1-That was what I asked, 2 screen in side by side or in serries, so you alternate cleaning one at a time. Is there any benefit to do this.
2-How about feeding, is there any basic calculation...?
Algae Scrubber Basics
- Thread starter srusso
- Start date
2-How about feeding, is there any basic calculation...?
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
The only benefit is what I mentioned before, if you have a waste spike right after cleaning the screen (because there is less algae to do filtering) then cleaning one half of the screen would help this. You could clean both sides of one half of the screen, or one side of the entire screen. But like I said, I would only bother to do so if you noticed a pattern of problems occurring the day or so following a cleaning, and could associate the problem with N or P temporarily rising. This might happen in a system with an extremely heavy bio-load, such as a constant drip-feed system for corals or just a truckload of piggy fish.
2) 12 sq in of screen (L x W) lit with a total of 12-24W (that's 6-12W on each side) for each cube of food per day. Look in the footer on my posts for the posts in this thread where you can find the revised "basics" and it goes into more detail there.
2) 12 sq in of screen (L x W) lit with a total of 12-24W (that's 6-12W on each side) for each cube of food per day. Look in the footer on my posts for the posts in this thread where you can find the revised "basics" and it goes into more detail there.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
With a 3x4 screen, you should use a CFL floodlight, because you want to 'trap' all the light and get it all on the screen. an 11W on each side will be more than plenty. If you can make a reflector that small for a 23w lamp, have at it. You will not need any more than 9 hours/day on time with that, and watch for burning.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
no you would want a total of 72w on each side, minimum. Plus you would need to feed 12 cubes of food a day. bigger is not better, it just will end up growing yellow. size to feeding and it grows green.
mtrcyclefish
New member
So if I oversized my screens, but sized the lights correctly with the light focused on a section of the screen that is correct in size, would that work correctly?
121
Member
That confused me. What if you wanted an ULN system that didn't require 12 cubes a day? Wouldn't the screen simply grow less algae and require less harvesting? Wouldn't whatever was growing on the screen remove the excess N and P regardless?
My current 35g system has a small bio load of corals with only one endler fish atm. I've set up a 'ghetto' vertical scrubber in my sump that I installed awhile I planned the actual one. It's just a sheet of egg crate with a large dish cloth stretched out over it. I'm only lighting one side atm. The water is gravity fed to the top of the screen via several airline tubes that are back siphoning water from the DT. They're tied between the cloth and egg crate with freezer ties. It's currently turning over the system volume every hour and a half. I can add more tubes really quickly if I need more flow. It's young so I'll see how it goes. If I calculated correctly, your turning over your system volume over your screen every 16 minutes. I know we're measuring differently, as most prefer to gauge a set flow over a screen.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
bigger is not better with scrubbers. All things kept equal, a properly sized/lit screen will grow green algae which filters better, and 'moves' better to allow light to the roots/base, compared to an oversized screen which will spread out and starve the algae growth, causing it to turn a caramel-yellow color which is more gooey and blocks light to the lower layers, causing die-off at the roots, which causes detachment and yellowing of the water.
I take it I should reduce the size of my screen?
Volume of system is around 150 gallons; newly set up with dead rock and sand from an old system; I added a few live rocks;
Will the ats start growing right away or not till the system cycles and I add a Bio-load.
I have 200 watts of deep osram red and 20 watts of warm cree leds 600gph return flow
Volume of system is around 150 gallons; newly set up with dead rock and sand from an old system; I added a few live rocks;
Will the ats start growing right away or not till the system cycles and I add a Bio-load.
I have 200 watts of deep osram red and 20 watts of warm cree leds 600gph return flow
srusso
Active member
Several airline tubes? For water flow? Turning over tank volume in 16 mins?! Why airline tubing for a syphon?! How the heck, what did you build man?! Dish cloth... Wow was it a used one, too?!
You win the prize for most ghetto interpretation of an algae scrubber... Please don't ask for help with this thing... We don't know what it will grow... Or how it will effect your tank... Good luck
srusso
Active member
I take it I should reduce the size of my screen?
Volume of system is around 150 gallons; newly set up with dead rock and sand from an old system; I added a few live rocks;
Will the ats start growing right away or not till the system cycles and I add a Bio-load.
I have 200 watts of deep osram red and 20 watts of warm cree leds 600gph return flow
One, we don't know how large your screen is...
Two, your not using the right screen.
Three, you can't rough up that screen type... Where is your slot tube?!
121
Member
Every 100 minutes atm. Each airline tube gives my screen 12g per hour on a 35g system.
The dish cloth has a rough surface area and is absorbent. This helps prevent splashing and spreads the water flow evenly across the screen.
srusso
Active member
Sure! How much do you feed? Let's get your full tank specs, current equipment, maybe a photo or two of your sump area with dimensions. I think T5s are much better suited for larger tanks. Can you swing that, also the new design is right around the corner...
divinedragon13
New member
has anyone tryed any of the led bulb u can buy from store vs cfls?
i know reds are better but think if i can get a led bulb from like say home depot
be cheaper then replaceing cfls
i know reds are better but think if i can get a led bulb from like say home depot
be cheaper then replaceing cfls
jwoyshnar
New member
I always wondered where the new guidelines came from. At this point I don't agree with them for my tank. I have a 180 gallon tank and a 75 gallon sump. My screen is 12x17 and is lit by LEDs on one side and the other is a large cfl. I clean each side every 4 days and the growth is green and thick. I feed 2 pinches of flake a day and once a week 2 cubes of mysis. This scrubber has been running for 8 months now like that and no yellowing or die off
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
You might be pulling nutrients out of the rock. How old is your tank?
Also could be that your light, flow, and feeding are just well balanced. If you were to increase light or flow, you might get yellow growth. So I say leave it alone.
but if you reduced the screen size, concentrated the light, and maintained the flow, you would probably be able to get the same result with a smaller setup, that's all.
The feeding-sized method really came about because people were building to tank size and getting good growth then eventually it slowed down. Feeding more tended to increase green growth. Thus the connection was made and this led to testing the maximum capacity of various setups. SM's 90g tank with 2 100 sq in scrubbers maxes out at about 22 cubes/day which is what he feeds. That's on T5HO lighting with some LED as well (and the LED grows better) so there's still a little "unknown" but it's on the higher-capacity side w/r to LEDs.
Also could be that your light, flow, and feeding are just well balanced. If you were to increase light or flow, you might get yellow growth. So I say leave it alone.
but if you reduced the screen size, concentrated the light, and maintained the flow, you would probably be able to get the same result with a smaller setup, that's all.
The feeding-sized method really came about because people were building to tank size and getting good growth then eventually it slowed down. Feeding more tended to increase green growth. Thus the connection was made and this led to testing the maximum capacity of various setups. SM's 90g tank with 2 100 sq in scrubbers maxes out at about 22 cubes/day which is what he feeds. That's on T5HO lighting with some LED as well (and the LED grows better) so there's still a little "unknown" but it's on the higher-capacity side w/r to LEDs.
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