Rev2 Horizontal build

[rygh]

Installed and running.
Note 1/2 LED, and 1/2 CFL. All scientific like!
Well, except the LED was off my test system, so a bit small.
New LEDs on order.

[rygh]

Growth after 3 days, on LED side.
I am a bit surprised to see only green clumps. I expected more yellow.
Finger is shown to show depth. Still hard to see though. Flow is pretty fast. Hard to see in picture.
About 1/8" deep, smooth, even. Of course, we shall see what happens when clumps of algae show up.
The CFL side is only 1 day, so nothing there yet.

[sklywag]

How's this coming along? I just started my Horizontal build. Very simular to yours. Infact. I think I stole your idea. But I'm lacking the good idea of the collection box before hitting the scrubber. Bet that keeps noise down and disperses the water better too.

[rygh]

It is going fairly well.
Now that I am done with the main build, I have been focusing on the LED aspect.
So I posted results in that thread.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=435&start=140
But I will enclose a quick re post pic of some scrapings, and the three screen plates.

I am working on getting the right lighting mixture.
It is growing this rather pale-green/yellow algae, instead of good hair. The expert says too much light,
so I am tweaking that now, along with a big change in LEDs.
Plus, it is a BIG screen for a tank that was already very low in nutrients, so I was expecting slower growth.

The flow seems quite good, growth is even, so overall semi-horizontal aspect of the design seems sound.
I think the long-thin approach helped on that as well. Since it is thinner, hard to have uneven flow across the screens.

Doing three screens was nice, since in theory I can clean a plate every 2 days. Although human nature being what it is, I will probably do
it every weekend like usual.

The collection box helps a lot, yes. Very little noise, although that was not really a design consideration.
But I am getting a lot more light than I would like in the collection box, so I am a bit worried about that.
Easy to clean, but still, not where I want things to grow.

I wish I had built the sides a bit higher. I can remove the screens while the pump is still running, but barely. Unfortunately, one slip,
and water build up and goes everywhere. Turning the pump off is no big deal though.

[sklywag]

So it doesn't sit inside a sump? I designed mine to fit inside my sump. My rails are only 2" high on the sides. I am sort of concerned water will be going over the side of it de to 600+gph going down the thing. But since it's in my sump I guess that doesn't matter. To clean I was thinking I'd take the whole thing out. Everything is smooth in my head but Actual application has yet to be done.
Nice to see yours is doing what you expected. Once you dial in your lights I'm sure it'll be great.

[rygh]

No, it sits on top of the sump.
See picture on previous page of this thread.
Pipes go from ATS through holes in top of sump lid.

I am not really recommending an external ATS.
But it worked for me.
It was hard to make my sump very long, due to pumps and other obstructions.

[rygh]

There is one big advantage of keeping it out of the sump - moisture.
Even if you eliminate splashing, there is a ton of moisture from simple evaporation.
With a hot CFL, probably less of a problem.
But with LEDs, I did see a bit of condensation on the heat sinks, before I sealed things up a bit.

[rygh]

I just want to state that using lighting diffusion grate, to create "riffles" was not a good idea.
(See page 1 of thread)
Tried it, and it slows down growth.

[sklywag]

I saw those in there. Did the opposite of what you would think huh?
Moisture is an under statement. Humidity seems very high inside my stand now. I hear fans in my future. Will be looking for the quietest ones I can afford. Or willing to buy.

[rygh]

The riffles had lots of turbulence, but it was at the top of the water, not down near the algae screen.
So basically ended up with still water on the screen.
* Looking at pictures in your post, your screen might be a problem. Looks more like those riffles than a normal screen.

I would suggest sealing things up instead of getting big fans.
You are going to get a TON of evaporation if you put in big fans.
That means adding water constantly, and an issue with keeping the water warm as evaporation cools it, and expect a ton of humidity in your room.