Are these still the current guidelines?

[gilly]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and my head is spinning with all the info I have read the last couple of nights. Could someone please confirm if these are still the correct guidelines, plus any other important bits I heed to know before I start my build.

Scrubber Quick Guideline:

0.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon MINIMUM [0.13 watts per liter].
1.0 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon for HIGH filtering [0.26 watts per liter].
1.0 square inches of screen per gallon, with bulbs on BOTH sides (10 x 10 = 100 square inches = 100 gal)
[1.64 square cm per liter]
2.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if vertical but lit on just ONE side. [3.28 square cm per liter]
4.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if HORIZONTAL [6.56 square cm per liter].
1.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon if HORIZONTAL [0.4 watts per liter].
18 hours of lights ON, and 6 hours of lights OFF, each day.
Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen, EVEN IF one sided [60 lph per cm].
Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.
Clean algae off of screen every SEVEN (7) days NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK.


Thanks for your help
James

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

No those are old. Here are new ones below. If you can give pics or detail of your setup, a better recommendation can be given.



Scrubbers are sized according to feeding. Nutrients "in" (feeding) must equal nutrients "out" (scrubber growth), no matter how many gallons or liters you have. So...

An example VERTICAL upflow or waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen), or
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen), or
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen), or
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen), or
10 square inches (60 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen), or
5 square inches (30 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen), or
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen), or
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)

High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.

HORIZONTAL screens: Multiply the screen size by 4, and the wattage by 1 1/2. Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen [60 lph per cm], EVEN IF one sided or horizontal.

FLOATING SURFACE SCRUBBERS WITH RIBBONS: Screen size is the size of the box (Lenth X Width), and is 2-sided because the ribbons grow in 3D.

LEDs: Use half the wattage as above. 660nm (red) is best. You can mix in a little 450nm (blue) if you want.

Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas, unless floating surface, which would use gravel and strings instead.

Clean algae:

Every 7 to 21 days, or
When it's black, or
When it fills up, or
When algae lets go, or
When nutrients start to rise

[gilly]

5112

This is a picture of my tank as requested. It has been running since September.
Stock is;
2 clowns
2 Chromis
1 Spotail Blenny
4 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Blood Shrimp
1 Tuxedo Urchin
6 Trochus Snails
3 Nassarius Snails
Some softies

I feed 3-4 very small pinches of flake, or if i have any frozen i will use 1 cube of mysis over 2 days. Obviously when I am fully stocked this would have to be probably doubled. What are the size of the cubes in the recomendation? I intend to get another 3 or 4 fish( not sure what yet, but nothing big). I have a Bubble Magus Curve 5 skimmer which might stay yet I'm not sure. I have been running rowaphos in a reactor from day 1, yet I can't get my phosphates below 0.06 ( I change it every 2 week, roughly). I'm getting a lot of green dust algae on the glass which needs cleaning off every other day. I have also got a bit of hair algae on the rocks. I have used reef bones which I soaked for 17 week in RO changing it weekly. The turf scrubber would have to be in the sump as the wife won't let it go above the tank as I wanted. Which is fair enough as the tank is in the living room. I am limited for space though within the sump here are the dimensions.
1st section, 14" x 6" and the water level is 9.5"
2nd section 14" x 7" and the water level is 7.5"
Return section is 14" x 4.5" and the water level is around 5.5"
Sump holds 35L, 9 US Gallons

I know volume doesnt count but just so you know my tank is a 2 ft cube which holds about 255L, 67 US Gallons.

Hope I haven't made it sound too complicated, I have tried giving you as much information as I can so you can help me get it right.

Many thanks
James

[SantaMonica]

Most cubes are about 1 cm3, but some are bigger. Does not matter a whole lot.

Algae on glass is from ammonia/urea, which the skimmer and rowaphos do not remove.

I think the easiest is an upflow in the front left wall; looks like there is lots of room; here is a great video:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?2974-Upflow-scrubber-video

To make it more quiet, use a double outer shell.

[gilly]

Are the upflow more efficient than waterfall version?

[SantaMonica]

Theoretically yes, because of the turbulence and laminar removal by the bubbles. And certainly more efficient in space utilization (like your case).

However most units are DIY, so the far biggest factor is the builder.