Kerry's UAS test

[kerry]

Well its not much but here is it. Its a tank that I am acclimating Mollies to SW. Its started as freshwater but now its up to 1.008. I am not sure how the raising salt level will affect the growth. I plan to raise the salt level a couple points every couple days, so maybe about 5-6 points per week.

[kerry]

Ok, here it is!! GREEN from yesterdays start!!!!!!

[kerry]

I got some pics last night of my FW 125G uas but I forgot to post them last night, this was set-up Sunday night and these pics are from last night. I seem to have better growth on the glass? Also not this tank has pretty high nitrates, I knock them down to about 10 every weekend then the falling week they are up to 40-60 easy.

[SantaMonica]

Are the bubbles turned off for the pics?

[kerry]

I turned them down for the pics.

[kerry]

Here is my UAS scrubber for my 150G SW tank. Its just set up and starting to cycle. I put some shrimp in it a few days ago. I have also included some LED photos for Floyd, in my last batch I had three that had two chips in them, its very strange. Anyway this is Millennium 3000 filter I have had for ever. I cut the screens to the size of the filter insert plus a hair so the would not push forward with the flow, they are bowed toward the flow so they do not push forward. On the back side I have two sets of five LEDS, 4 660nm and 1 450nm. On the front between the tank and filter there is only room for a sheet of heat sink so there is only 2 660nm LED's, one on each side. The filter has adjustable air suction as seen in the last pics.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-12-47_678.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-12-56_217.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-13-39_636.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-13-51_900.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-14-06_939.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-14-17_611.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-14-31_919.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-14-47_697.jpg
These pics are installed and running with the air suction turned wide open!!
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-21-43_815.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_17-22-18_612.jpg
And here are the pics of the LED's
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_13-50-16_343.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-21_13-50-43_10.jpg

[Doompie]

Love it!
Very Nice if this works out for hob design..

[SantaMonica]

Nice. What does the suction control?

[Rumpy Pumpy]

Nice, looks like Barbies jukebox

[kerry]

@ SM. The suction of air into the the pump exit area. Like a power head with the air hose attached to it.
This was just spare working junk I had laying around for that just in case emergency.

[SantaMonica]

I hope there are enough bubbles.

[kerry]

It makes so many bubbles I have micro bubbles throughout my tank. I need to build a bubble stopper now LOL!!!
This picture is on the opposite side of the tank!!!!!!!!! Plenty of bubbles!!!!!!!

[srusso]

Nice HOB!!!

[kerry]

Nice HOB!!!
Thank you, I hope is serves my new 150G build well.

[kerry]

Here is the first algae hair (center) in my HOB set-up. There is also a bit on the screen and on the HOB housing it self which looks red, its just under the LED heat sink.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-26_19-56-21_279.jpg

[Floyd R Turbo]

Hard to see. Try taking flash pics with the LEDs off.

[kerry]

LOL, it is hard to see. Just snapped a quick pic before turning into bed. Here is a different pic, the spot by the heat sink is on the HOB.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Hey Kerry I noticed that your larger pic was a photobucket link...did you 'hide' that album LOL not that it will matter in 3 days.

[kerry]

Well here is the first cleaning. Notice the two different screen types, the one on the left is the accepted type and the right has smaller holes. The one on the right also displayed burning from the LED's while the other didn't.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-49_974.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-38_77.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-26_349.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-16_685.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-11_410.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-04-29_09-06-08_671.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Some lenses or diffractors might help.

[kerry]

I had the screen bowed toward the 5 led side, now I made the screen bow toward the one led side. Maybe this will help, if not a trip to Lowes will be made next week for some diffuser thing's.

[kerry]

Here is tonight's cleaning of the HOB. The 10G Molly tank acclimated to SW is still doing nothing. The FW 125G is growing a bit of algae. The 150G HOB is LED powered and I have turned down the photo period to 12/12 from the old setting of 18/6. Let me know if you think this was a good choice please.
HOB 150G SW
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_18-20-41_135.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_18-20-47_961.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_18-21-56_32.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_18-23-55_528.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_18-24-01_418.jpg
125G FW
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_21-23-47_453.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-05_21-23-36_782.jpg
The 10G SW is not worth a photo.

[SantaMonica]

Not sure. The dark growth would indicate it need more light, but the middle looks burned.

[kerry]

I thought the same to. The outer had green and gets less light so I was going to give a go with 12/12 for a week or two. I was really undecided what way to go.

[kerry]

Saturdays cleaning 05/12/12 of both screens.
Front-1
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-12_14-18-59_660.jpg
Front-2
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-12_14-19-06_163.jpg
back-1
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-12_14-19-21_341.jpg
back-2
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-12_14-19-27_349.jpg
Look at the pics below.
These are on sale at Petsmart for about 14 bucks!!
Here is my next build for an HOB attempt:
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-13_11-22-38_966.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-05-13_11-22-32_902.jpg
There is three slots for screens. I am going to start this build maybe this weekend or next.

[Floyd R Turbo]

The HOB is perfect for 3 screens, very interesting!

[kerry]

If hanging on a small tank or the lid lip edge there is about 1 1/8" distance between the tank and HOB.

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's the trick then with LEDs, not much there to work with as far as heat sinks.

[kerry]

I will been looking for a heat sink that is about 1/2" and a bit over sized by length and width. The looked real good so I bought two of them.

[Garf]

Kerry - my air injection waterfall did this a day or two after putting bubbles on the screen. I withdrew 50 percent of my lighting and increased the distance of the remaining cfl to 6 inches from the screen. After I cleaned the burnt stuff off it went green almost immediately. I am currently trying to work out the best way for me to intensify the lighting mid photoperiod to vaguely represent natural processes and increase the green growth therefore increasing the efficiency of the screen. Don't see why you couldn't try the same !

[kerry]

I am going to get a light diffuser for the LED's this weekend and try that. I am also going to make it one screen instead of two as I am sure this is most of the problem. I just checked it and I am getting brown 3D growth???? How strange is that!! I am sure once I switch to one screen it will go green. I thought about making it one screen right now but a few days until the weekend would show me my real results of my 12/12 photo period change from 18/6

[kerry]

Well I have 3D brown growth?! I am cutting it back to just one screen as of today so it should be filling in green in a week I hope.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-19_09-39-51_862.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-19_09-39-59_980.jpg
Here is a pic of my 10G SW screen. No luck with this at all!!
This is after a rinse but there was really nothing to rinse off.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-05-19_11-32-25_361.jpg

[SantaMonica]

I'd say the 10 needs more light.

[kerry]

I got the 11 watt spot right on top of it, I cant even get algae to grow on the glass. The nitrates are up to 10 now so maybe it will start coming around. I also cut the screen down a bit as well.

[tomservo]

Kerry, where did you get your 2 chip red LEDs? I know Fedy sells them but I'm not sure I want to buy 100.

[kerry]

I got them from topledlights on ebay, they are in California. I got them by a mistake. I have not emailed them to see if they can get them on a regular basis.

[HeavyTy]

Hey Kerry, what air stone did you get to fit in your slim s15 filter? (Tyron from nano-reef)

[kerry]

I got some cheap ones for about a buck or so from petco, they are blue in color and about an inch long. I plan to glue some kind of plastic clip to the bottom that I can slid the stone in and out of for cleaning.

[kerry]

These are some pics of the screen almost one week ago from the HOB, I am NOT cleaning this as the growth is very little so I gave it a rinse. I will be cleaning is again this weekend which would make it a 2 week cleaning. I was not getting much growth in a week so we are going to see how 2 weeks does.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-01_17-45-42_411.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-01_17-45-31_340.jpg

[ruddybop]

Ok Kerry... I liked your idea with the hang on the back so I got a couple of S15s from clearance at Petsmart for $5.99 EA.

Mine is pretty much the same as yours except I cut out the two center filter braces with my Dremel and made one scrubber 4" x 7" with a hard plastic tube that I drilled very small holes in for my bubble bar.
I still need to put a light on it but here are a couple of pics with it running.

Great Idea you came up with... :) It will work perfect on my 10G

26202621
2622

[kerry]

That looks great!! I have not done anything with my two yet. My HOB on the 150G sure has taken off. I hope to get some pics this weekend and post them. I did have the air venturi get clogged for a few day so all it was getting was water flow. To my surprise when I got the latter out to fix it the screen had plenty of growth on it. Once I get more fish and can put a screen in the second side I am going to run a side-by-side test. One with air and the other with the air shut off and see what happens.
On those slim15's I am going to use 3/4" channel aluminum for the heat sinks between the tank and the filter box. I have done some measuring and believe there is plenty of room if I hang the filter overflow just over the first lip where the glass would rest.

[ruddybop]

That looks great!! I have not done anything with my two yet. My HOB on the 150G sure has taken off. I hope to get some pics this weekend and post them. I did have the air venturi get clogged for a few day so all it was getting was water flow. To my surprise when I got the latter out to fix it the screen had plenty of growth on it. Once I get more fish and can put a screen in the second side I am going to run a side-by-side test. One with air and the other with the air shut off and see what happens.
On those slim15's I am going to use 3/4" channel aluminum for the heat sinks between the tank and the filter box. I have done some measuring and believe there is plenty of room if I hang the filter overflow just over the first lip where the glass would rest.

Yes it does look like there is room for light on both sides if you use led's.....

[kerry]

Here is last weekends pics before cleaning of the HOB on the 150G. 06/17/12
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-27-44_649.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-28-02_529.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-28-32_438.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-28-52_388.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-29-12_890.jpg
Macro pics with the Droid Razor
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-29-40_805.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/new%20scrubber/2012-06-17_17-29-51_473.jpg

[Floyd R Turbo]

Kerry, that looks like the type of growth I am getting. Kind of like stiff filamentous stuff, kinda poky almost.

[SantaMonica]

Perfect :)

[ruddybop]

Nice Kerry...... I love Green....weeeeee

[kerry]

Kerry, that looks like the type of growth I am getting. Kind of like stiff filamentous stuff, kinda poky almost.
Yes Sir, its exactly like that!!!

[E-werd]

Most interesting-looking algae growth picture I've ever seen! It looks like outdoor carpet that people put on their porch/patio... awesome stuff. The hue is so pretty, it's almost a shame you have to scrub it off.

[kerry]

I might try to feed it to my Yellow eye kole tang this weekend. It is a better looking algae then the waterfall for sure.

[Floyd R Turbo]

yeah I hung the screen in the tank (before cleaning) while I cleaned the pump out and my tangs started picking at it.

I love that response on nano reefs you just got. "Bleach it and scrub it" so many people still think algae is the enemy

[kerry]

Its was crazy!!! They didnt read the past posts.

[HeavyTy]

Hey Kerry,
I built my scrubber based off your use of the s15. I'm only using 1 screen in that middle holder. The screen measures 2.25 inches by 4.5 inches. It's lit on one side using the 3 led array from led-dna. The power supply is 1a. My bubbler is setup like ruddybop's. My air pump is the one from walmart. I appear to be getting good contact time with the bubbles and my screen is getting greener at a steady pace. Maybe 1 week into running it. But i only feed 1 pinch of flake everyday. Am I feeding enough? I think I am but not sure.

[HeavyTy]

It's on a 10g

[kerry]

If your screen is getting green and nutrient readings are staying at zero-ish its working as intended. Green growth and zero-ish readings are great indicators you are doing it right. I would say if your critters seem healthy and happy keep up what you are doing now. We would like to see some pics. I have been doing some mock-ups on my s-15 trying to get an idea of the direction I want to go but have yet to do any real work. I am planning on having both side lit and I think I am going to use three small screens so I can rotate the cleaning to maintain filtering full time.

[Byron]

Nice work Kerry!!

[kerry]

Thank you Sir!!

[kerry]

Ok here is some pics from yesterdays cleaning.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-08-11_10-32-04_798.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-08-11_10-31-54_685.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-08-11_10-31-42_623.jpg
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-08-11_10-31-31_976.jpg
The nitrates are still 20PPM
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/kerryconklin/2012-08-12_08-04-13_110.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Time to get illumination across the whole screen.

[Floyd R Turbo]

What's interesting is the blob of slime - same stuff I get coating my screen. It is located right in front of the LED. This tends to verify that too much light will cause this type of growth.

[kerry]

Yes its right in front of the light sir.
I think I need a second diffuser, this might spread it out more then just one.

[kerry]

I had a little more growth this 2 week cleaning on the 150G HOB UAS and also in addition had a large handful in the HOB area too. Sorry didn't get photo's. The 10G UAS is doing fine with about 5PPM nitrate and no detectable phosphate (API). My 150G on the other hand is still in the same area as before with 20-40 PPM nitrate and I also tested the phosphate this time and its .05 (API) . I also did a full work up on my 40G waterfall and its all zero's, the Ca. is a little high at 550 and the ALK was a touch low at 7.6.
This last cleaning I did not use a brush on the screen and get a complete cleaning I only used a card which proved to get the algae growth spread out to the edges.
I think we need some other folks to test the UAS on a large tank say 125G+. Is the phos problem only been reported on larger tanks with UAS??? My smaller UAS scrubber tank is fine and has no issues that I can detect so far.
SM have you considered running a UAS on your large display tank?

Also can anyone recommend a reasonably priced phosphate reduction product that I can put in a media basket on my canister filter. I am not in the position to do a 50% water change on my 150G at the moment.

[SantaMonica]

Yes I'll be putting them on it.