sump'nfishy Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Going to be moving to Seward, AK for the summer, so of course I'm going to have to take advantage of living on the coast by 1) snorkeling and 2) setting up a nano. Thinking of getting the new 6.25g petco arc tank because I really like the looks. To get a strong wave action going was looking at the Jebao rw4 with reduced voltage, would this be too much for a coldwater tank? Link to comment
Jonnywhoop Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 A rw4 would destroy that tank. Link to comment
sump'nfishy Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 I had a hunch that'd be the case, but I was hoping since I've seen builds in smaller tanks using the RW4. I haven't found anything smaller for wavemakers. Any good alternatives? Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I don't think one rw-4 would be to much on the lowest setting. Minimum flow rate is 135gph aka 20x flow rate for a tank your size, not quite overkill. Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 You could also run it at 12v as opposed to 24 and it'll go even lower Link to comment
CJJon Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What difference does the coldwater make regarding flow? Oh, and snorkeling the waters of Alaska? Not unless I had a hose of hot water down my pants! Link to comment
ndrobey Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I hope that you are half polar bear, because snorkeling in Seward is going to be super cold. There are professional divers with special equipment that can do it. Most people that wind up in the water, even in survival suits, only have minutes to live. Link to comment
sump'nfishy Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 This was my plan, running it at 12v. You could also run it at 12v as opposed to 24 and it'll go even lower I guess I should have specified too much flow for a small tank (6g, 18" long) and I'm planning to do a backwall of foam and rocks so it'll reduce volume even more. I want the wave action because I'm going to model it after a tidepool. from my understanding, Seward should only be in the low 50's, with a surface temp of 55~60* so a 7mm wetsuit should do the trip or for snorkeling possibly a 5mm custom fit or semi-dry since I'd be more active than a diver and in shallower waters. Link to comment
Nemcrazy Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I run huge amounts of flow in my coldwater tank. It sits around 20× turnover rate. And everything loves it. Also I don't use sand though. I use pea gravel and it works well. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I've also noticed that everything prefers pretty high flow, and just added a couple power heads to my existing lobster tank. I just used what I had on hand buy ideally I'd like to switch the random ones out for 4 Tunzes and a wave maker or throw them on a reef keeper or something on random flows. I dive a 7mm wetsuit here in Oregon and right now the water temp is 53F at the nearest NOAA bouy. If you were going deeper, for longer, I would totally go with a dry suit. Thing to watch out for when you are tidepooling/snorkeling with a wetsuit is when you get out of the water. The wind chill hits you quick, so make sure you got some dry towels and a sheltered warm area to change in. Also pee in your wetsuit. Everyone does it and its because its warm Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Hi, sorry to barge in. I honestly don't see the problem with too much flow, because think about it, there are those sea anemones and starfish that live right where the waves probably bash the living crap out of everything. White foam and rushing water and air everywhere. Short of blowing all the water out of the tank or creating an electrocution hazard, I really can't think of a situation with "too much flow", modeled after a temperate tidepool in an ocean with notoriously tempermental winter seas. But if I'm wrong, please advise me differently. I'm interested in maybe starting a temperate aquarium some day and I don't want to be a safety or organism hazard, haha. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Hi, sorry to barge in. I honestly don't see the problem with too much flow, because think about it, there are those sea anemones and starfish that live right where the waves probably bash the living crap out of everything. White foam and rushing water and air everywhere. Short of blowing all the water out of the tank or creating an electrocution hazard, I really can't think of a situation with "too much flow", modeled after a temperate tidepool in an ocean with notoriously tempermental winter seas. But if I'm wrong, please advise me differently. I'm interested in maybe starting a temperate aquarium some day and I don't want to be a safety or organism hazard, haha. You are absolutely right as far as the intertidal animals are concerned, they love a rip roaring flow in a tank. They down side to having that much flow is that most of your fish will be sheltered under ledges of rocks and if you try to create that much flow with a standard tank and power heads you will inevitably end up with an anemone puree from open intakes on the power heads. It can be done though a couple different ways, just not the easy way with powerheads The most ideal flow you could have is a gyre flow that keeps food and particles suspended in the water column as long as possible to allow maximum opportunity for your inhabitants to eat since the majority of them are NPS. Check out Steves Weasts last big coldwater tank, 400 gallon w/ 25,000 GPH Gyre flow ) Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 You are absolutely right as far as the intertidal animals are concerned, they love a rip roaring flow in a tank. They down side to having that much flow is that most of your fish will be sheltered under ledges of rocks and if you try to create that much flow with a standard tank and power heads you will inevitably end up with an anemone puree from open intakes on the power heads. It can be done though a couple different ways, just not the easy way with powerheads The most ideal flow you could have is a gyre flow that keeps food and particles suspended in the water column as long as possible to allow maximum opportunity for your inhabitants to eat since the majority of them are NPS. You know, I would be very interested to see a larger display, at least 55 gallons or so, with a large "wave" water pulse occurring at random intervals of maybe 5-10 intervals. At the same time, certain pumps could be timer-triggered to run at a very low-flow setting to pump water into the DT, simulating the tide going in, and other "output" pumps could be timed to pump water out of the DT. The water could flow into a "holding tank" like a large sump, maybe with a fixed volume of water inside, and maybe pods or some macroalgae in there, and/or the water could flow over a trickle filter. I was just thinking that if anyone had a real obsession with a tidal ecosystem tank, or deep pockets, or preferably both, this tank idea would be so cool. Constant waves and a gradual tide cycle to best simulate the natural environment. Link to comment
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