New sizing guidelines

[Floyd R Turbo]

Also how do you propose to feed the water to the screens? With the lamp in the middle how are you going to protect it?

[bfoleyiii]

I would build an acrylic cube to protect the light with the light dropping down into the middle. I was thinking I'd build a square out of pvc to feed the screens (a T fitting and a few 90s) on the outside of the acrylic. I was thinking that one 23w bulb could then feed the four screens equalling two 2-sided screens.

[markrj]

Wow! This thread is an eye-opener! I just finished my first scrubber based on Floyd's Summary.

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...cs-The-Summary

Screen Size

Once you figure out your available flow, then it's time to figure out your optimal screen dimensions.

There are 2 ways of looking at this: square inches based on length and width dimension, and square inches based on illuminated surface area. The latter is technically more accurate, but since most people light both sides, the former is usually referenced.

For every gallon of water in your display tank, you need 2 total square inches of illuminated screen material. This means that if you run a screen that is vertical and lit from both sides, then you need a screen with dimensions (length times width) that is equal to the size of your tank, or 1 square inch of material per gallon. This is what you will see commonly referenced, and what I continue to reference for simplicity's sake. Double the dimensional measurement for a vertical screen, lit from only one side. Double it again for a horizontal or slanted screen.

Sizing of the screen generally does not require inclusion of the volume of water in the sump, unless you have some kind of bio-load in there, like a refugium for a recovering fish, pods, or a frag tank, etc.

So, just so we're 100% clear on this:

Vertical, lit from both sides: 1 square inch of screen material per gallon (2 square inches of illuminated screen area per gallon)

Vertical, lit from only one side: 2 square inches of screen material per gallon (which is also 2 square inches of illuminated screen area per gallon)

Horizontal: 4 square inches of screen material per gallon (4 square inches of illuminated screen material per gallon). Lighting must increase by a factor of 1.5 (discussed in the lighting section). Also note that this is a correction to what was listed on Post #1 of this thread (that post listed that a 10 x 10 screen was good for 40 gallons, instead of 25 gallons)

I am running a 12" wide x 10" (1-2" in the water.) which is 96 sq in of exposed screen. Two sided so I am seriously over sized and under wattage. Correct?

I have a 75 gallon reef with just 3 fish which I feed about 1/4 of a frozen cube per day. I had a horrible cyano and gha problem and it is all disappearing before my eyes with my new setup after only 7 days. I am going to do my first cleaning tomorrow after the full 7 days are up.

So I could seriously use a 6"x4" screen?

Time to cut a new slot pipe! lol

[SantaMonica]

Yes way too big. You can use a tiny screen, limited only by it catching all the light.

[iprayforwaves]

SM,

how does feeding live foods such as decap. artemia cysts, baby artemia and rotifers compare to the frozen cube guideline?

[SantaMonica]

You'll have to concentrate them and put them in an emtpy cube to see how many there are.

[Floyd R Turbo]

In other words, use a rotifer sieve to take out all the water. I would think you could feed a cubic buttload of rotifers to equal 1 cube/day.

[Salty Irishman]

Great site and I'm new here. Congrats to all who have contributed and thank you! I just got my scrubber up and running however, it's based on the old formula of tank size. Now I realize I can go way smaller which is a plus when you're out of room in the sump. So based on my needs I'm looking at a 3" x 4" screen. Question is; what type of lighting is recommended to focus on such a small screen and at 6-12 watts/side? Right now I'm running (2) 23 watt cfl's and have had to cut the hrs back as I'm getting some yellowing. I can build another scubber easy enough, but the lighting is my hang up. Thoughts...

[kerry]

Spot light CFL's work the best on small screens.

[Floyd R Turbo]

It's my preference, but I think a 2 cube/day screen is really a minimum, unless you know for sure that you're not going to feed any more than 1 cube/day. so 5x5, which is a nice fit for a 23W CFL floodlight on each side.

the yellowing is because your screen is too large in relation to the feeding. 5x5 should green it up, but you may have to feed a little more, which your tank will like