Horizontal or Vertical?

[Harry_Y]

I was just wondering if you had plenty of room to build a horizontal one
say 20 x 30 inches Horizontal instead of one that was 20 x 15 vertical.

In some ways it seems it would be an easier build, I was just
wondering if there were any real down sides to going Horizontal.

Thank you

[SantaMonica]

Horizontals need 4 times the area, and 4 times the lighting, to equal a vertical.

[Harry_Y]

Horizontals need 4 times the area, and 4 times the lighting, to equal a vertical.

Thank you, Now why was I only thinking 2x ...... Hmmmm

[mrbncal]

My experience with a horizontal version was positive. . . however they are messier. LOTS of splashing and there needs to be more flow to get the same results as a vertical. I stopped and went with a vertical model and its easier and more effective. My 2 cents

[Harry_Y]

My experience with a horizontal version was positive. . . however they are messier. LOTS of splashing and there needs to be more flow to get the same results as a vertical. I stopped and went with a vertical model and its easier and more effective. My 2 cents

Thank you, I built up a vertical one, it was more of a wondering thought

[180rftank]

I have found with my horizontal that it does require a lot of flow. I thought I would be ok with about 800gph on my 10 x 30 screen, but I have found that 1300gph or around there has produced much better results. I have also found that letting the growth go about 8-10 days as apposed to 7 days also has produced better results as well. I came across this as I got lazy and didn't clean the screen for almost two weeks, and the algae in the main tank was dissapearing before my eyse. I then let it grow for two weeks at a time, and after a month, I had zero algae in the main tank. I'm not an expert, maybe SM has some reason why this may be a good or bad thing on a horizontal. I still would like to have a vertical, but that's a whole other story! :mrgreen:

[Harry_Y]

Interesting.

I have a basement sump so I have a lot of room to use.
In some ways a horizontal would have been easy to build and maintain.

I could have made one up to 2x4 feet (1152 sq inches) fairly easily
and I could use standard 4 foot shop lights to light it

I already had the Vertical one built when I thought about the Horizontal one.

It got me thinking that someone could easy enough build a large one into a tank top hood
I'd love to go get a 75 gallon to experiment with this (you can never have too many tanks right)