anybody running surge device's on their tank?

[macawmagic]

I'm trying to figure out info on them. If anybody can answer some questions for me.

i'm looking at 2 5 gal bucket surges for a 250 gallon tank.

is 5 gal bucket a good size...bigger/smaller?
what size plumbing would be best?
Is there any way to make it bubble free?
how much flow does it actually put off?
how does it work with the overflow and sump level?
how noisy are they?

I think thats it for now. LOL
I'm looking at this route because it seems like a lot of flow for a little money. I would love to buy 2 tunze 6205's and call it a game...but can't afford that.

 

[modifyd]

I use a wave2k on my 155 bow-front and it surges 2.6 gallons every 6 seconds(the perfect amount on my tank). This seems to work great so far, but only been using it for 2 months.

 

[Azurel]

Have you looked at Vortechs?

 

[roshi719]

Are you looking at doing the Delbeek style surge or the Borneman style surge?

 

[TritonsGarden]

We're running 5 gal surges on our frag tanks using 1.5" drain pipes and 1" flex tubing inputs. It is very noisy.

http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb20/jnktaylor/?action=view&current=P6160028.flv

Jack

 

[macawmagic]

what's the diffarence between the 2 surges? I was looking at the one with the toilet thing. i also saw a video on youtube where he uses an electronic ballvalve and float switches, which makes no bubbles. but at the price of the ballvalve I might as well just buy a wavebox. I'm looking at the surges because they seem like A LOT of flow for not that much money.

i love vortechs, but they're sooooo expensive.

this would be for a 250. i've already got 6 maxi mods. and i'm debating either the tunze wavebox or these...but the tunze wavebox is so expensive. LOL

 

[macawmagic]

and tritonsgardens...it doesn't seem that noisy in the video...seems the pumps and overflows make more noise than the surges. maybe its just the way the video is???

 

[TritonsGarden]

Yes most of the noise is due to the temporary overload on the overflow. It does create a good amount of flow and is very cheap. This is on a 75g tank. You would something bigger.

I tried the toilet thing and couldn't get it right. Here is what ended up with which has worked flawlessly.

Jack

 

[macawmagic]

would a 5 gallon bucket be big enough on a 250...or will I need a bigger bucket? I know nobody that has these and of course if I do it, wanna get it right the first time. lol

 

[Alti]

these are my old 5 gal buckets. They are noisy but are cheap to build, maintenance free and work awesome. I had 28 of them running and it sounded like a toilet flushing every few seconds
http://coralfarms.org/express.php?cat=5&mode=view&article=17

 

[Poseidon]

I think this is what you want:

http://www.masm.org/mForums/tm.aspx?m=18108

Pretty much silent and ZERO bubbles, of course you have to pay to play.

 

[macawmagic]

perfect...thats exactly what I was looking for. now I knew I shoulda bought those 2 hayward valves on here earlier!!!

 

[Poseidon]

Yup, I was tempted myself.... I don't have an inwall tank though, so a surge would be rather tough to pull off aesthetically speaking.

 

[SaraB]

I think I need some pictures to visualize this concept! I'm going to try and tackle the microbubbles I'm getting off of my 2 surges first and if that does not work, off to another idea like this one I guess!