Solar powered scrubber help

[reefmauritius]

Hi everybody,

I am very interested in building a solar powered algae scrubber but haven't found many informations for this kind of system for a reef tank.
It would be for my 250g soft coral/fish tank, I'm living in Mauritius and would like to take the advantages of getting sunny days all year round !
I would put the system on my flat roof so it would get 12 to 15 hours of direct sunlight.

I was thinking of a waterfall design, how big should I make the screen ?
Should I use the guidelines or could I make it the largest possible considering I would use the sun for lighting ?
What about temperature if I make the scrubber open so wind can blow on it ?( evap is not a problem, would just cover it with an acrylic top for the rain ).
I like the ideas of using sunlight (was planning on using solatube for lighting but my wife doesn't like the idea of drilling holes in the concrete roof...),
so if I could use it for filtering it would be cool !

Any advice/idea would be greatly appreciated !!

[rleahaines]

Take a look at the sizing guidelines for scrubbers. The size of your screen depends on the amount of food you feed your tank.

A waterfall type scrubber or a horizontal scrubber may work in this application.

I'm sure others will chime in here.

[reefmauritius]

Thanks for your answer !
Was wondering if the guidelines sizes would still be good if using sunlight...

[SantaMonica]

Welcome,

There have been several solar builds, if you search for "solar". You can make any style you want, and use the size guidelines. An upflow design would have the advantage of reach-in-and-grab harvesting and no-clogging water pipe, but you'd need to run an air hose up there in addition to the water hose.

Too big would not help, because the growth would stay too thin. Maybe use twice the guideline.

[reefmauritius]

Thanks for your help,
finally I think it will be cheaper to use artificial light because of the pump needed to bring enough flow to the scrubber 10ft higher than the sump ...
Very frustrated ...

[SantaMonica]

Maybe put it in a window.

[reefmauritius]

Could put it outside on the wall oriented to the west but
it would only get half day sunlight and be in the shade for the rest,
do you think it would still work ?
Thanks

[SantaMonica]

Yes just double the size.

[reefmauritius]

Ok, I will try and post some pics if it works!
Thanks !