I have a plan to control my wave action in the display tank but I don’t know if it is the best way to go.
My dump bucket style Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) is above the tank. It creates a nice splash because it dumps 2 gallons that drops a foot about every 30 seconds. I love the powerful look of the splash and the soothing sound that it makes as well.
DumpBucket.JPG
This splash is primarily used for cosmetic reasons and the output is positioned at the left end of the tank where I plan to locate corals that like high flow and turbulence. I adjusted the power of the splash by lifting and lowering the ATS until I found the best balance between power and the level of the splash sound. The frequency of the splash is tuned by turning the speed of an inexpensive dedicated pump up or down. The problem that I have is that 2 gallons doesn’t affect water flow very much. The turbulence of the splash is strong but very localized. For this reason, I want to add strong water flow that goes from left to right across the tank. The splash can blast into or through the water stream depending on how powerful the flow stream is.
Now want I want to do is vary the speed of the water flow, much like a wave maker does with a graduated ramp up and back down like what I have see in the ocean. Doing a reverse flow would be nice but not completely necessary. If incorporated; it would probably be much weaker.
Finally, I want to sink the splash to occur at the peak of the flow cycle. I want the flow to build and build until the splash hits and then have the flow slowly subside. While the current cycle looks best to me at 30 seconds long, this new flow pattern may need to be much longer.
It would normally be very difficult to sink the splash with the peak of the flow. The feed pump changes its output do to partial clogging from critters and just normal slowing as it goes through its cleaning cycle. This means that the cycle can change slightly. With a fixed flow cycle and a variable splash cycle, the two, over time be way off. I could trigger the dumping action mechanically but that would be a pain to manage.
I could control a good DC pump with the Apex to solve most of the ramping problem. I think that I can do the sinking by putting one of my Apex optical sensors in the side of the dump bucket tray. As the water is pumped into it, the water level would come up until it gets to a certain point in the tray where the sensor is and the cycle could start. Then the splash should be near the peak every time.
Again, most of this is just to add cosmetic interest. Hopefully, the splash would not cut through the flow stream because it would be at its peak. Instead it would modify and enrich the flow pattern but be incorporated into the stream at the right time to look very natural. …Maybe…
I know that this sounds a bit like a Rube Goldberg set up but most of it is already done and has work for many years with little maintenance. Can you think of a better or simpler way to do this?
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