Design Ideas - Your Thoughts?

[zoolan70]

I'm going to be doing a LED based waterfall ATS, but I'm not 100% sure of my plans. Please give any constructive feedback you might have.

Screen Size
120 square inches - 12w x 10t - sized for 10 cubes per day. I know this is high, but I'm potentially going to have 2 - 200+ gallon systems feeding into it at some point, so I'd rather plan large.

LED lights - one for each side
8x10 heatsink (with fan)
Mean Well LPC-60-1050 constant current driver - 45V, 1050ma
2 strings of LEDs in parallel - 5 red and 2 blue LEDs per string (see LED specs below) - total ~45 watts per side

Blue - 445nm
Voltage: 2.8-3.6V
Current: 620mA-650 mA
View Angle: 120 degree

Red - 660nm
Voltage : 2.3V~2.8V
Current : 650mA
View Angle: 120 degree

ATS Container
10 gallon standard fish tank. Hole in the bottom for a bulkhead. ATS fed from my overflow, using a 1.5 to 3/4 reducer, and the flow controlled with a gate valve. Any excess water will bypass the ATS and dump into a filter sock in the sump.

Questions / Comments / Concerns
Drilling the 10 gallon. I've heard these are a royal pain. Any comments?

LED distance from the screen. If I use the 10 gallon tank, the LEDs will be about 6 inches from the screen (mounted to the outside of the tank). Is this too far?

Thanks!

[Garf]

Curious as to why you are going for the waterfall version of the scrubber when the up flow version is now out.

[zoolan70]

I have zero interest in using airstones, and putting it inline with my return makes it more conducive to a water design, I guess. I could always change my design at some point and just pass the water through the tank and do the upflow if it seems to be working well for others.

[sabbath]

Curious as to why you are going for the waterfall version of the scrubber when the up flow version is now out.

I'm looking to add a ATS to my system as well.

Is the up flow better?
It would seem to me and for that it will come with more to deal with. You need an air pump,air stones with cleaning,salt creep and maybe algea on the light lense area.

[Garf]

The standard ATS is obviously a tried and tested method. The new up flow method has more uncertainties attached to it because it is new. If you NEED a scrubber I would go for the original method because it works. If you want a scrubber as an additional filtration method then you can join in the mass experiment and go for UAS or other alternatives.

[MorganAtlanta]

A few thoughts--
6" is a long way from the screen for 120 degree optics. Consider putting them closer or using tighter optics. I'd consider building a smaller enclosure than a 10 gallon. Something about 4-6" thick so that the lights are about 2-3" away would be good. You could order the cut acrylic from Tap Plastics if you don't have a decent saw. If you do, a single 18x24 piece of clear acrylic from Lowes or Home Depot should be all you need (along with a tube of Weld-On #16).

10x12 is a good screen size in terms of ratio so that you won't need absurd amounts of flow (unlike 24" SM100 style T5 designs).

Remember to allow space for the slotted pipe and an inch or so at the bottom of non-productive space. For 10" of productive screen, you enclosure will probably need to be 14" high or so.

I'd consider multiple drivers rather than running strings in parallel, or a driver that puts out 600mA at higher voltage. It's just as easy to wire up multiple drivers as it is to wire fuses into your parallel wiring.

Add up the actual wattage of your LEDs, versus assuming they are "3 Watts". 2.5V x 500mA = 1.25 Watts.

[zoolan70]

A few thoughts--
6" is a long way from the screen for 120 degree optics. Consider putting them closer or using tighter optics. I'd consider building a smaller enclosure than a 10 gallon. Something about 4-6" thick so that the lights are about 2-3" away would be good. You could order the cut acrylic from Tap Plastics if you don't have a decent saw. If you do, a single 18x24 piece of clear acrylic from Lowes or Home Depot should be all you need (along with a tube of Weld-On #16).

How thick should the acrylic be? My HD and Lowes only have 1/8". I'm assuming I would need to use 1/4" at least...right?

10x12 is a good screen size in terms of ratio so that you won't need absurd amounts of flow (unlike 24" SM100 style T5 designs).


Remember to allow space for the slotted pipe and an inch or so at the bottom of non-productive space. For 10" of productive screen, you enclosure will probably need to be 14" high or so.

Thanks for the heads up. I probably would have forgotten to leave space at the bottom.


I'd consider multiple drivers rather than running strings in parallel, or a driver that puts out 600mA at higher voltage. It's just as easy to wire up multiple drivers as it is to wire fuses into your parallel wiring.

Add up the actual wattage of your LEDs, versus assuming they are "3 Watts". 2.5V x 500mA = 1.25 Watts.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, I already sent in the order for them. If they don't work out as planned, I will go with 2 drivers per side, rather than one.

I did screw up my wattage calculations...I'm off by about 50%. So, is ~23W per side going to be enough?

Thanks!

[MorganAtlanta]

You really want 1/4". Both Lowes and HD have it locally here in Atlanta. I've ordered a number of times from Tap Plastics and highly recommend them. You'd probably be in for less than $50 to get 1/4" pre-cut for a 12x14x4 enclosure. It's also much easier than trying to get good clean cuts yourself without a table saw.

23 Watts is probably fine.

[zoolan70]

I think I'm going to use this is an excuse to get a portable table saw and router. You never know when it will come in handy, right? :p

[kodiak66]

:rolleyes: best excuses to get toys!

[kerry]

I have my router mounted into my table saw top.

[zoolan70]

I have my router mounted into my table saw top.

What brand and model?

[kerry]

Ryobi BT3000 http://bt3000.com/Auctions/Ryobi/MST/Dual_Dual_Slot.html , the hole on the right is for the router.