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Thread: Finally back with a new scrubber

  1. #21
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    Also if you can back the lights up, they will spread out more.

  2. #22

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    Yes I agree, they are very close and a 10w led may possibly burn the screen at that distance. I need to try and fathom out how to mount the lights, I may have to make a "beam" which runs across the top of the unit and allows the lights to hang down. It seems to be the only way to increase the distance

  3. #23

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    As expected, the led has proven to be far too strong and I have a big white circle on the screen. Until I can make adjustments, I am trying to diffuse the light a bit. I first started out with a bit of new canvas:



    I didn't think this would diffuse it too much, so I had a bit of a look around. I then squeezed a take away container lid in between



    Hopefully that should help the situation a bit until I can try another way of mounting the lights.

  4. #24

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    Some more modifications made today. I have found a way to hang the lights away from the screen. As you can see from the following pictures, the led really did burn the algae!! That said, 18g harvested today in a week, wasn't getting that before with the old lighting set up, so onwards and upwards to increased growth.



    Side 1



    Side 2

    Both lights are now about 10cm from the screen allowing for the spread of the light, hopefully it will spread enough, although there is still a "spotlight" effect. On a previous home made version, 3w leds were enough to produce great growth without burning, so 3 times the power could prove to be a bit troublesome.




  5. #25
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    You could try putting some triangle acrylic strips on the light, to diffract the light sideways.

  6. #26

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    So here we go, now some results are starting to be achieved. With the light timings lowered from 18 hours per day to 13, in a week the screens have produced 30g, that's a just over 50% increase on last week. The big white burn is filling in nicely, so hopefully that will produce some good growth now, although looking for something to diffuse the main beam is still ongoing. Once the screens are filling with a decent amount, I shall increase the lighting again gradually until up to 18 hours. Still got a way to go to top my 200+g per week, but now moving in the right direction! Some wet oily growth pictures




  7. #27
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    Yes once a growth ring has filled in, you go use more hours of light.

  8. #28

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    So I am now 6 months into my journey, I have decided my lights aren't strong enough to encourage initial growth. I have increased lighting time to 22 hours now and am still only getting 22- 25g in total per week off both sides. It is still a slimy algae, nothing like my previous experiences. I still have some 45w cfl that I used to "kick start" my old scrubber when 4x 10w cfl wasn't sufficient. I believe the 10w leds will be sufficient to maintain the growth once it has begun. Need to hunt out the bulb holders now

  9. #29
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    Yea if that led can't even create a white growth ring right in front of it, it's too weak.

  10. #30

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    I had moved the leds back, as you can see from the pics above, there was a very definite ring when they were closer. Until I find the holders, I may move them back a bit closer again.

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