ATS Planning

[maleci]

I picked up a 125 for a pretty good deal to branch out from my 100g sps tank and start a predatory FOWLR tank. I'm planning to run it purely with an ATS for filtration if possible to help control algae in the display since puffers and triggers are just going to chew through any CUC that goes in the tank. Most of the local guys I've seen have had good luck with scrubbers, but they have had them running externally in a fish room out of rubbermaids which I don't have the option of in an apartment. I know these fish are going to eat a ton and produce a lot of waste but not sure exactly how much as I've never really kept puffers and such. Friend in the local club mentioned his 125 predatory tank was doing 5 table shrimp every other day but no idea how close that will be to what ends up getting fed. I'm currently planning a volitions, puffer of some sort, trigger or 2 (most likely a pair of bluejaws to hopefully play with with the lion), and maybe an eel. I've been reading a lot but not really sure how big of a screen I would need to run this tank without a skimmer or what the best option is to light both sides of the screen and keep the ATS in the sump. Do the UATS and the waterfalls have the same capacity to filter? So far I have 2 options to keep things under the stand.

1: 2 single sided screens on both ends of the sump 14x11 and 14x9 lit with a 90w led grow light ufo for each screen.

2: condense it down to the 14x11 and build a glass drybox to put in the sump using the original 90w led grow light I grabbed to test it before buying the pair and building a diy led setup in the drybox mounting it to the glass and using the tank water to cool the diodes.

Or if neither will support go with a smaller sump and try to fit in a waterfall ATS which I see being a nightmare since the stand only has like 27" vertical clearance. Any advise or feedback on sizing or design would be appreciated.

[Ace25]

A couple of questions, why are you trying to not have to add a skimmer? Is it simply cost or clearance issue? For a predator tank I do think a skimmer is a great piece of filtration to have due to all the feeding/waste that predators create.

As for the ATS, do you have any DIY skills to be able to make your own LED light? It would be much cheaper and easier to design a working waterfall ATS if you could make strip LED lights instead of using the UFOs (which do work well, but are pricey and not really designed for horizontal mounting, heat is supposed to escape out the top on those). Since you have a clearance issue the screen would have to be narrow and long it sounds like, which is more difficult due to trying to get water to reach the end of the screen, but it is possible.

Here is a quick MS Paint idea I had, obviously nothing drawn to any sort of scale. You could run off either the overflow, or if you flip the T upside down you could run it off a dedicated pump below. If you went with a dedicated pump I would turn the ATS 180 so the pump would be in the middle chamber of the sump, away from the first chamber where the ATS is to avoid the pump clogging with algae, which happens often to pumps placed in the same section as an ATS from my experience. There would be a double sided strip of LEDs in the center of the screens sprayed with 'LED Seal' to protect them. Once the screens are established you could clean one screen each week, alternating weeks so they grow 2 weeks between cleaning. LEDs would be mounted on 1-1/2" C channel aluminum. If your screen is going to be 13" wide you would need around 6' of aluminum to make 4 strip lights. In my area that would run about $25. 20 660nm red LEDs, 8 420nm LEDs, and 8 453nm LEDs run about $90, 2 meanwell 1050 drivers another $40, and a can of LED Seal is $16. Add tax and shipping and you are probably looking at around $200 total to make a dual screen waterfall ATS if you have a soldering iron, solder, flux, electrical tape or heat shrink tubing, and a little wire, if not add another $25 for that stuff. Just one idea for you to think about, I am sure there are 1000 different ways you can go about it.

[maleci]

Mostly trying to avoid it as 1 less thing to maintain if possible. If I end up needing it I can prolly grab a cheap SRO or ASM skimmer to throw in but wanna see how far I can go without one. Yeah I can do a DIY led setup I put in 90w of cree into my original nanocube when I started a few years back which wasn't too bad. Mostly when I started pricing it through rapidled with heatsinks and everything it actually came out higher than the 90w UFO's. They had em on special last week shipped for 90 so I grabbed one to test and see how it will hold up. Worst case I can always use it for something else and build a full DIY setup. Hoping to be picking up my sump today with any luck from someone getting out of the hobby so I can figure out what kinda free space I have to play with to decide if I am doing waterfall or UATS. Do they both have the same filtering capacity?

[SantaMonica]

Without a doubt you want 2-sided. Keeps the roots alive longer, which holds on the gha for better filtering.

And you'll want two separate units that can operate independently, harvesting one per week.

Effectiveness depends on design and DIY skills. If UAS, keep the container 20 mm wide on each side of the screen, to limit growth thickness and force bubbles through the growth.

[maleci]

Yeah I was planning on using both sides of the sump since one side was originally setup as a fuge and the opposite side a skimmer chamber with the return in the middle. Should be able to do 14x11 on one side and 14x9 on the other due to baffle sizing. Aren't they supposed to be harvested every week? Wouldn't alternating just push it out to every other week effectively then? Or is that fine since it would be doubled up and they would be slowed down competing with each other?

[SantaMonica]

No, not both sides of the sump. Both sides of the screen.

[Smitty]

The reason for harvesting every week is to avoid the roots from dying off and causing clumps to fall. Having two ATS in one sump wouldn't change this IMO. You would still need to harvest each one every week.

[Mason Dixon]

Without a doubt you want 2-sided. Keeps the roots alive longer, which holds on the gha for better filtering.

And you'll want two separate units that can operate independently, harvesting one per week.

Effectiveness depends on design and DIY skills. If UAS, keep the container 20 mm wide on each side of the screen, to limit growth thickness and force bubbles through the growth.

I'm planning mine right now as well.

Are you saying we need 2 independent ats screens?

[Smitty]

Two sided means to have lights on both sides of the screen in order to have better light penetration.

[SantaMonica]

Start with one screen that has light on both sides. This is 2-sided, and filters the best.