Tunze nona wavebox

[gvv]

I decided to post a review for Tunze 6206 nano wavebox. I think it could be interesting.

Installation. Pretty easy. It already have the magnet holder. It is very thin and I was able to locate a spot for it without any problems even my LR are too close to the back wall. Controller has 2 connectors for main and slave units and they cannot be detached - this is what I didn't like as as I have in-wall tank in the basement I can easily leave with this, otherwise the wires will be very visible and you will be unable to hide them. Connection of the light sensor is a separate story... Light sensor has a connector, which looks like s-video one, but it took me time to connect it to the controller, as I bended some pins while I was trying to connect. You should be very carefull with it. Sensor can be attached to probably any surface as it has sticky film on it, just follow the directions in the manual.

Tuning. It was not so easy as I expected. The tuning ring is very sensitive and it took me an hour to get 1/4 of inch wave. I was disappointed, but than I found out that the amplitude of the wave can be controlled by the power source. By default it is located on the 12V, but as soon as I switched to 24V (max) I got an 1" wave.

Appearance. The black box is not as visible  as I expected. This is good. Even if you will have an open spot it will just blend nicely. In comparison with Zoo Med Power Sweep 228 it is more compact, needs less space and definitely less visible.

Additional functions. As I mentioned, The second slave box can be attached to the same controller, it has feeding time button, that stops the wavebox for several minutes and restarts automatically, so you don't need to restart it manually. Light sensor shuts down the wavebox after the lights go off.

So, generally speaking I'm happy with my new toy. The wave it make is not only on the surface, but everything is moving in tank. My anemones changed their appearance, and for the first time I saw why BTA is called so, before it didn't have any bubble tips. If you have SPS not sure you will see the difference, but with LPS and especially anemones the difference is huge. Any LPS or softy that is even sitting on the bottom of the tank moves nicely.

One thing I would like to mention. For me 90G is the max size for nano wavebox. It is better to go with normal one, than spend money for another slave unit.

Regards

[yellowtang]

that is a good info on the wave box.
I too would like to get one,however not sure about size!!!
as I got quite a bit of live rock in my 72g bow.....and adding something
too bulky would make my tank crowded with the so called box.
one question?......can you regulate the size of wave you want?......and does it come with
night,feeding and calm water fuction?
can you post any pictures of your tank,showing the wave box vital?
cheers

[nissannx]

post needs pictures or a short movie clip.

[jimskoi]

I just set up a nano wave box into a customers 78 gal.They are not bulky at all and work very nice.True.Its takes a bit of time to adjust the wave but if you take it slow you will get it in no time.

I have more of them ordered.

[gvv]

Photos will not give the full picture...
Will try to make some short movie.

As about the functions:
night function is done by means of light sensor. Pump stops when the lights go off. you may override this just by unplugging the sensor. But I think it is good feature.

Feeding function exists. It stops the pump for about 7-8 minutes and restarts again after that time. I think still water is the same. But as soon as you have other pumps working there will be no still water anyway. And I found that this is even better to have waves while feeding as in this case the food is staying in the water column for longer time before hitting the ground.

About rocks. The back side of my tank is probably completely closed by LR. I know this is not good and Tunze suggests 10cm/4" of free space between the back side and LR formation, but I found out that even in this case I can see the water movement in all parts of the tank. I could not believe it, but this is really true.

Regards