Originally Posted by
Enigma84
Without having read all of this thread top to bottom, i wonder whether it might be possible to made a hard and fast rule regarding led power to square inches on scrubbers, as 1 x 3w for 3" x 4" seems far too low, and it had resulted in buying various different drivers and more leds to upgrade on a trial and error basis. I cant help thinking it would have saved me a fortune if there had of been more accurate guidance to start with. I will start with what i have come up with, but wonder whether others may suggest power to surface area so we can get a more up to date idea of what is needed. With the upgrades i have made so far, and basing it on nuisance algae growth in tank/phosphate and nitrate level of the water, i would say that just under 1w per square inch on the 660nm 3w leds is closer to wiping the tank clean of all nuisance algae and nutrient levels. From looking at the L2 algae scrubber also, with the leds used versus the 4" x 6" screen, this seems to be a just under 1W per square inch per side. I would like others to share their experience as i see many new starters, with grossly underlit screens. Adding more leds is easy enough but getting bigger heat sinks to cope with heat and different drivers to cope isnt cheap.