I typed 1.25 above. It was 1.5" wave. But, before I cut the teeth lower things were very loud.

I don't see how the dialing in of the wavebox lowers the water level in the tank....

[Jar*Head]

How do you figure that? Anyway, this was not the case on my last tank. I noticed I typed 1.25 above. It was 1.5" wave. But, before I cut the teeth lower things were very loud.

I don't see how the dialing in of the wavebox lowers the water level in the tank....

Once you get the wave going the water level will be a bit lower.. How do i figure that? Cuz i have 4 running in my tank. Cuz i LOVE tunze so i know :D. You DON'T have you lower to teeth to fix the noise issue. Just fix your durso pipe...

[ostrow]

Once you get the wave going the water level will be a bit lower.. How do i figure that? Cuz i have 4 running in my tank. Cuz i LOVE tunze so i know :D. You DON'T have you lower to teeth to fix the noise issue. Just fix your durso pipe...

Jar*Head, it may seem that way, as the wave rocks back and forth. But the overall water level in the display does not change. Watch the midpoint of the tank ... the waver level there does not change when you switch the box on and never changes.

The only way the water level in the display can change is if you get more water into the sump and less in the display. The wavebox itself does not change the water level in the display any more than any powerhead does. If water is not leaving the tank itself, the waterline in the tank is not changing.

I leave open the possibility that I'm missing something. But I used a wavebox on my last tank for nearly 3 yrs. I had to lower the level in the display to prevent splashing onto the floor and excessive noise in the overflow box in order to use it. The durso alone did not quiet that noise in the box sufficiently. I also noticed that moving the durso up and down had virtually zero effect on the water level in the display.

[suthrnmn]

have you tried shortening the durso pipes...i had the same issue. you can also slow down your return pump

[cali_reef]

What Jar*Head described would work if you have corner overflow(s) paired a return pump that is not pumping water faster than your corner overflow can drain during each wave crest. The key is to have a center overflow or dual corner overflows with 2X of the required rated drain rate so that it can handle your return flow as desired.

Your wave crest height is limited by various factors, having only 3/4" of room between the top of the tank and the water surface severely limits the wavebox's potential. I was able to get a 3"+ wave on a 300G tank (with no rock in it), water was splashing everywhere in the garage.

[ostrow]

I had dual corner overflows like that before and had to dremel the teeth. Again, the full wave was higher than the tank could withstand without modification.

According to Roger Vitko, one's choices are either a smaller wave or longer overflow teeth. Either or. Otherwise, you'll get the water splashing everywhere as cali_reef said.