It is rather large and intrusive in all but the largest aquarium. Tunze recommends it for aquaria sized from150 to 1,500 liters (39 to 396 US gallons). The size of this box would make it too large for use in testing, and this concludes our discussion of the Wavebox itself. The controller does exactly that – it controls the timing of the pump’s on/off cycles. Sophisticated electronics allow fast cycling (approximately 1 second on and one second off) and slow cycling (2 seconds on/2 seconds off) with a practically infinite number of adjustments in between.
Adjustments are done with a rotary knob (a potentiometer).įigure 3. A wave generated by the tunze pump and controller. The wave is almost at maximum height (about 1.5″) on the left hand side of the aquarium. Approximately 1 second later, this wave will crest on the right hand side. Note the two small waves to the center left – something I noticed only in photographs. Power consumption was monitored over a period of time when the pump operating in both ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ cycling modes.įast Cycling (Approximately 1 second on/1 second off) Reef aquaria can be expensive to set up and maintain while electrical costs are of primary concern in the month-to-month operational costs. The pump used 610 watts in 19.5 hours, which is equal to 31.3 watts per hour (times 24 = 0.751 kW per day). The procedure was repeated with similar results: 760 watts were consumed in 24.48 hours for an average of 31 watts per hour. Slow Cycling (Approximately 2 seconds on/2 seconds off) The pump consumed 1,230 watts in 39.85 hours, for an average of 30.87 watts per hour. Heat transfer from pump to water is minimal.Īs the chart shows, the water temperature rose about 2✯ (3.6✬) during the test period. The drop in temperature at 16:48 suggests the small aquarium (20 gallons) was under the influence of the room’s air temperature (even though it is air conditioned). There is little doubt that the tunze pump warmed the water somewhat, however the aquarium is smaller than the minimum size recommended by tunze. In short, heat transfer from the pump to the ambient is minimal.Īs with any pump, the Turbelle pump will require routine maintenance. Generally this includes removal of calcium deposits and bio-growths. Disassembly is easy, and the parts are robust and do not seem subject to breakage.
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