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View Full Version : critique my design before I build it



rndmcnflct
01-14-2011, 11:45 PM
65 gallons in my display, meaning around 65 square inches of roughened plastic canvas,

I'll go with 14" wide and 5" deep. As I have 14" wide I will need (14" * 35 gph) around 490 gph flow over the screen.

I plan to be setting it up inside a spare 10 gallon aquarium and I will paint the bottom, top, and sides of the aquarium white to serve as a reflector.

For lighting I will mount one T5HO ColorMax bulb (24 watt) on each side of the screen, this is one of the pink colored 'grow' bulbs so I think it should be suitable?

48 watts for 65 gallons puts me nicely between the 0.5 and 1.0 wpg range.

The guide says 4 inches away from the screen for most lights, but also "T5HO bulbs can be within 1 inch (2.5 cm) of the screen, but 2 inches is OK.",

So is it 4" or 2" ? Do T5HO generate less heat than CFL bulbs?

I see that most people who have problems are always plagued with a design flaw and SantaMonica is always able to point out. I want to make sure I have assimilated everything correctly before starting. Do these specifications seem OK?

Also, should I be factoring sump gallons into my total gallons or just the gallons that will have a bioload?

Thanks!!!

SantaMonica
01-15-2011, 12:25 AM
Sump only counts if it has livestock.

For lights, a single T5 is not enough for a 5 inch screen. This would mean the top and bottom of the screen were over 2 inches away. You want at least 2 bulbs in that space. If you don't want the extra wattage of two bulbs on each side, shorten the screen to use two 12 inch bulbs on each side, with a screen width of 10 inches (the last inches of a T5 are not useful). Try to keep the bulbs within 1 inch of the screen. Max 1.5

2700 or 3000K are better than pink.

The overriding guideline of scrubber size is feeding:

Each cube of frozen food you feed per day needs 12 square inches of screen, with a light on both sides totaling 12 watts. Thus a nano that is fed one cube a day would need a screen 3 X 4 inches with a 6 watt bulb on each side. A larger tank that is fed 10 cubes a day would need a screen 10 X 12 inches with 60 watts of light on each side. If you feed flake, feeder fish, or anything else, you will need to blend it up super thick, strain out the excess water, pour it into a cube, and see how many cubes it is.