My gutted refugium waterfall ATS

[chriswf]

this is what it looks like when your leds are too close togeather (hot spots):

still experimenting with mine as well! Keep updating!

Is it still productive even with the burn spots?

Here's some pictures without my lights on. Everything is a bit more clear to see my crazy rigging.

So far, I AM starting to grow algae on day 2 or 3, you'll notice it in my pictures. And yeah, it's growing AROUND the "hot spot".
I don't know if my hot spot is that bad, but it's brown everywhere else except for the middle area.
Going to move my LEDs soon...

Here's some pics.












And the growth basically appeared over night. Hopefully it'll bloom fast, and I can start playing with my distances.
I already know I need to back the LEDs up, I just don't know how much.

[SantaMonica]

It's not too productive when it burns. It's better than nothing, if you harvest it, but it causes nutrients fast when the shaded area dies.

[like-fish]

I added diffuser from lowes and spread my lights out (because backing them up was not an option with my current design). Growing much better now!

[chriswf]

I added diffuser from lowes and spread my lights out (because backing them up was not an option with my current design). Growing much better now!

What's your current and previous spacing from each center?
My spacing is like 2 - 2 1/4 centers.

[chriswf]

Here's some updated pics after a couple more days:



I moved the LEDs back on this front side you always see, haven't on the back side. Going to get shorter studs/bolts to hold it closer.
Found 9 and 12v wall plugs today in a vacant home (I'm a foreclosure inspector). They were going to be hauled off as trash so I grabbed em. And I have a molex to SATA adapter somewhere I can splice together with the 9v or 12v plug.

[chriswf]

In a couple of days I'll have pics with the LEDs OFF. It's kind of hard to reach the timer to flip them off.

[chriswf]

Okay, here's some LED off photos

I have green stuff growing!
Well first I have these strings at the bottom? They're definitely more visible in person than in photo:



Then I have these patches of thick green every here and there:






And then I have some algae growing on bottom of sump, but I wiped a spot off with my finger, so no worries:


LEDs moved back. They're ~4" of the screen now:




My wife was beginning to doubt the whole red LEDs growing algae thing, and I was like "Babeh, it takes time!"
And now, she's a believer.

[SantaMonica]

Should look good in 14 days

[chriswf]

Hmm, more green spots throughout my screen.

More importantly, those green strings of algae on the bottom, are getting REALLY long, and are clumped together.
It's like hair, look:



Oh and I got my adjustable zip ties in...
Only 2 are randomly placed on the screen right now. Can be seen in the picture (before I had fishing string lol):

[chriswf]

Update:
More about the strings at the bottom - weird. They're like 4" long.








Couldn't decide which looks better, flash or no flash.


EDIT: Notice the bubbles? On the screen? They're not in motion. They're just stuck there.

I got a newly cut pipe tomorrow going in, we'll see how it goes.