2 Cube Hog UAS

[Devs]

Can do between 1 and 2 cubes.

Will be carrying out trials over the next couple of months.

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3968&d=1360408699

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3967&d=1360408699

[Devs]

A few more pics, that's a piece of acrylic between the two halves.

The fan is controlled with a temp sensor.

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3966&d=1360408096

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3964&d=1360408096

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3965&d=1360408096

[Garf]

What a great unit. Looks like it would make a nice waterfall unit also with a few mods.

[Devs]

Thanks Garf...

A few details...

The screen inside is 4" x 6" double sided for some idea of scale :)

The base of the wet side on this is split in half and both halves slope up towards the middle acting as a bubble collector, so the drain from the DT(if using this in a sump that is) could be simply directed towards the bottom of the hog and so possibly eliminating the use of an air pump, this is an idea taken from one of SM's designs.

[Devs]

Forgot to mention that it does also have a bubble bar, you can just see the air line connection in the very first pic in first post.

Oh...and the screen is made double sided by the use of very highly reflective material which you can also see an inch or so behind the screen in the first pic.

[Floyd R Turbo]

How is it double-sided?

[Devs]

How is it double-sided?

The reflector material behind the screen reflects 99 percent of all light with 96 percent being in the 400nm to 700nm range (blue and red) it is also angled at both sides onto the back of the screen.
I'll post here with all results.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Ok. But do you realize that it will only reflect light that passes through the screen and the algae? Once the algae mat grows thick enough, it will block 100% of the light from reaching the reflector.

[Devs]

Ok. But do you realize that it will only reflect light that passes through the screen and the algae? Once the algae mat grows thick enough, it will block 100% of the light from reaching the reflector.

Which is why the side panels are angled in across the back of the screen. They should create enough light for the algae to grow. What I'm hoping for is the algae on the back if it doesn't grow as fast as the front ! to at least have grown half as much as the front when the front reaches full growth, which can then be cleaned and then turn the half grown back to the front and so on and so forth giving continuous filtration.

The screen simply slides in and out of a couple of slots, so very easy to remove and clean.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Well the issue here is that LEDs are inherently directional in nature, meaning that their light is projected forwards in a cone-shaped disbursement with something like 90% of their radiant flux contained within that cone. So when you buy 120 degree LEDs (generally the widest range, but you might find 140) that means that most of the light is contained within 60 degrees off of the centerline. So almost none of your incidental light will make it to the corners and get bounced off the reflectors, and depending on the angle of the reflectors. I'm not knocking your idea, it looks very good to me, and you have the right idea, but it might take some refinement to make it work the way you intend it to.

I work in the consulting engineering industry and I have had quite a bit of exposure to commercial/architectural light fixture, and spectral reflectors are a very specific subset of that industry, with obvious importance. If you can make a reflector that produces 5% higher lumen efficiency for a particular light source, that's huge. Lighting is a high competitive (cut-throat is the word I would use) industry.

So with that in mind, what I'm say just based on the pics that you have posted is that I don't think you are going to get any significant amount of reflectance around the corners and to the back of the screen. If you could make the back chamber and reflector larger and correctly angled/curved, and then place additional LEDs along the edges that would be dedicated to only supplying light to be reflected to the back side of the screen, I think that would be much more effective. Your inside box would likely be much larger to make this happen, and I would think that something with more of a mirror like reflective surface would be more efficient, but then you run into the waterproof issue. I've seen plenty of people claim that a plain white surface is just as reflective as a mylar or true spectral polished aluminum reflector, but I do not buy that, at all.

[Devs]

I think I have the angle of the reflector sides just about right and the distance and angle from the leds is also about right, although I do agree it may need a little alteration here and there, the reflector is easily removed and changed, in fact all of the important components are easily and quickly removed. The reflector is 30mm away from the screen with the screen being a further 30mm away from the glass, which I would have thought is plenty of room for growth and reflected light ? I could also easily add an led or 2 either side to, as you say...get more light around the back of the screen.

[Devs]

Also don't forget...

Due to the up flow action of a UAS, with a good flow of bubbles the algae is kept suspended allowing for greatly increased light penetration, as opposed to the waterfall type which as you say...forms a thick mat giving very little light penetration.

There is also a prismatic diffuser in front of the leds, so the light dispersal is not going to be the concentrated cone that we associate with leds, it's going to be more of an even spread on and around the screen.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Try this: take a black piece of plastic or paper and clip it to the LED side of the screen. Then take a white piece of paper and clip to the back side. Put it together and see how much light actually gets reflected to the other side. This would represent the screen with the holes filled in with algae, and show you how much light gets reflected to the back side of the screen in this case, and you will be able to see that very well.

[Devs]

Hey Floyd

Tried your little test...

Whilst what I have does indeed bathe the whole back of the screen in light, I did slide the light unit to one side so that one vertical row of leds were in line with the gap and shining directly onto the angled part of the reflector. Obviously this did put more light onto the back surface, certainly enough for me to now be considering adding another two reds and one RB to cover that area, I just didn't want to start adding stuff that may or may not need adding, but more light onto the rear of the screen is surely going to be a good thing, so I'm going to run with it :)