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Ahh 480 is much better. And flowing from the top is better too. You still can isolate each overflow/screen if you want; just put a divider down the middle. It's great to not have to turn the return pump off when cleaning :)
Looks like this is a job for T5s. Probably similar bulbs to mine: 24", 24W (bulbs are physically less than 22" long). 2 per screen (4 total) for low power; this is what I have on my 5" screen. 3 per screen (6 total) for medium power; 4 per screen (8 total) for high power.
wow, that is a lot of light!
I may get a mirror of similar size to the screen and silicon the T5 connectors on to it then suspend the mirror and lights as close to the screen as possible. Being fish tank lights they ought to be easily splash proof.
Yep, I think that is just what you need!
The deeper you need the sump water the less angle you'd use.
Those are the exact bulb type I was thinking of too. You should find some reflector fixture with those in it.
Remember SM's two strapped on fixtures? I'm thinking those are that type.
Hey SM where'd you get those?
Go forth and learn for us worley! :mrgreen:
Here are the lighting units:
http://www.marineandreef.com/Nova_Extre ... u01127.htm
And here are the replacement bulbs:
http://www.marineandreef.com/ProductDet ... 8&CartID=1
I have the option of making my screen 30-36" long by 20" wide, does the angle that it slopes by make a big difference, as if I put it at 30 degrees or so, I should be able to fit a much longer screen.
There has been a slight change of plans as one of the guys in the company decided to build the cabinet without getting confirmation, so the sump has to go in the middle of the cabinet, however, they've made room for a 36" long, 22" wide and 15" high sump, so I can now fit a pretty huge 30-36" long by 20" wide screen in there!
As SM sez within this group of hobbyists we can't tell you absolutely that the slope makes no difference. It is probably safe to say it does make [i]some[/] sort of difference. Will it make a big difference? I doubt it it. When I look around in the ocean,(I spend a lot of time at the ocean) (8 blocks away) I see turf on all sorts of things, many of them (nae-most of them) horizontal.
The biggest difference with horizontal is you will need less flow to cover the surface. Much less. Of course this will deliver less changing water to the turf below it but no one is really clear on how much nutrient is actually drawn out of the moving water each pass of that 'block of water'. From a hydraulic point of view slower water should represent closer to the surface flow exchange which would be a good thing but conversely less agitation which is probably a less desirable thing.
What is going to happen is the turf is either going to do marginally better or marginally worse. The Adey TSs were horizontal but the water was passed across them in bursts. I'm not sure if this was because he was trying to duplicate nature - where the ocean in constant turmoil washes across things in a random matter - or he actually found that it improved nutrient take up. Beats me at this point. Ultimately I think I'd rather have a horizontal unit as is it is a better fit under an aquarium, so I am wishing you much success and would my self proceed down this horizontal path.
So it will work it is just a matter of square inches per gallon possibly being different by some percentage. You might keep in mind that if you want to give surge flow a try (in the future) to keep some space under your setup that you could fit one of the nice auto siphon units I've seen in this forum. Another words don't consume every inch of your under-tank area with just screen.
Thanks for the advice Kcress, I think I may have already consumed all the the space by getting a sump that is the maximum size that would physically fit in the cabinet. There are, however, drawers on each side, that could be altered one day if needed.
I don't think I'm going to go for horizontal, however, I will go with a pretty shallow slope, so there is at least a direction of flow of water, but I will probably make it to suit the sump, to maximise screen area, to make it easier for lighting and keep a reasonable amount of water in the sump.
I can actually see on my scrubber, where there are areas that don't receive as much flow as others there is little growth, but this could equally be due to the fact that it wasn't submerged in water, I may experiment with different slopes to see how it affects growth.
It would be useful to have two screens that can be sloped independantly to get a more fair comparison.
I like to be as scientific as possible about these sorts of things :D
Make it adjustable. Use a flex pipe to connect to the slot pipe.
Great news!
The tank + cabinet + hood + sump turned up on Saturday!!
Really nice looking tank, with black silicon on the front and the cabinet is really great in real solid pine.
They built it in the first design with the sump in the middle under the weir, so I'm going to need to be a little creative to get the overflow in the direction I want, but not too hard. Also means shorter pipes needed, so that's good.
I shall post some pics shortly, also made some of my fake liverock, came out reasonably for a first attempt lol.
Ok first real issue.
The sump pump is on it's way (Eheim Compact + 5000 sump pump - 2500 to 5000 l/hour adjustable - 660 - 1320 us gal/hour).
I decided to go for a higher flow pump due to the many angles needed on the return pipework, which would recude the flow rate.
However, the pump has a 25mm (1") outlet, that fits eheim 25/33mm flexible hose, and the aquamedic ocean runner 3500 I was looking at uses 3/4".
The problem is that the return pipe hole in the weir is 30mm to fit a 3/4" bulkhead (the holes cut had to be in 5mm steps), and a 1" bulkhead has an external diameter of 32mm, so it's just 1mm too wide all the way around.
Should I risk trying to enlarge the hole?
Should I stay with 3/4" pipework from the weir up and use some sort of adaptor to step it down from 1" hose (I've got 2m of 25/33mm hose on it's way too).
I'm guessing I'm going to lose a whole lot of flow by stepping it down, let alone using 1 T piece and 4 right angles on the weir side (I could get away with a Y adaptor and 6 45 degree angles instead).
Need lots of ideas ASAP as the pump is arriving in around 12 hours and only have a bit longer to put an order in for 1" pipe to get here before the weekend, as none of the pumbing wholesalers suply 1" pipework (as it's not a standard sized pipe for plumbers, it's 3/4" or 1 1/4").
Thanks in advance guys :D