Got my Aqua reef 275
Been sorting it out for an algae scrubber. See the pics below.
Got return pipe going into clear cylinder. It will have a slot in it with the mesh hanging down into the square section of the sump where the bio balls would normally be.
I would then have a spiral CFL hanging down above where the return pump is shining through the glass onto the canvas.
This seem a good idea? Give me roughly 50 sq inches of canvas out of the water.
Welcome.
Not sure about this.
First, the clear tube will get growth inside it. Also, a CFL floodlight would be best, but could only be 1-sided.
Maybe better than nothing, but it would be better to use an opaque tube, and maybe an LED on each side.
I can always cover th tub to make it so no light gets in.
Did not want to mess with home made LED's hence going CFL. Tried to make screen size to compensate for being one sided.
Out of interest on a screen this size how many LED's and what power? Not sure how much it would all cost to make it.....
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.
FLOATING SURFACE SCRUBBERS WITH RIBBONS: Screen size is the size of the box (Lenth X Width), and is 2-sided because the ribbons grow in 3D.
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, unless floating surface, which would use gravel and strings instead.
Clean algae:
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
+1 this is not a good idea That pipe will blow off under pressure. You want to weld in that slot pipe (use PVC) or have a union type connection.
I was thinking of welding the clear pipe to the blue pipe to avoid it blowing off. Maybe even putting in an overflow pipe in the blue elbow so if water backs up it has somewhere to go?
Also would you say 6w - 9w of LED power will be enough? (660 red LED's)
I don't think they ever overflow. Just use a white pvc pipe.
LED sound about right.
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