Ruddybop's UAS test

[rleahaines]

Kerry,

I'm just speculating out loud a bit here. I have had Reef tanks for at least 10 years with semi successful results. Tried just about everything out there for N reduction until I bumped into the scrubber ideas and this site. Now I think I am getting somewhere. Finally.

With all of the focus on growing algae, perhaps we need to refocus a bit on using algae to export nitrate. I am working through getting my UAS up and running efficiently and effectively on my saltwater 29 GAL high tank. So far the UAS seems to work well for Nitrate control, but I still have issues with Phosphate levels.

I'm harvesting as much algae from the DT as the scrubber every week.

My plan is to upgrade the UAS to LED's and blast away with light and water movement so the scrubber is the main user of N and P.

I am very impressed with the work many of the folks are doing with their tanks ... and I am learning something new every day.

[kerry]

This is a great site and has a wealth of information to learn. There are many bright minds here a well. I have two UAS scrubbers right now that I am focusing on. One on my 10G and one on my 150G both are SW. I have a 40G SW with a waterfall scrubber and my redsea kit does not detect any nutrients (N or P) so I am working to get my UAS to the same level. I found out about scrubbers many years ago and shrugged them off as snake oil due to all the pressure from other reefers who thought they were junk. So about three years ago a built one (it was a huge secrete) and only came out of the closet about a year and a half ago when I found this site and needed some help to get it right. Even here I didnt let on about my secrete scrubber in fear of persecution from other sites knowing I had one already. Anyway, what fool I was!!!!!!!!!! My tanks are better then ever now and I dont change water!!!! Here I was free to ask question and post about my newly built scrubber that was working so much better then the secrete one LOL.
I have found that my waterfall handles N and P but others find they still have P with the waterfall, I only have P (.050PPM) with my 150G UAS and elevated N (20PPM). There are a few of us out there testing dosing potassium to help export the P. So there are great hopes out there just around the corner. We are glad you are here for the ride. Please keep us updated on your scrubber and please post responses and questions as well. Do you have pics of your scrubber? We would love to see them.
Also you might want to reduce the hours your DT lights are on so it does not compete with the scrubber.

[kerry]

Algae prefer ammonia over nitrate. So the growth of the algae will be less effective if the ammonia is already taken up by the bio balls.

Correct, but I dont want to make any drastic changes and loose any Africans. So when I start the scrubber I will ween back the balls as I see growth, I figure in a months time I can be bio ball free.

[ruddybop]

Ok it's been a while for me posting and I have had great algae growth with 138 cfl watts , but my nitrates still climb to 80ppm, but never over 80. my screen is 9 x 14 on a 220 fresh water. 11 large fish.

I have downsized my stock from 22 fish total.

2 oscars
2 dempseys
4 cats
1 iridescent
1 convict
1 pleco
1 firemouth

I finally got my supplies for my led light system.

1 ---- 8-1/2" x 13" heat sink from an old burned up car amp .. free
2 ---- 4 120mm computer fans from old discarded computers .. free
3 ---- 3 LPC-35-700 constant current drivers .. $ 63.00
4 ---- 50pc red 660nm 3w led .. $ 37.00
5 ---- 10pc blue 440nm 3w led .. $ 8.69
6 ---- 2nd heat sink 7"x 13" from another burned up amp .. free
$ 109.68 total so far

Her are some pics of the items I have. Now I get to solder all the goodies together...

[ruddybop]

Ok... I'm starting to wire this thing up with LPC-35-700 current driver. I have 14 led's for each driver. I have one of 3 sets done and hooked up the driver. It is very bright oh yes. I noticed the blue is more intense than the red. Is there a resistor you can put inline to calm the blue down a little. Or should I just use a diffuser on the blue led's.

And I looked but I thought I saw somewhere about 14 led's used with this driver.... I sure would hate to blow out these led's.

[Garf]

Wear protective equipment when you fire that baby up, oh yeah!

[Ace25]

Just to give you a little piece of mind, I run 14 LEDs off one of those drivers, 6 reds (OSRAM 660nm) + 1 blue (Cree Royal Blue) per side. It has worked perfect from day 1 for me.

One thing I noticed about your build though is the LEDs used. They appear to be 'china' LEDs, especially if you got 50 reds for under $1ea. If that is the case I would expect the spectrum out of those reds to be in the 620nm range, not 660nm like they are sold, just speaking from experience.

[ruddybop]

Garf... I have sun glasses....

Ace... Thanks for the reply. Yes I bought the cheap China ones. I did do some reading about buying led's that are from the same bin so they match. I'll play around with them a while and see how they work..... all I know is that these some beaches are bright......

[Floyd R Turbo]

I wire the blues in parallel to knock them down to 1/2 power or else they photo-inhibit the growth.

Like this







Blues at 1/2 power

[ruddybop]

Ah ha.... Excellent Floyd... Thanks I will try that and let you know how it works....