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Thread: Morgan's UAS test

  1. #1

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    Morgan's UAS test

    Well, I finally got some time to put the thing together. The design is for a 1.5 cube, in-tank, single sided, LED lit UAS scrubber. The box in the tank is roughly 5" x 11", with the screen roughly the same size. However, I don't expect the light to reach down to the bottom of the screen much, so it will probably have an effective area of roughly 5"x8".

    The LEDs are mounted on a 6"x4" heatsink. I've got 6 660nm and 2 455nm LEDs, which is probably more power than I need, but I figured I can always trim back the photoperiod. I'm starting with 12 on - 12 off.

    There is a piece of clear quarter inch acrylic with a tab on it on which the box hangs while it is in the tank. This allows me to just reach in and pull the box out for cleaning. I figure I'll have to clean the acrylic occasionally also. The acrylic has three magnets embedded in it, which match up to magnets on the wood frame of the lights and serve to hold the box in place. One consideration in the build was to make the system effectively light proof so that as little light leaks out as possible since the tank is in my son's bedroom.

    I'm driving the system with a Whisper 40 pump, which has a buzz that is a bit louder than a whisper. Not sure it will work in a bedroom. The bubbles themselves don't make much noise, kind of a low hissing sound that won't bother sleep.

    The tank is a much neglected 15 gallon freshwater with only one tetra and one upside down catfish. I plan to add more fish. We've had some attrition over the last few months, and that's all that is left.

    Anyway, here are pictures. I'll update as I get growth.
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  2. #2
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    Will be interesting to see how much growth develops between the clear wall and the tank wall.

  3. #3

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    The clear wall is flush with the glass, so shouldn't be much if any.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by MorganAtlanta View Post
    The clear wall is flush with the glass, so shouldn't be much if any.
    Why even use the clear acrylic is the glass is already in place?

  5. #5

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    So that if I get 3-D growth that sticks to the container, it is on the acrylic, not the glass. I can take the acrylic out to clean it, but I'd have to clean the glass in the tank, which might lead to stray hair algae floating around. Also, it makes a convenient way to hang the scrubber box in the tank.

    Updates-- since the driver was under loaded with the 8 LEDs, I added three more 660nm LEDs, for a total of 9 660s and 2 455s. That's an absurd amount of light for 40 square inches, but we'll see what happens.

    The buzz from the pump was annoying, so now the pump is remotely located in the cabinet of my reef display tank, which happens to be just on the other side of the wall from this little tank. All you hear in the bedroom is the hiss from the bubbles, which is actually a pretty pleasant noise.

  6. #6

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    Hello Morgan!

    If you are troubled by the noise of the air pum check out the Shego air pumps, this is really silent quality pumps. An air pump is of course never 100% silent, but i have tried many pumps and theese Shego air pumps is really good.

    http://www.schego.de/membranpumpen.php?lang=en


    Jnad

  7. #7

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    air pump silencer

    I have been looking into ways to silence air pumps and came across this DIY silencer:

    http://www.rcarchive.com/fish/air.html

    I have not tried it so don't know how it works. I will give it a try once I setup my system to test, in several months.

  8. #8

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    Just hang it with a sturdy string. That's what I've always done with air pumps. There used to be a company called Silent Giant. Thats was 30+years ago.

  9. #9
    kerry's Avatar
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    I have hung them by the cords in the past.
    150G. Reef/Mix
    125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
    75G. 20+ Africans
    40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
    10G. SW Fish/Reef.
    10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
    6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.

  10. #10

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    I should be about a week into the test, but I had some trouble with the screen slipping out from behind the air diffuser, so it went for several days without any bubbles against the screen. I fixed that Saturday AM, and as of Monday AM, I have patchy green spots starting to show. Looking good so far, and I'm really pleased with how quiet it is. The water already seems clearer, and the fish more active. All I have for freshwater testing are some cheap multitest strips, which show nitrate currently around 20ppm.

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