+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 20

Thread: scrubber seems to be falling behind...

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Galveston Texas, USA
    Posts
    236

    scrubber seems to be falling behind...

    Hey guys my scrubber seems to be slowly falling behind and I am starting to get a bit overwhelmed by brown hair algae in the display. I also used to have a tiny clump of cheato in my sump and it has grown to about the size of a cantaloupe and is VERY healthy looking.

    my scrubber on my 55 gallon is 2 panels each consisting of 1 royal blue and 4 660 red leds driven at 700 ma they about 1.5" away from the screen on each side and run for about 14 hours a day. I feed slightly more then 1 cube a day so figure 1.5. Any thoughts why my waterfall style screen has seemed to slow down?

  2. #2
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    Pics

  3. #3
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    2,710
    Also screen size.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Galveston Texas, USA
    Posts
    236
    Sorry I sent first post from my phone last night and I dont have a forum app, so its kinda rough.

    Here is the pictures of my setup. I just put the CFL and reflectors back on last night. I had both LED panels pointing at a single screen and the other screen I had completely cleaned off and unlit. However like that it seemed to be falling further and further behind, so I figured I would try one LED panel and 1 CFL bulb per screen again. The screens are full sized 10.5" x 13" maybe? Whatever the normal sized sheets are that are about letter sized.

    The one I had lit still grew algae, and I cleaned it off about once a week, however it just couldnt keep up with 1.5 cubes a day. Which seems odd since I know it has plenty of flow and with 10 LEDs it should have been fine.





    This cheato used to be smaller then a golfball:


    This wierd brown hair algae is starting to crop up all over, especially in the sump but a couple places in the tank too:
    (Saltwater Endlers are watching you)


    -

    Its pratically a forrest up there:


    Apparently nobody told this tang that they are supposed to eat algae, he wont even touch Nori, all he likes are frozen mysis shrimp. This is a good shot also of all the bubble algae that is taking over:






  5. #5
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    If that setup is how I think, it won't be doing much filtering. If you can, remove all the pieces and lay it out on the floor for pics, and give the specs...

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Galveston Texas, USA
    Posts
    236
    Quote Originally Posted by SantaMonica View Post
    If that setup is how I think, it won't be doing much filtering. If you can, remove all the pieces and lay it out on the floor for pics, and give the specs...
    I cant really easily remove it.... its the entire back of my tank.

    Ok there are 2 full sized screen, ~13" long x ~10.5" wide. Total of 800gph flow and 21" of screen so ~38 GPH/inch. However one screen was completely cleaned off and unlit. So pretend it did not exist. It was just basically a sump return.

    I have 2 LED fixtures, to give you an idea of size they use this heatsink:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Alumini...item25733b6bda

    They each contain 4 3w 660nm reds and 1 royal blue. They are driven at 700ma (so each fixture = 10 watts, 20 watts total for LEDs).

    I had both LED fixtures centered on each side of one screen (so it is lit on both sides) about 1"-1.5" away from the screen. So while the screen itself is quite large, the light is very concentrated in narrow area running the length of the screen.

  7. #7
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    2,710
    Ok I remember yours now.

    1) 10.5x13 = 136.5 x 2 = 273 sq in, so 273/12=22.75 cubes/day. You're way, way oversized.
    2) your LEDs are way, way too close, and so are your CFLs. I realize with your space there's not much you can do about that. But you're likely burning the bejeezus out of the algae.

    That being said, you should easily be able to filter 1.5 cubes/day even if done mostly wrong.

    Minimum you need diffusers on the LEDs. Personally I would build another LED fixture, put that on the wall, and move the screen to center between the 2 fixtures, and diffuse both LED panels.

    What I would do is resize the screen per the feeding guidelines, maybe 2x what you're feeding, max. That means a 36 sq in screen, and if you can, re-do that single LED panel so that you have 5 on each side and ditch the CFLs. Make the screen 6x6 and put the LEDs in the center of each quadrant (each 3x3 section) with the 5th in the middle. Maybe push the 4 corner LEDs a little more to the corner, maybe 1/2" diagonally away from the center LED. Then add the diffuser.

    This will save you space and give you room to grow (feeding wise, up to 3 cubes/day), and give you a much more powerful scrubber. You will be concentrating the intensity to a smaller area of more intense light (of the appropriate bandwith), which will mean the preferred growth area will shift dramatically from the DT to the scrubber.

  8. #8
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    2,710
    With that 9x3 heat sink I would make the LEDs into more of a rectangle instead of a square and make the screen a little larger than the heat sink, still 36 sq in or maybe 30 (plus the smooth area for inserting into the tube, plus smooth below that for drop into the sump, but the effective area (roughed up) should be 30-36 sq in) and put the blue in the middle and diffuse it.

    Also mount the LEDs on the tank and wall and center the screen between them. Looks like you would then have about 3" from fixture to screen on each side I would think.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Galveston Texas, USA
    Posts
    236
    Yea.... I have been putting off completely rebuilding my scrubber, but I think it is going to have to happen. With the way my plumbing is I cant make the screens smaller without completely redoing all my plumbing, and I kind of like huge boost in surface area I get with the giant screens used as my return.

    I guess I will leave it as it is for now, and build a smaller scrubber box up high so it drains directly into the tank and run it off my return pump. Then I will remove the lights and replace the screens with new, unruffed up screens.

    I am considering a designing a HOB style UAS.... Do the UAS seem to be doing better with screens/lighting of the same size over waterfall style ones?

    Anyway we'll see how it goes.

  10. #10
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    2,710
    I'm going to run one of each of the same screen size and LEDs on the same tank and find out. Probably not going to be "scientific" but should be interesting at least.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts