120 Reef scrubber with PICS! comments appreciated! First Try!

[like-fish]

I have been lurking and reading for a few months now and am ready to take the plunge.

This is the 120 gal display with 40 gal breeder sump.
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2012-12-11_17-29-56_19.jpg

I have everything laid out and dry fitted. I just measured my flow rate at 234 gph through a 6.25" long cut. Cut made per recommendations.

According to the 35gph per inch I am right on the money and I do have the ability to tune the flow up just a bit and down as much as i want.

SO: 6" wide screen. NOW im a bit troubled..... I will feed to the ability of my scrubber. I would like to be able to increase my nutrient load significantly!

I have 14 660nm 3w deep red led and a driver ready to go. Minimum on my driver is 8 LED's so 4 LED to a side on a 6x6 screen.

6"x6" screen with 12W of LED per side at about 3" off of the screen.

3 cube a day scrubber?

Here she is ready for the screen and some final touches. The supply is my gravity return from the pump. Some of the water is diverted into the first chamber of the sump (refugium). If all goes as planed that refugium will be my future frag tank!!!!

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2012-12-11_17-29-02_412.jpg


Please let me know if you anticipate any issues.

All comments and suggestions welcomed and appreciated!!!!!

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

Size and feeding sound just right.

[like-fish]

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/th_2012-12-11_19-14-02_37.jpg (http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2012-12-11_19-14-02_37.mp4)

The screen is in place and the flow looks great. Its a bit sparse at the very beginning of the cut but i think once some gunk builds it should smooth out?

LED build in the morning!

Thank you for the confirmation SM!

[SantaMonica]

Yep looks good. Make sure all the is pointed at the middle of the screen.

[like-fish]

i added lighting ton the 17th and have been running 6 3w red LED at 50% power (350nm +/-) for 5 days. This is my growth.

Is the lighting too strong or is this the norm. I have 3 3w LED on each side of the screen appx 3" from it.

Thanks for the advice!

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2012-12-22_13-49-20_470.jpg

[SantaMonica]

They look pretty focused. Are they wide angle?

[like-fish]

https://store-b4d7d.mybigcommerce.com/deep-red-660nm/

deep red 120 deg no optics......


its quite a distinct light pattern!

[SantaMonica]

I'd back them up another inch.

[like-fish]

would there be a difference if i simply turned them down. It appears that i am not hurting at all on light. if i decrease the intensity does anyone anticipate it no longer being enough?

[RkyRickstr]

I would defuse the light.. at least till you get it going.

[SantaMonica]

The thing with turning them down is that the outside of the screen is already low in light.

[like-fish]

thank you for the comments.... the center of the screen is starting to grow over now..... THe outer edges are getting well developed growth of blck/brown sludge.

What is indicating that the outer edges are not receiving enough light?

[SantaMonica]

They are dark.

[like-fish]

i added cut diffuser to the inside of my scrubber box and turned the led back up to just below full power. The scrubber is on for 9 hrs a day now. This has been in place for just shy of a week.

This is what it is looking like now:

Side 1:
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-04_18-07-02_507.jpg

Side 2:
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-04_18-06-48_13.jpg

i am considering adding a RB to the center fo the lighting spread and spreading the LED's apart a bit to prevent them being so focued in the center of the scree.

Comments / suggestions appreciated!

O-yea, just put an ATS on my biocube!!!! info on that in the future

[like-fish]

full scrubber shot:

I also had to add some splash shielding to prevent salt creep on my LED's

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-04_19-37-58_544.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Let it go 14 days. Really need to spread the light out.

[like-fish]

light is spread out and added a RB to each side. updates to come.

[like-fish]

Side 1
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-17_14-49-55_816.jpg

Side 2
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-17_14-49-39_726.jpg

After cleaning:
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-17_14-54-00_897.jpg
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii602/like-fish1/2013-01-17_14-54-07_718.jpg

This is 9 days growth with the addition of one RB led to each side and spreading out of the Red LED's. I hope i did not overclean. I was very impressed with how much algae came off of the screen!

I intened to clean it again after 7 days unless the growth is still sparce. I am running the scrubber 9 hours still.

I have seen no ill affects on my chaeto. It is still growing and dark green. Waiting for it to stop growing before I remove it all togeather. I want to avaoid any drastic changes to the tank.

Comments and suggestions appreciated!

[SantaMonica]

14 days...

[like-fish]

14 it shall be!

I have an emergency overflow built in and i noticed an increas in flow. I believe i will have to shade my slot a bit to keep the growth from clogging.

thank you for the feedback