Sizing question

[Cole_lol]

Hello,

I have a question reguading a scrubber.
I currently have a protine skimmer and I vodka dose.
Will this have any effect on how my scrubber works and the size of screen/wattage of light?

Also I see you say actuall wattage. Alot of the energy saver bulbs are real wattage of 13w but equivelent to say 60w.
Im guess we follow the real wattage of the bulbs?

I think I currently feed about 4 cubes of frozen and maybe 2inch by 4 inch peice of nori.

What do we thing about all this?

Sorry if I missed it in the thread but I tried to skim/read it all.

Cole

[SantaMonica]

Vodka will slow down the scrubber.

Use real watts.

Size it for 5 cubes a day:

Scrubbers are sized according to feeding. Nutrients "in" (feeding) must equal nutrients "out" (scrubber growth), no matter how many gallons or liters you have. So...

An example VERTICAL upflow or waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen), or
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen), or
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen), or
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen), or
10 square inches (60 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen), or
5 square inches (30 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen), or
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen), or
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)

High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.

HORIZONTAL screens: Multiply the screen size by 4, and the wattage by 1 1/2. Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen [60 lph per cm], EVEN IF one sided or horizontal.

LEDs: Use half the wattage as above. 660nm (red) is best. You can mix in a little 450nm (blue) if you want.

Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.

Clean algae off of the screen:

Every 7 to 21 days, or
When it's black, or
When it fills up, or
When algae lets go, or
When nutrients start to rise

[rleahaines]

SM,

Thanks for the summary

[Cole_lol]

Ok I was reading that it is possible to use a Metal Halide as a light source in your FAQ.

You suggest it is not a good option due to the amount of heat it creates.

If heat is not an issue and the Metal Halide bulb is a high wattage would it be possible to use
the bulb for a much longer time due to the higher wattage and shorter light cycles?

Or am I missing the point on this?

Thanks,
Cole

[kerry]

Most MH bulbs are more toward the blue spectrum and you really want to be into the red more. They also use a lot more energy for the output. CFL bulbs are easier to because you can get all the light right on the screen without heating the algae. MH need to be farther away and you loose a lot of the focused light.

[SantaMonica]

The number of months you can use a light just depends on how long it can go before it starts fading.