Thinking of new design, what do you think SM??

[AngeleToR]

Hi guys,

Long time away, but I'm back thinking about improving my tank filtration adding a second algae scrubber to my setup. Right now I have a massive horizontal (sloped in fact) one (1.3 meters long x 30cm wide -> 50" x 11" in imperial units) with 70 watts red/blue lighting and 6000 liters/hours flow over it (1500gph approx).

The aquarium is 750 liters + 200 in the sump, almost 1000 liters total (260 gallons) and I still have some problem with algae and need to keep my skimmer on.

I have two pumps in the sump, first one only for the algae scrubber, second one for the rest (chiller, UV light, Ca reactor and back to the tank) same power both, set up as redundant so in case of fail both circuits can be operated by hust one, I have PVC valves to restrict flow as needed in that case so everithing will keep working just at half the flow while I fix the problem. No more flow outages at last. They total 12.000 liters/hour (3120gph) that I plan to take advantage of, here's how:

The amount of flow back is HUGE, I have LOTS of bubbles formed in the sump, as well as noise (not a problem, the display goes through a wall, so the noise is in the 'machinery' room) and I was thinking about building a scrubber modifying your drop design to directly receive the flow from the main display, and with the bubbles I already have in a natural 'ventury noisy' way I would need no air pump.

The return from the display is a pool type PVC, 50mm wide (1.5 inches if I'm correct) so I'm thinking to set up a box-type scrubber, attach that monster return to it and throw in a hell of light, in plain words. What do you think about it, could it be too much flow for algae to attach??

I will add a couple of pics of my sump in a while and will try to make a draft of my idea.

About lighting, at first I though to do a HOG type one. But now I'm really in love with the drop type, heat is not a problem for me as I use evaporation for cooling and auto-refilling and have the chiller as backup, I can easily cool down to 25-26ºC even in summer, and in winter I prefer to reuse all the heat available for the tank (I'm thinking about changing my expensive vortechs for cheap powerful Jebaos, go figure!!!). So LEDs will be 'water cooled', just need to figure a way to seal everything perfectly.

Thank you very much if you got this far reading, I just wanted to make clear my idea, will add pics soon to help explain myself.

Best regards and THANK YOU for your job, you're the best, man!!!!

Angel Cezon

Spain

Pics:
Attachment 6017
Attachment 6018

[SantaMonica]

Welcome back again from Spain,

Your sump pics did not show up, but it sounds like you want to make use of the bubbles and flow in the sump that come from water pouring into it?

[AngeleToR]

Hi SM,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I tried to add the pics from the phone but looks that I didn't make it very well. I can see the sump pic, but is 90º antiCW rotated, I've fixed the pics in the first post.

Anyway, you got the idea, I want to make use of all that water flow and bubbling that I already have in the return of my sump to set up a drop-like scrubber, but without adding airlines nor airpumps. I'm thinking in a grow 'chamber' for the algae to grow in of 5-10 liters capacity (1 - 2,4 gals) and light it from one side with 660nm reds and a couple blues.

On second though, I'm thinking into using two side by side growing chambers, like a mini-sump, so I can clean them in an alternating cycle... The water movement should be best upwards or downwards??? I mean should I drop the water from above letting it in the bottom, or add it from the bottom and let it overflow on top??? Maybe even add the water in the middle and let it go both up and down??

Right now I'm thinking on the way to dissipate the heat from the leds into the water, maybe using a stainless steel plate in direct contact with the water, it should not rust. Or painting it with some aquarium safe paint. I'm looking for solutions to that point right now.

What do you think community???

[SantaMonica]

If the LED is sealed and under water, it will be cooled by that.

See if any of these designs will work:

Simple upflow screen:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/Post1.jpg

Attach to glass:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/Post2.jpg

Bubble remover:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/Post3.jpg

Attach to glass, with compartment:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/Post4.jpg

Attach to glass, small:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/Post5.jpg

Hang on back:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/P6.jpg

Collector:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/P7.jpg

Floating:
http://www.algaescrubber.net/P7.jpg