Tide Pool With Wave

[ReD-DaWg-OnE]

I was looking for someone who simulated a tide pool in a tank, I would imagine you would have rocks on the right side of the tank that would be dry and trap some water.

 

Maybe use a shallow reef tank only long rectangle.

 

I look for people who were doing this but I couldn't find anything.

 

What do you guys think?

[dh350twin]

cool idea...

[eddiecorrea]

I'd be very interested to see this. Ive always thought a tide pool tank would be awesome.

[AquaticEngineer]

If you build one throw a chiller on it and I'll send you some coldwater livestock on the house

[ReD-DaWg-OnE]

Any issues you guys can think of with the design I have set out?

[Urchinhead]

How are you going to get the water to the wave maker in a way that it doesn't overflow out of the wave maker?

[ReD-DaWg-OnE]

I figured some kind of pressure switch would trip it. Also on the top of that part of the tank it would be covered.

[hooligan_78]

How does the wave maker not overflow the tank once it releases?

[Urchinhead]

Hummm... That won't work quite right. You are pumping water up to the wave maker... I think what you are trying to do is create a surge tank not a wave maker. Google DIY surge tank for ideas.

[Mr. Microscope]

You could build it sort of like a toilet or surge. Just have it fill and drain with timers. The effect wouldn't be subtle, but would probably be easier to build than an contraption that did it gradually.

[jaynkeel]

I have been mulling this over for the past 4 or 5 yrs myself. My plans would consist of using a custom acrylic tank of about 6 feet long x 8 in front to back x 8 in deep. On one end a separate taller tank attached to the main tank with a carlson surge device inside. The same end would be deeper with a drop off similar to some of the ones created here on this site. The opposite end would be only 8in deep with tide pools created with live rock and would hold water, so every time the surge tank fired it created a rush of water that submerged the tidepools and then slowly receded. You could even put the surge tank on a timer to simulate tidal change or to reduce noise in the evening. All this would be wall mounted on a shelf around 20 or so gallons of water. Now just need to draw up a schematic. Your idea op would work very well with some tweaking...

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

Any issues you guys can think of with the design I have set out?

 

salt creep.

[jedimasterben]

Only problem with setups with Carlson surge devices is the incredible noise they produce.

[fraser112]

Looks like Hair Algae to me, which is not a good thing.

Cool idea but why the surge device ? I thought about this a bit when i was younger and the simplest way i can think of is:

 

drill the tank at the high and low tide mark.

Install a solanoid on the lower drain.

Install a wave maker on a float controlled mount so it stays at the same level.

 

Then low tide the water exits the lower overflow. You shut that pipe(you could make that variable ) Until it filled and drained from the high tide line.

 

Having the moving wave maker would create the surge up the beech.

This would be cool as hell to see if you do it op.

You could possibly have hardly plants on the dry area. hell carve the entire thing out of foam and add a small return on so you can have a water fall. Build it up even for a small waterfall . coat it in sand and throw in some salt hardy grass.

 

I vote for a salt paludarium.

[fraser112]

Only problem with setups with Carlson surge devices is the incredible noise they produce.

 

After having a read about this device i think you could build a better one in my mind that would make much less noise.

 

Get an extra panel in your aquarium like you would set up a sump. Then add a block of some sort with a linear actuator set up with a reserving switch at the top and bottom.

So you could control exactly how fast the wave goes. Im not sure if im just repeating an idea that been done this was the first ive seen these

 

You could also set this up with pullies if you extended the two panels on that side. then you could run the cable under the stand and let the negative pressure or weight of the plunger pull it back to the bottom position. I think this would be easier

[jaynkeel]

There is just something about a carlson surge device and it's rhythmic cycle, personally I find it relaxing to listen to. And the simplicity of it's design means no moving parts other than the pump to fill it, means less to go wrong and reliability in the event of a power outage. I myself have used them in the past on my old 65 gallon and it worked well.

[jedimasterben]

There is just something about a carlson surge device and it's rhythmic cycle, personally I find it relaxing to listen to. And the simplicity of it's design means no moving parts other than the pump to fill it, means less to go wrong and reliability in the event of a power outage. I myself have used them in the past on my old 65 gallon and it worked well.

If I could have it make the typical 'beach wave' noise, I'd have one in every room.

 

The crazy slurping and sucking is what turns me off.

[jaynkeel]

If I could have it make the typical 'beach wave' noise, I'd have one in every room.

 

The crazy slurping and sucking is what turns me off.

 

 

I guess it is from all those crazy drunken younger years and hoovering above the safety of a toilet that the sound brings comfort lmao..... Oh and that gentle breeze when the flushing commenced!!!!

[C-Rad]

What exactly are you trying to simulate? For example: what depth? What animals do you want to keep? The deeper part of the tide pools that is exposed only at very low tide (a few times per year) contains animals and plants that typically live where there is a lot of back and fourth surge, some light, but rarely still shallow pools in strong sunlight (fish, kelp, urchins, non photosynthetic, anemones, etc. Nearer to shore you find different animals, that are often above water (muscles, barnacles, sea stars, limpets) and also often being pounded by rhythmic dumps from waves, or in still shallow pools with bright sunlight (photosynthetic anemones, shore crabs, snails, etc.). If you look at a small section of a real tide pool, "waves" (ripples moving across the surface) aren't really happening or have no affect on the animals. From the point of view of a small section of the shallow tide pool, there is a violent rush of water every 10 to 100 seconds, both incoming water, and then outgoing water. Eventually the rhythmic crashing water might stop, and be replaced by a few hours of still water at the minimum level (low tide) or a few hours of less violent surges (high tide, with waves moving in deeper water). Ripples on the surface make no difference.

 

A dump bucket can simulate the crashing waves, without the gurgling sound that the Carlson surge device makes, but the bucket makes a loud water crashing sound (which you might like) and splashes a lot (salt creep).

 

Scrips Aquarium, in San Diego, has an outdoor tide pool exhibit that is a long series of three or four tide pools, each a little higher than the one below it. It has a tall section, enclosed in fake rock work, that slowly fills (lowering the water level in the "tide pools" and when it's full it releases all of its contents in a quiet but powerful surge, into the topmost tide pool. From there it overflows into the next one, which cascades into the next one. The result is that each pool has a deeper section that is never dry, and a three or four inch span between high water and low water. This environment also provides lots of rushing water, every few couple minutes, and pools where some places have faster moving water than others. Since I don't hear the gurgling of a siphon being broken, I don't think they are using a Carlson surge device. Whatever it is, it's enclosed so maybe that contains the noise, or they have some kind of mechanical float activated drain, similar to a toilet, except that a float on a rope pulls the flapper open when the tank is full, and the flapper falls down to seal the drain before the tank is fully drained (to avoid the gurgle at the end of a flush).

 

I'd recommend to go with something like the Scrips set up, simulating strong surge/flow, every couple minutes, with only a few inches of change in depth, few ripples, and no splashing, and bright lights. Most of the more interesting animals live in such conditions (IMO).

[MeepNand]

Carlson surges are noisy, but if built well they can be pretty quiet.

Borneman surges are also very good, plus they are more reliable.

[danimal1211]

The other problem with these type of surges is how to replenish top off water. Because the water level in either the display (without sump) or in the sump are always changing, coming up with a design that could incorporate an ATO would seem to be a nightmare.

[swimmer4uus]

Are you looking for the massive surge effect of waves or the slow rise and drop of water like a lagoon? You could easily have 2 equal size tanks side to side with 2 small pumps on a timer, each pumping on opposite time frames. Left side pumps to right side with a small concealable pump, then timer switches to second pump to reverse flow back.