Morgan's UAS test

[MorganAtlanta]

Well, I finally got some time to put the thing together. The design is for a 1.5 cube, in-tank, single sided, LED lit UAS scrubber. The box in the tank is roughly 5" x 11", with the screen roughly the same size. However, I don't expect the light to reach down to the bottom of the screen much, so it will probably have an effective area of roughly 5"x8".

The LEDs are mounted on a 6"x4" heatsink. I've got 6 660nm and 2 455nm LEDs, which is probably more power than I need, but I figured I can always trim back the photoperiod. I'm starting with 12 on - 12 off.

There is a piece of clear quarter inch acrylic with a tab on it on which the box hangs while it is in the tank. This allows me to just reach in and pull the box out for cleaning. I figure I'll have to clean the acrylic occasionally also. The acrylic has three magnets embedded in it, which match up to magnets on the wood frame of the lights and serve to hold the box in place. One consideration in the build was to make the system effectively light proof so that as little light leaks out as possible since the tank is in my son's bedroom.

I'm driving the system with a Whisper 40 pump, which has a buzz that is a bit louder than a whisper. Not sure it will work in a bedroom. The bubbles themselves don't make much noise, kind of a low hissing sound that won't bother sleep.

The tank is a much neglected 15 gallon freshwater with only one tetra and one upside down catfish. I plan to add more fish. We've had some attrition over the last few months, and that's all that is left.

Anyway, here are pictures. I'll update as I get growth.

[SantaMonica]

Will be interesting to see how much growth develops between the clear wall and the tank wall.

[MorganAtlanta]

The clear wall is flush with the glass, so shouldn't be much if any.

[srusso]

The clear wall is flush with the glass, so shouldn't be much if any.

Why even use the clear acrylic is the glass is already in place?

[MorganAtlanta]

So that if I get 3-D growth that sticks to the container, it is on the acrylic, not the glass. I can take the acrylic out to clean it, but I'd have to clean the glass in the tank, which might lead to stray hair algae floating around. Also, it makes a convenient way to hang the scrubber box in the tank.

Updates-- since the driver was under loaded with the 8 LEDs, I added three more 660nm LEDs, for a total of 9 660s and 2 455s. That's an absurd amount of light for 40 square inches, but we'll see what happens.

The buzz from the pump was annoying, so now the pump is remotely located in the cabinet of my reef display tank, which happens to be just on the other side of the wall from this little tank. All you hear in the bedroom is the hiss from the bubbles, which is actually a pretty pleasant noise.

[jnad]

Hello Morgan!

If you are troubled by the noise of the air pum check out the Shego air pumps, this is really silent quality pumps. An air pump is of course never 100% silent, but i have tried many pumps and theese Shego air pumps is really good.

http://www.schego.de/membranpumpen.php?lang=en


Jnad

[C-Horse]

I have been looking into ways to silence air pumps and came across this DIY silencer:

http://www.rcarchive.com/fish/air.html

I have not tried it so don't know how it works. I will give it a try once I setup my system to test, in several months.

[sklywag]

Just hang it with a sturdy string. That's what I've always done with air pumps. There used to be a company called Silent Giant. Thats was 30+years ago.

[kerry]

I have hung them by the cords in the past.

[MorganAtlanta]

I should be about a week into the test, but I had some trouble with the screen slipping out from behind the air diffuser, so it went for several days without any bubbles against the screen. I fixed that Saturday AM, and as of Monday AM, I have patchy green spots starting to show. Looking good so far, and I'm really pleased with how quiet it is. The water already seems clearer, and the fish more active. All I have for freshwater testing are some cheap multitest strips, which show nitrate currently around 20ppm.

[MorganAtlanta]

Pic from this AM. Definitely getting some nice green, but like others have reported, the screen is still clear in the middle. This is at the three day mark, considering Saturday AM as the real start when I fixed the problem with the screen.

[Floyd R Turbo]

diffuse the blue LEDs. I got the same thing. there's just too much intensity with the reds surrounding the blue, I don't think it's the blue itself, but not sure. As soon as I diffused the blue, it filled in very quickly.

[kerry]

I think I need to do that to but, to all of them.

[MorganAtlanta]

I think I'll put the diffuser on all of them as well, just to even out the light. I've got more light than I need anyway... 11 LEDs in a 6"x4" array.

[SantaMonica]

I get the same thing with no blues.

[Floyd R Turbo]

SM where's pics of your LED scrubber??

[kerry]

Ya!!! Bring it!!! Stop holding out on us. I thought you were an LED hater all this time. JK'ing, we would like to see it.

[SantaMonica]

June.

[kerry]

We are half way there Sir.

[MorganAtlanta]

Today's pic. More green. I added a light diffuser this AM. We'll see if that helps the middle fill in.

[MorganAtlanta]

Another pic. More green. Looking good.

[SantaMonica]

Should be filled in another few days.

[MorganAtlanta]

Friday AM pic. It has filled in more. I'm starting to get some algae on the acrylic window. We'll have to see how long this takes to start obstructing the light.

[MorganAtlanta]

11 LEDs on a 6x4 heatsink is loading it pretty well. The heatsink is getting very warm (but not too hot to touch), and the scrubber raises the temp of the tank about 4 degrees F when it is on. I don't think that's really a problem, since it is still under 80 degrees, but I might put a fan on the heatsink to see how much it reduces the heat input to the tank.

[kotlec]

Folloving your progress with interest.
Can you try to make photo with no flash ?

[MorganAtlanta]

If there is no flash there is no light. I'm taking the picture through the portal that the LEDs shine into. The box inside is closed, so there's no way to light it besides through the portal. I tried using a flashlight, but that gave an even worse reflection. I'll take pics of the whole screen and assembly when I clean it in a few days.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I've got 14 LEDs on mine (2 sides) and there's nearly zero heat transfer. That's very odd that you would transmit any heat at all to your tank. Is the area the heat sink is in completely closed off to air convection?

[MorganAtlanta]

The area where the LEDs are is completely sealed so they do not leak any light into the room, which means the air trapped there is transferring a fair amount of heat to the glass. If it were to really be a problem, a fan on the heatsink, or some way for the air to flow out of the space would probably mitigate it. I've got loads of old computer fans around, so it wouldn't be a big deal to add one.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Hmmm I leave a gap of about 1/2" or so above my heat sinks, the though was that I wanted to allow the heat from the LEDs to 'vent out'. Maybe that's why I don't have that problem?

[MorganAtlanta]

Update pics from two cleanings. First cleaning is on 05-21 after roughly a week of running. The growth is nice and dark green, but pretty slimy and it came off the mesh easily. Several strands escaped into the tank when I pulled the box out. The growth looked thicker in the water than it really was when I pulled it out.

[MorganAtlanta]

Second cleaning was today, two weeks after the last cleaning. The growth was a similar dark green and slimy, but there was more. It was a little thicker, and stuck to the screen well enough I had to use a pot scraper to get it off. I still had several strands escape into the tank when I pulled the box out, even though I was trying to be careful. The clear acrylic had algae on it that needed to be scraped. I'm glad I included it in the design so that algae was not on the tank glass.

[SantaMonica]

I think more slime develops in a UAS because it's supported by the water, and not flushed away by a waterfall. I would think this would mean better filtering.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Sounds like the problem I was having with the brown slimy dino-like stuff growing on top of the GHA. Incidentally, since I added the clear laser-printer type sheet and wrapped it around the airstone/screen, I do not get ANY of this stuff, none at all, not even in the box. Not even in areas where the bubble bypass the screen because of the floating issue. I just added suction cups to keep the pipe in the bottom and level and diffusers in front of the LEDs so this week will be the first full week where I feel it is at it's prime functionality, so we shall see how growth turns out.

I believe though that the turbulent flow of the waterfall scrubber does wash these things away, and if you constrain the bubble flow such that they cannot easily flow past the algae mat instead of through it, the end result is the same. I grew nothing but GHA this past week, even in areas with little to zero bubble flow (which was interesting)

[MorganAtlanta]

It's definitely not brown dino stuff. It is deep green, but just much much finer filaments than I get on my waterfall, so it feels slimy rather than "hairy".