DIY Wavebox Tutorial from start to finish!

[xtm]

I won't be picking up the 6100's for this project until later this week, but I've already picked up some black acrylic and weldon. I have yet to make the trip to Radio Shack as we're is still trying to understand your diagram and work out any potential glitches along the way.

very simple circuit as long as you're good with soldering.

My first question is about the cord running from the circuit board into the 5-pin tunze driver. Were you able to find this cord at an online store or is this also something that is available at Radio Shack or is it the one that comes with the driver?

It's a female DIN-5 connector that I got from www.allelectronics.com I live 2 blocks from their LA store so I just drive there for parts. I'm sure you can get this from Rat Shack but since this interface has been obsolete for a while, your best bet is All Electronics.

If it's the one that comes with the driver, is it easy to fix if I decided to scratch the project and just hook it up to an aquasurf?

No it's not the one that came from Tunze but it's the same DIN-5. These cables are literally .50 cents each so don't mess with the Tunze cord IMO. If you want to cut the Tunze DIN-5 cord, it's easy to solder it back again, but that's unprofessional work. Just get a new DIN-5 for this project!!

Second question, it looks like you've replaced the shroud on your 6100 with the shroud of a 6200. The slots appear to be larger than other 6100's I've seen. Is this necessary for the wavebox?

It's the same shroud... I cut all my Tunzes' slots alternately for better flow because the stock slits are so closely spaced that a slight growth of algae can severely slow it down. This "mod" is not necessary but I highly recommend it.

Third question. What dremel bit were you using for cutting the acrylic? I'm new to acrylic and don't want to see a good project go bad because I grabbed the wrong cutting bit.

I use THIS KIT but the part# of the bit is Dremel 561 (multipurpose cutting bit)

Fourth question. Should the 6100 be as low as possible in the wavebox or would you recommend leaving a little space underneath? I'm trying to plan where exactly to cut the outlet hole for the tunze.

As low as possible. If you watch the video, you'll see that it empties the box all the way down. If you put it around the middle area of the box, the pump will regurgitate air/water and spew tons of microbubbles.

Ok, that's all I have for now. I'm sure more issues will come up as we work through this project. With your help and if it's alright with you, I'd like to post pictures of some of our progress in your thread to help others out.

Sure!

You've done a great job describing the entire process, but with more people chiming in about their builds, perhaps we can spark even more interest.

Agreed and thank you.

[suphew]

My first question is about the cord running from the circuit board into the 5-pin tunze driver. Were you able to find this cord at an online store or is this also something that is available at Radio Shack or is it the one that comes with the driver? If it's the one that comes with the driver, is it easy to fix if I decided to scratch the project and just hook it up to an aquasurf?

I used the lead from an old style (AT) keyboard. The beauty of this it is on the circuit board end it has a plug and socket with pins to mount on the circuit board. The keyboard also has some LED's and capacitors that can be used in the project.

Here's a very blurry pic taken with my phone

[zibba]

Nice find. I was able to track one down at Rat Shack along with all the other parts needed, less the .47 uf capacitor. Hopefully I'll have this thing up and running by the end of the weekend. I'll be sure to post any other questions I may have.

[rich415]

Is the wave actually created by the pump turning on and off so quickly? Do you need a Tunze stream or can other powerheads (non stream) work? For smaller tanks at least.

[suphew]

The wave is created by pumping the water out of the box (and letting it flow back in). In effect you are adding and removing water from the tank.

You can do this with any DC pump, AC pumps don't last long being turned on and off so much because of the brakes they have to stop them turning in the wrong direction.

The design here is made to work with a tunze pump, and controls the tunze pumps driver. You could use the same idea for driving other pumps but the design would have to suit that pump. But basically all we are doing is turning the pump on and off and controlling how fast this happens.

[rich415]

Ok. My tank is too small to create a wavebox but for those who are interested The Chauvet Light Controller:

http://shop.vendio.com/progearwareho...787/index.html

can turn an AC pump on and off in 1 second or less intervals. I know this will not work with any Propeller pumps but it will work with regular powerheads. So this might only be possible for smaller sized tanks. Someone with a longer nano such as a 20L might wanna try it. My tank is only 24" long and is 24" tall so I will not be trying it.

Just a thought

Rich

[xtm]

Rich,

Thanks for the link. However the real issue is the AC powerhead itself and the fact that the continuous on/off cycle will wear it down prematurely.

[Konadog]

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[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

Pretty kool. I just wonder what is the overall effect of waveboxes on corals/fish. There are diff. types of reefs... shallows, deep, tidal pools, etc. Corals probably adapt except for maybe those that want low flow. I also wonder what is the net effect on flow. Instead of the water line being constantly at the top of the ovb it goes up and down. Kool thread.

[Captain Quirk]

I already have one, but very nice work...

It took me back a ways to see the trusty old 555 timer... Oh, to be young again.

[hypertech]

xtm-

Do you know the voltage that the Tunze box supplies? I'm helping zibba build this and forgot to check before he left for the day. I need to calculate what size limiting resistor to use for the power LED.

We took a handful of pictures and I'm sure Zibba will post them to the thread. I didn't do any layout ahead and just started building so its not the prettiest circuit I've ever assembled, but it works.

We made a small mistake and used a 0.1 uF cap for C2 instead of a 10uF cap. I hooked it up and it was running from 20-300 Hz so that really didn't work. Since radio shack was closed for the day, we hooked up a waveform generator and tried a variety of signal shapes and frequencies. The pump seemed happiest with the straight 50% square wave like the circuit generates.

[xtm]

Originally posted by Konadog
Congratulations!
This thread has been nominated for thread of the month

Please cast your votes here in this poll:

Vote for August's Thread of the Month!

Thank You. It was an honor to be nominated

[black_kapre]

dude you hella got my vote.......

[hypertech]

I think I found the voltage posted on a web page. Is it variable to 24V? If so, people doing this controller may want to be careful with turning the power on the pump up all the way. The 555 timer (at least the one we got from radio shack) is rated to 18V on the input.

[zibba]

xtm,

I can't recall if this was mentioned and I can't seem to find it in the thread if the information was already posted, but at what percentage do you have the pump cycling in the wavebox? I'm thinking that if I end up pulsing it on/off @ 100% the box will clear too quickly. Just wanted to get a feel for where you found your sweet spot.

BTW - we completed the project and I'll be posting the progress as soon as I go pick up the completed controller from hypertech.

[xtm]

Originally posted by SCIFI_3D_zoo
Pretty kool. I just wonder what is the overall effect of waveboxes on corals/fish. There are diff. types of reefs... shallows, deep, tidal pools, etc. Corals probably adapt except for maybe those that want low flow. I also wonder what is the net effect on flow. Instead of the water line being constantly at the top of the ovb it goes up and down. Kool thread.

Most people have observed better polyp extension.. but the best overall benefit of it in the tank (imo) is it keeps detritus suspended on the water column, and virtually eliminates dead spots. Fishes LOVE swimming against the wave too.

[xtm]

Originally posted by Captain Quirk
I already have one, but very nice work...

It took me back a ways to see the trusty old 555 timer... Oh, to be young again.

Thank you Captain Q! After I built the project, I just realized that our old buddy 555 actually has a big brother named 556 (no, not 556 from the SoCal forum, lol) It is a dual timer in one IC... perhaps I can use it on our next prototype... hmm... DIY 7095 Multicontroller?

[xtm]

Do you know the voltage that the Tunze box supplies? I'm helping zibba build this and forgot to check before he left for the day. I need to calculate what size limiting resistor to use for the power LED.

IIRC it's 3vdc to 23vdc variable. I need to open up the controller box to find out for sure but if I recall correctly I used a 1/4w 470 ohm for the LED. Some LEDs have this resistor built-in for automotive use (12v source -> 470 ohm -> LED)


We took a handful of pictures and I'm sure Zibba will post them to the thread. I didn't do any layout ahead and just started building so its not the prettiest circuit I've ever assembled, but it works.


It's great to hear. Let's see them!


We made a small mistake and used a 0.1 uF cap for C2 instead of a 10uF cap. I hooked it up and it was running from 20-300 Hz so that really didn't work. Since radio shack was closed for the day, we hooked up a waveform generator and tried a variety of signal shapes and frequencies. The pump seemed happiest with the straight 50% square wave like the circuit generates.

Great! Any videos?

[zibba]

Hypertech and Zibba's Wavebox Build!!!

Well it's official, I have a solid 1.5" wave (could easily be more). Here's how we did it:

Controller

Hypertech used his skills to build up the controller for this DIY. We found all the materials to build the circuit at Radio Shack. Following XTM's schematic -




This was the last shot I took before we closed it up in the box. So just remember at this point it wasn't complete.


Here's the cable we used:






Hypertech drilled through the project box and had this cable holder to make it look very professional:


Controller's all done:





Next up is the Wavebox.

[zibba]

Wavebox

Decided to order all the acrylic based on the dimensions that were in XTM's original post. Ordered all the acrylic in black to take out the painting process. It was about $12 more for black acrylic vs. clear.

Since this was my first time ever working with acrylic, the company I got the acrylic from was nice enough to send me away with a few scrape pieces to practice with. Here was my semi-mock-up and a few practice attempts at cutting a circle with a dremel:






Preparing the box:





Note: In the above picture, the magnet wouldn't fit inside the box with the thicker acrylic. I couldn't have perfect seems on the box, but the final still product turned out nice.



Cut the hole:




Again, going back the the mock-up to see if everything fit.

[zibba]

(sorry for the split posts, too many images)

Now all that was needed was some weldon (I used #3 vs. xtm's #16) and some cure time. Here it is:






And there you have it. Another successful wave box. It's producing a beautiful wave in my 90-gallon. I wish I had a video camera to show everyone the wave, but unfortunately, I don't.

Cheers,
- Z

[xtm]

Originally posted by black_kapre
dude you hella got my vote.......

thank you po

[namwodahs]

I just saw a wavebox in action for the first time at our local reefkeeper meeting this past weekend and I was amazed at the motion and just how much water it moved. Thanks for posting these instructions! I will be building mine once I can save up for a Tunze

Are there any other cheaper DC powerheads on the market?

[xtm]

wow zibba great job! Please post a video of it in action if you can. I'd like to see it.

[bpoore89]

I really like the idea of using a wave box. But for it being so bulky I cant see using it with powerheads also in my little 55. Do You still need power heads, or is there enough flow throughout the entire tank with just the wave box. Whats your guys opinion?