Hey guys!
I recently moved to a new apartment. My nano is still safely at my old place for now. It's getting a bit neglected though, as I barely spend any time with it now.

I'm in the process of brainstorming for the new tank in the new apartment.
I already decided i would go sumpless (my existing 20g has a large sump behind the back wall) and use a vortech and my trusted Tunze osmolator in the display tank. Then I remembered the waving action would most likely cause problems with the Tunzes sensor.

Any ideas, how I could get these two devices to work together in the same tank?

A small pipe in the corner with holes drilled into it to allow the water level to move with the tank. If there are few enough holes, the water level should equal out what the tank is, but without the constant wave motion.



I've never tried this though so it may fail horribly. Give it a test though. I'm sure you have some scrap pvc and a drill (or can borrow a drill). You'll probably have to cap the bottom. No need to glue though.

The walls of the pipe should go beyond what the wave motion can reach and the bottom should extend into the tank a bit to allow the water to equalize.

An interesting idea. If I'll have to do it this way, I'll probably just install a narrow overflow box in the corner.

I also came up with the idea of using a timer, that would turn off the pump a couple of times a day for a minute, and run the ATO at that time. But that presents another problem. If the timer cuts of power to the pump, it's backup power supply will kick in.

From what I understand reading the Osmolator instructions are that waves don't affect it.

Yeah, I think the sensor has to be out of the water for more than five seconds (?) before it'll activate. You'd definitely be stretching it to it's limit though...

I'll test today how long it takes for the sensor to activate the pump, once the water level drops.

It's true, the pump does take about 5 seconds to kick in.
But i would have to test it with the actual waves, to see how it handles the constant level changes.

I know with the tunze wave boxes they recommend putting things like ATO sensors and such towards the middle of the tank since the wave action there will be minimized. Its at the ends of the tank where the wave action is at its highest. Not sure how the mp10 wave function works so ymmv on that one..

Well the Vortech can work in the same way (having a point or multiple points where the waving is minimal), but it's advantage are the more complex modes, where waves constantly change. There is no such sweet spot when using these modes.