Well, time to try again. Hopefully the third time is the charm. Bought the acrylic and components, so starting this long weekend.
Any last minute advice would be great.
Thanks.
# FUTURE TARGET TANK:
200g main reef tank. Moderately loaded, but well fed.
75g sump, always dark, with some live rock.
Desire strong ATS filtering. No skimmer or other filter.
Testable on current 65g system
# BASIC CONCEPT:
Build a dual-scrubber system. Two identical modules.
Vertical type, double sided. Center screen with lighting on each side.
Each would be very much like a tall SM100. Same width, similar construction, but twice as high.
Screens = Two x 20" x 14" = 560, dual sided = 1120 sq in of surface total.
LED lighting. High efficiency LEDs, spectrum optimized, about 60W each = 120W. (Roughly equivalent to 300W T5)
Two 850 GPH (effective) pumps from tank up to scrubbers, gravity return to tank.
------ Gory details follow -----
# BACKGROUND:
Revision 1 was a small undersized test setup. It was one sided, and nearly, but not completely vertical.
That was largely to test the concept.
It worked, but being small, did not do that much.
Revision 1-B was an LED lighting swap.
I replaced the CFL with an LED setup.
Worked OK, about the same as CFL, Less power, same results.
Revision 2 was a large semi-horizontal build.
Going to an ATS setup for real.
The major driving factor in a horizontal build was space, and eliminating cost of extra pump.
Protein skimmer was turned off. Filter socks removed. Feedings increased.
First lighting setup was 1/2 CFL and 1/2 LED. Subsequently switched to all LED.
This worked fairly well. Happy corals. Nitrates and Phosphates at 0.
Some of the main tank algae is hurting, but not really dying off.
The problem is, a horizontal build just does not seem efficient enough to out-compete
the algae in the main tank. So I want to build a vertical.
Another new factor is that I have approval (from wife) of going to a 200g system. YIPPEE!
(From 65g)
So obviously, I have to build something a lot bigger.
# ATS TYPE:
Definitely plan a two sided dual vertical system.
Two identical independent systems.
. Separate screens, pumps, everything.
. Great for redundancy.
. Allows single smaller unit test on current tank.
. A bit more expensive, and more things to fail.
. Uses a smaller pump for each.
Two sided vertical.
With LED, the best energy point trade-off is a single screen with lighting on both sides.
The pump power is a large percentage, and LED lighting outputs only one direction.
Having tried a horizontal that just never was quite efficient enough, I plan to go vertical.
# ATS SCREEN SIZE:
Standard SM100 = 100x2 = 200 sq in surface area.
Very strong for 50g. Good for 100g
Basic = 1 inch/gallon. Good = 2X. Strong = 4X
Target a 200g tank + 75g sump = 275g
Best to have 300*4 = 1200 sq in
/2 sided, /2 unit = 300 sq in per
Ok to have less, 275 * 3 = perhaps 825 sq in
/2 sided, /2 unit = 206 sq in per
# ATS PUMP:
DUAL. Two required : Quiet One 4000
Most energy efficient at rates I need.
Assume 2.5' of head, so 850 gph
Total for 2 = 1700 GPH
Pumps to be located in bucket of fresh water with heat dissipation. Eliminates heat transfer to tank.
Gives a 6X filter turnover ratio.
# ATS SCREEN WIDTH:
Each one = 850 GPH
Target 35-40 GPH/inch
A good value = 20 inches wide = 42.5 GPH/in
Total for 2 = 40 inch wide
# ATS SCREEN HEIGHT:
1200 / 2 / 40 = 15
1000 / 2 / 40 = 12.5
No real reason to skimp on height, other than adding head to pump pressure.
Current target = 14"
This gives 14 * 20 * 2 * 2 = 1120 sq in of surface area.
# LIGHTING:
This will be LED based. N * (1X Blue + 2X Deep-Red + 1X warm-white) mixture.
Using modern LEDs, algae spectrum optimized. Seems to be about 4X more efficient than CFL, or 3X versus good T5.
A standard SM100 = 100W of T5 with quality individual bulb reflectors
So 4X that = 400W
Standard CFL target is 1 watt / gallon = 275W.
So preliminary target = 120W of LED power. Since a 30W set is fairly easy to build.
Easy to add more later.
# POWER USAGE:
Pumps = 2 x 50W = 100W, 24hrs/day = $224 per year
LED Lighting = 120W, 16 hrs $180 per year. (Standard CFL would be $600)