confused newbie!

[Gazzdid]

Hi all!
I have been pointed here by one of your members, and having never heard of these algae scrubbers before Ive got to say Im quite impressed with what Im reading on here!
Im thinking about designing an upflow scrubber in the tank to run alongside my canister filter, ideally I'd like to completely re-think the whole thing and build a sump to incorporate a waterfall scrubber.
The sump option would be great for many reasons, ie. increased water volume, heater and scrubber out of view, steady water level in the tank etc but a much bigger job that requires alot more thinking. hmmm

I will probably stick to the upflow idea for now.

Theres alot of clear info on here, the main thing thats stumped me is the thread about rocks releasing phosphates. very interesting! I have two juvenile turtles which i feed around half a cube a day but a large amount of rock (slate) so Im a bit confused about whether I should increase the 'feeding' amount to allow for what the rocks may be adding into the mix? if so how do i work out how much?
Also the turtles produce more waste than fish so would this need to be added into the equation also? more ammonia= more nitrites= more nitrates so may need to increase the scrubber size to accomodate or is this not the case?

The amount is probably wrong but ive took a stab in the dark and come up with 2 cubes a day total.
Am I right in saying that on this amount I would need a 24" screen (3x8) with both sides lit? or 48" with one side lit.
I would need a minimum of 6x 660nm 3w red led's (3 each side) on for 9 hrs a day. maximum 12x (6 each side) for 9 hrs a day?
have I got that right?

one more thing (sorry!) I have live plants in the tank, how will the scrubber effect these? they are slow growing so dont need a huge amount of nutrients but im wondering whether the scrubber will 'out compete' the plants. anyone use these with live plants?

sorry for bombarding you with questions :-)
much appreciated
Gazz

[SantaMonica]

Welcome from the UK.

Glad to hear you like all the info here. As for slate rocks, I don't think they absorb phosphate the way live rocks (dead corals) do, so you probably don't have to include them in your feeding.

As for waste, animals cannot produce more waste than you feed; so you only need to go by how much you feed.

As for size, for a DIY, a main thing to think about is that a screen too small will miss a lot of the light that shines around it (because it's harder to DIY a box to keep all the light on it. So a 4 X 6 area is good, and will catch a lot of the light.

4 X 6 = 24 sq inches = 24 total real CFL watts = 12 LED watts = 6 LED watts on each side (best). If you can't DIY it to get LED's on both side, you can put all 12 watts on one side and use strings+rocks as your surface (strings are 2-sided).

What upflow design are you thinking of?

[Gazzdid]

thanks for the reply SantaMonica.
Thats good news about the rocks, it will make getting my head around it all a little easier :-)

ok that makes sense regarding the screen size, and a wider screen would work better for me as the tank is only around 1/2 full, so I dont have much height to play with.

ah ok so its 6 LED watts each side, not 6 LED's? I missed that somehow but it does make sense. so I suppose 2x 3w LED's each side would be what i need?

Im not sure what you mean by the strings and rocks method, I will have a look around the forum and see if I can find out what that is.

As for the design Im thinking of, well I've only just started learning about it all but so far im thinking of making some kind of enclosure containing the screen and led's on either side, with airstone(s) underneath to provide flow. thats what I have in my head so far but im open to suggestions.

do you have any advice/links etc to led's that would be suitable? something I could attach to the sides of the enclosure and ideally be submersible?
thanks again
Gazz

[SantaMonica]

2 x LED on each side, or all 4 LED on one side, correct.

Here is the floating option:





The string and rocks can also be used for a style like hour Hang-On-Glass® (HOG®).

Here are some other ideas:

[Gazzdid]

Hi, its me again :-)
ok so I've had this whole project on the back burner since I last had a look, but now Im back and Ive started the ball rolling. Ive decided it will be worth the extra effort to adapt my cabinet and install a sump. that is a head scratcher all by itself nevermind incorporating a scrubber into it

one of the problems ive got is size (ooh err). my main tank is only 200 L (100cmx400cm) and after adapting my cabinet I will only fit a 60x30x30 sump tank in. (which I have already bought)

As this doesn't give me much space left over the sump Im thinking an upflow scrubber would work best.
If I installed a simple design, like the first UAS pic above, and attached the led's to each side of the sump shining in through the glass would the distance be ok to the screen? (would be about 15cm away each side)
Also, how much would having a bigger screen effect things? I overestimated previously how much Im feeding ie at the minute im feeding about one cube, but the tank is for two juvenile turtles which grow quite fast! I would like to build the dimensions we mentioned earlier to 'future proof' it for a while. would this have a negative effect on how efficient it is or will it just grow to the nutrients available?

thanks for your time :-)

[SantaMonica]

Welcome back

Which pic again did you mean? The first one is a floating one, and could not have LEDs on the sump.

Well, you cannot over-scrub, so it's just a matter of space and cost. If you make a scrubber way bigger than needed, it will just grow less until needed.

[Gazzdid]

Welcome back

Which pic again did you mean? The first one is a floating one, and could not have LEDs on the sump.

Well, you cannot over-scrub, so it's just a matter of space and cost. If you make a scrubber way bigger than needed, it will just grow less until needed.

Thanks :-)

No not the floating one, i meant the first UAS pic just under it. Would led's 15cm away be ok? good news that the larger scrubber will be fine :-)
Do you just use an airstone under the screen? Or a tube with holes drilled?

I really appreciate your help.
Gazz

[SantaMonica]

Yes an easy way is to tie the screen to the airstone. Or you could used sliced airline like we use on the HOGs. It's better because it won't clog like an airstone.

15 cm is pretty far; for that you'd want narrow optics like 60 degrees (has a big dome). For the corner version, you could put white plastic walls for reflectors.

[bluelobstor]

Would led's 15cm away be ok?
Gazz

You can make it work that far away but it would require higher wattage bulbs to get the same amount of light to the screen, I don't see how that would be any different than using a stronger bulb on a deeper tank.

HTH