Carlson/Borneman Surge Device

[ca1ore]

I've developed the irrational urge to set up one of these. Ran both kinds, along with a dump bucket of my own design, in the past. Anyone still running one? Any advice in how well they work with ghost- style overflows? Any design improvements?

Don't all answer at once LOL.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Besides being noisy water levels in your display will fluctuate a lot.. depending on the size of your surge tank the fluctuation in water level in the aquarium could be several inches which will most likely will effect your overflow.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I too used to be obsessed with them... daydreamed about them for years. By the time I was able to set up a tank where one would be feasible, DC return pumps had become widely available, so now I just run an oversized DC return pump at 50% power and ramp up to 100% for the surges. Same effect with no extra plumbing or space, and I can control the timing and duration of the surge via apex.

 

[ca1ore]

I too used to be obsessed with them... daydreamed about them for years. By the time I was able to set up a tank where one would be feasible, DC return pumps had become widely available, so now I just run an oversized DC return pump at 50% power and ramp up to 100% for the surges. Same effect with no extra plumbing or space, and I can control the timing and duration of the surge via apex.

Yeah, that is part of my thinking - maybe a ramping DC pump is equivalent .... and better. Perhaps this is an opportunity to try out one of the COR pumps. Just need to figure out how fast it ramps up and down.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Yeah, that is part of my thinking - maybe a ramping DC pump is equivalent .... and better. Perhaps this is an opportunity to try out one of the COR pumps. Just need to figure out how fast it ramps up and down.

For what it’s worth, I still think there is added benefit to running this setup as a return and not a closed loop. Something about introducing more water volume into the tank, like a surge device does, really gets all the water in the tank moving.