Scott26's Scrubber

[scott26]

I have been running a scrubber on my tank for about 1 month now and finally got the second light online to illuminate the other side of my screen. I will be posting some pictures of my design soon.

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[scott26]

Draft 1:

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/2011-05-02_20-10-59_851.jpg

[scott26]

Draft 2:

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Design/2011-05-09_18-53-34_992.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Design/2011-05-09_18-54-33_615.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Design/2011-05-09_19-11-24_272.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Design/2011-05-09_19-14-12_953.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/2011-05-11_19-51-34_837-1.jpg

[scott26]

With the unions I am able to turn the pump off and disconnect and bring it over to the sink to clean.

This is at the 2nd cleaning.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Update%20June%206th%202011/2011-05-18_15-57-10_260.jpg

Then I finally got some time to finalize my design and now how it running this way.

I used PVC to make brackets that hang from the underside of my tank and the lights attach to.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Update%20June%206th%202011/2011-05-30_15-39-34_839.jpg

I also switched out the bulbs and went with some 8" reflectors with 2700k rated bulbs.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Update%20June%206th%202011/2011-05-30_15-40-04_257.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Update%20June%206th%202011/2011-05-30_15-39-24_914.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Final%20Update%20June%206th%202011/2011-05-30_15-39-10_211.jpg

[scott26]

I have been running it this way now for almost a week and need to do a cleaning. But from what I am seeing so far I can sort of tell that my algae is more brown then green and seems to be yellower in the middle where the light is mainly concentrated. Should I move the lights back some? Increase the flow? Clean more often?

Thanks,
Scott

[midnight]

Nice design. As a precaution, I would suggest connecting your light brackets with a plastic coated wire, velcro, plastic tie etc. as a safety net in the event your clamps loosen or if you accidentilly bump into a light. This will cause the light to be caught by your pipe preventing it from falling into your sump.

[SantaMonica]

Nice build.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Welcome to the scrubber site! I remember your build from the RC thread, it's looking good. Did you decide to paint the PVC pipe after all?

+1 on the safety ties. Safety first. Those One-Wrap velcro ties would work good for that, or zip ties are fine too since you probably won't need to take the fixture off the pipe.

[scott26]

Well the scrubber is still going strong. However I have had a good algae bloom after putting in some extra base rock. The screen still has mainly brown algae with it becoming greener in the middle to where the light is more concentrated. I have a good amount of gha in the dt and it has been this way for about 3 weeks. I am going to do a water change today and try to suck out the large amounts of algae. Should I do anything to my scrubber as well?

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[SantaMonica]

Just clean as normal.

[scott26]

I just did some math and if I am correct I am only at 150 gph. I did a test and every 24 seconds I pass 1 gallon of water over the screen.

So 60/24 = 2.5 gallons a minute. 2.5×60 = 150 gph.

Could this be the main issue?

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[Floyd R Turbo]

Your screen looks like it's about 10-12" wide. So yes, that's a problem. You need 35 GPH/in, right now you have between 12.5 and 15.

[scott26]

I have done a simple mod to my scrubber I added 10.5" reflectors.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Update%20August%201/2011-08-01_17-52-13_359.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Update%20August%201/2011-08-01_17-52-19_949.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Update%20August%201/2011-08-01_17-52-27_832.jpg

They fit the screen better just about perfect size... I also noticed that this way they block more of the light from bouncing around in the sump.

I was thinking about added two extra bulbs using a splitter. What do you think?

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/90%20Gallon%20Aquarium/Alage%20Scrubber/Update%20August%201/2011-08-01_17-52-53_783.jpg

I still have to add more flow to the system to get my 35 gpm number. Do you think that cutting the slot open some would help relieve some of the pressure that may be holding back the pump from being able to push more water through?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Generally, no. A 1/8" slot should not create that much back pressure. Your flow restriction is from the tubing you are using to feed the screen. I had to look through this thread again, but it looks like you feed the slot tube a tee halfway up one leg, which has hose barb fitting screwed into it, and what looks like a 1/2" ID hose feeding it, then that goes to a pipe that comes out of the wall. Is this pump or overflow feed? Hard to tell. Anyways, that's your issue with flow, that flexible pipe should be 1" ID hose. Also the water has to travel up the pipe to the screen, which creates head pressure and many turns which will restrict flow further.

Funny that you swapped out the reflectors. I think I used photos of your original build to show how the lamp extends beyond the reflector for the updated summary I'm getting ready to post on the RC thread!! Looks much better. The splitter can't hurt, the bigger reflectors will not be ideal for reflecting a dual signature, but it's a give and take - more light is almost always better.

[scott26]

Well the scrubber piping is only 3/4" and the piping that feeds the scurbber (from the return pump) is also coming out of 3/4" piping. You are correct that the flexible pipe is 1/2" I tried to fin 3/4" fitting but with no luck. Maybe if I change the 1/2" piping to 3/4" piping it will work better?

I am starting to think that I should just redo my return plumbing to accommodate the scrubber better, and to improve flow to the main tank. (eg. Go from 3/4" to 1" piping throughout.)

[Floyd R Turbo]

You could probably use flexible PVC instead of the threaded/barb fittings. Of course, you would have to re-do the entire base that's already all bonded together in order to get rid of the threaded tee, and you would have to switch to a non-threaded shutoff valve.

The setup I originally had on the scrubber I run had a bunch of elbows and the overflow came down, over, then up about 6-8" and I think that caused a flow restriction, even being all 1" piping.

[scott26]

I am going to try and draw out a new plan for my return this weekend since I wanted to upgrade to 1" anyway I just have to figure out how much it is going to cost. Oh, and I went with the threaded valves for just this reason in case I needed to rework it they would still be usable.

[IM4DHERD]

Newbie - first post. Just fascinated with the concept and plan to build one ASAP.

Scott...Can I ask where you found those large reflectors?

[SantaMonica]

I like that splitter Y. Will be neat to see how it fits in the reflectors.

[scott26]

Newbie - first post. Just fascinated with the concept and plan to build one ASAP.

Scott...Can I ask where you found those large reflectors?
Walmart or your local hardware should have them.

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[scott26]

I like that splitter Y. Will be neat to see how it fits in the reflectors.
That is one of my concerns is the bulbs are pretty close on the back side. I will have to take some pics.

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