Scott26's UAS Test

[scott26]

Okay I am going to give this a go while I don't have much livestock invested in the tank. I am gathering supplies now and would like any advice to make sure the screen matures properly. I just put water in my little cube two days ago so not much going on in there yet and no UAS set up yet. I am going to be picking up some cured rock later and adding that to the system then the UAS will go in my sump. I have experience with the old style scrubber but have not used one on a brand new tank any tips on that portion would be great.

Thanks.

[SantaMonica]

Like any new tank, it probably will not grow much until there are animals in it that are eating.

[scott26]

Okay here is the virgin design.

I tired the first time by just attaching it to the air stone but the thing wouldn't stay down so I tried to zip it to a piece up live rock with no luck and then I found some PVC laying around and got this going.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-01_19-58-45_242.jpg

Then I noticed that this air stone was working well but seemed to be looking some of the bubbles since the stone is about 3/4" wide and the screen is only so wide so some were just floating away.

So I tried the other type of air stone called a "wand" and it works okay but I was getting more bubble contact with the basic stone.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-01_20-15-53_955.jpg

Then I thought why not use both! I also noticed that if I left the zip ties uncut then they can be left up to support the screen.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-01_20-26-58_999.jpg

This is just with the basic stone on, I plan to get a Y connector to power both.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-01_20-28-43_790.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-01_20-28-51_25.jpg

[Doompie]

Looking good so far!

What lighting have you planned?

[Othello]

Neat design...will it be a one sided screen? if not, how do you plan to light the rear side?

[Floyd R Turbo]

LOL read my thread I used the EXACT same blue stone and found the same thing, then switched to the EXACT same wand (srusso beat me to it)

That is great using the PVC pipe through the stand-off that came with that wand. I just cut them off and tied it to the blue stone.

I would get a smaller piece of PVC (like 1/2") and just slide it through the stand-offs.

[Floyd R Turbo]

And good idea on the zip ties to support the screen!

[DennisC]

Just been reading this and other trials and it seems to me that the biggest problem is to get the bubbles to go up the screen.

Could you not bend a thin piece of acrylic around the airstone so that the 2 edges just clear the screen and so direct the bubbles up onto the mesh. Just a thought from an beginner.

Dennis

[SantaMonica]

Actually when the bubble flow is strong, they seem to want to stick to, or suck up to, the screen a bit if they are near the glass.

[scott26]

Looking good so far!

What lighting have you planned?

I am just going to use a CFL since I still have about two extras from my last ATS set up. I just need to get the bulb, but I also have to wait for my tank to cycle.


Neat design...will it be a one sided screen? if not, how do you plan to light the rear side?

It is going to one sided I hope that this size (5x6) will be enough and I don't plan to have a very large bio load at start up. And if this new design is as good as it can be then I will have to buy one of Floyd's boxes.


LOL read my thread I used the EXACT same blue stone and found the same thing, then switched to the EXACT same wand (srusso beat me to it)

That is great using the PVC pipe through the stand-off that came with that wand. I just cut them off and tied it to the blue stone.

I would get a smaller piece of PVC (like 1/2") and just slide it through the stand-offs.

I am actually going to be running both the blue stone and the wand at the same time I figure more air the better! I just have to get a Y connector, I also have to get a piece of acrylic or something to control the salt creep.


And good idea on the zip ties to support the screen!

Ya! I was about the chop em and I thought wait a minute.


Just been reading this and other trials and it seems to me that the biggest problem is to get the bubbles to go up the screen.

Could you not bend a thin piece of acrylic around the airstone so that the 2 edges just clear the screen and so direct the bubbles up onto the mesh. Just a thought from an beginner.

Dennis

Sounds like a possibility but like SM said when I have the air going strong they really do all attach it seems.


Actually when the bubble flow is strong, they seem to want to stick to, or suck up to, the screen a bit if they are near the glass.

That is my findings as well.

[scott26]

I am going to go to home depot and get a piece of mirror hopefully it cuts easily. What I plan to do is make the scrubber two sided as well as enclose it with left over mirror material and put a lid on it to control salt creep.

[Othello]

I am going to go to home depot and get a piece of mirror hopefully it cuts easily. What I plan to do is make the scrubber two sided as well as enclose it with left over mirror material and put a lid on it to control salt creep.


I'd like to see how this goes as I will probably need the same solution for my in-sump design

[Floyd R Turbo]

glass mirror? With metal? You want a plastic non-reactive mirror I'm guessing.

[SantaMonica]

Even plastic mirrors are coated with a metallic film, I think.

[scott26]

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-03_21-12-32_917.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/scottie92688/2012-05-03_21-22-53_334.jpg

[scott26]

This is with 1/2" PVC but the smaller wand doesn't put out the amount of bubbles I like they are to large compared to the other style that is blue and has finer more bubbles.

I re did this with a 1" pipe and cut open a slot that is about 3/8" and it is working way better. Pictures to come.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I would think that you should not need the legs off the ends of the T. Just leave it open. It will draw water in through the ends of the T also.

The only thing I see is that you still have a slot to clean. But it can be much bigger and probably less worry about it clogging with algae.

Great idea man, great idea

[Floyd R Turbo]

For mine I'm actually going to use this idea but I'm going to put the airline tubing in through the T instead. I have to measure but I think it should fit in my box, I've got 3" between the windows.

Nice thing about the 1" pipe and the blue stone too is that it routes the bubbles to the screen. however I needed a bigger pump for that stone. So I'll have to mess with it a bit.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Wow that's a whole lot of bubbles. I imagine that microbubbles would be a huge issue with that set up!

[Garf]

Do you need the air pump? Wouldn't the reduction in pressure suck the air down that far?

[scott26]

After some more thought I am going to hold off on trying this UAS, I gave it to another local reefer who has an all in one nano that it would be better used on. I am just going to build my own small OG Santa Monica.