Algae Scrubber Basics

[daytek]

What about Air,would it not cut this out as well and slow the growth down

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Srusso draped his screen in it and got better growth.

That being said, I don't know of anyone who has tested O2 levels before and after adding / removing Saran Wrap.

 

[daytek]

Not sure what to do now,I do have some Saran wrap here but there's not much left and I wanted it for my sandwiches for work tomorrow. I'm having chicken and I don't want them to go all hard and crusty like the bark on a tree. But I do have some yogurt I could take and eat instead,but there again its strawberry and I'm not to keen on that.Maybe its best not to eat at work and starve till I get home then I can feast on some hamburgers I have left over from the other night. What do you think i should do Floyd ?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Ok seriously you are just messing with me now. If this Garf?

 

[daytek]

:lmao:

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Oh Donkey, it's you. I should have known.

 

[daytek]

Oh Donkey, it's you. I should have known.

Sorry mate some days i just cant help myself


:lol2:

 

[daytek]

That was to funny how straight away you thought it was Garf


:lolspin:

 

[Lavoisier]

Sorry mate some days i just cant help myself


:lol2:

Good get! You had me going as well..

 

[troublet55]

LED Questions

LED Questions

I finally got around to building my ATS and I am getting ready to put together the LEDs to replace the clamp on lights. So, I know nothing about LEDs so here are my parts and questions:

I purchased 2 Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current drivers, They seem pretty plug and play (or am I missing something here?)

Also have 6 3w Philips Rebel ES Royal Blue LED
10 3w-high power led warm white star emitter 160-180lm
20 3w-high power red led star emitter 660nm 670nm
and 2 aluminum heat sinks for 20x3w which are about 23 inches long.

Plan is to cut both heat sinks in half and bolt them together to make 2 light panels (one for each side). Split up the drivers and LEDS to make two separate units.

Questions.

1. I know the whites are not gonna help them grow but will they hurt anything?

2. Is 10 reds and 3 blues per side enough light? (screen is 10x10)

3. Mr. Floyd Turbo mentioned reversing the blues? Can someone tell me how and why? I read the earlier description but it is still unclear to me.

4. Do I leave optics on or remove? or can I remove them? Never tried and don't know where to start.

5. Glue or screw the LEDs to the heat sink? Various opinions on the google machine, so what does the forum suggest?

6. Will the drivers I purchased power 18 LEDS without any issues?

7. After they are built, how far away from the screen should they be? The scrubber is housed in a glass case that makes the minimum distance 2 inches from the screen.

And finally I really appreciate the thread, I have read it twice (yes twice) first when I started researching a year ago and recently read it again. Just wanted to let everyone know that their input has helped me out tremendously! Thanks

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I purchased 2 Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current drivers, They seem pretty plug and play (or am I missing something here?)

No. you are right. Connect on either side of a string and plug in, blammo. Light.

1. I know the whites are not gonna help them grow but will they hurt anything?

Probably not, but compared to the reds they are going to likely be more intense, I would wire them in parallel like I do the blues

2. Is 10 reds and 3 blues per side enough light? (screen is 10x10)

Generally I have been saying that the minimum is one 660nm Deep Red on each side of each 8 sq in area. So for 10x10 = 100 sq in, that's 12-13 reds on each side. So you're about there. Adding whites and blues will help, so you should be OK.

3. Mr. Floyd Turbo mentioned reversing the blues? Can someone tell me how and why? I read the earlier description but it is still unclear to me.

Not reversing - running in parallel within the series. You use them to make a current divider, so that the full current is split between the two, and they run at half power. you start with your string of reds, which are all running at full current. Then you tie two of the (+) terminals and (-) terminals together on a pair of blues, and run the current into the other open (+) terminal on one blue and out of the (-) terminal on the other blue. Like this:

4. Do I leave optics on or remove? or can I remove them? Never tried and don't know where to start.

If your LEDs look like the ones in the pic above, they do not have optics. Optics are big lens like things that are generally attached by you after you install and solder them.

5. Glue or screw the LEDs to the heat sink? Various opinions on the google machine, so what does the forum suggest?

3 options, really:

1) Thermal grease and screw down
2) 2-part thermal epoxy and bond in place
3) Steve's LEDs 1-part thermal adhesive

The latter takes a little longer to cure, but I've heard good things. Bond, wait 24 hours, solder, go. Easier to remove LEDs that 2-part, so if you decide to move stuff, less risk of breaking/ruining the LED. Plus no mixing.

Whatever you do, remember, you don't need much - just a thin layer.

6. Will the drivers I purchased power 18 LEDS without any issues?

It's a matter of math. Each LED has a voltage drop at a given current. The LPC-35-700 provides a constant 700mA of current and a maximum 35W of power, and 48V of total drop. So you look at the specs for each LED (at 700mA) and add up the voltage. If it's less than 48V, you're good.

Deep reds are usualy 2.4-2.6v each. 2.4 x 18 = 43.2 so theoretically that should be OK. Blues are higher, usually 3.0-3.3, but you'll have to check the specs where you bought them. When in doubt, hook it up and use a voltmeter to test the drop across the whole array.

7. After they are built, how far away from the screen should they be? The scrubber is housed in a glass case that makes the minimum distance 2 inches from the screen.

2" is good for bare LEDs.

 

[troublet55]

Thanks Floyd! After I get these wired up I will attempt to post up pics of the scrubber.

 

[erics3000]

Can you also post pics of your led's too

 

[silverwolf72]

Is it normal for it to really hard to clean? I have a mix of turf and GHA and using a credit card I could barely get any of the algae off.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I use a plastic pot scraper to scrape my screens, eventually it does get to the point where it is so strongly attached that you need several passes with that. That's a good thing by the way!

As far as the turf algae goes, I have always scrubber the turf off the screen completely. When I see dark brown/red algae filling in the holes, I scrub it out with a stiff brush and let the GHA fill in. If you have a lot of turf growth, I would only do this a little bit at a time.

 

[degibson84]

during my cycle i have gotten pretty good growth but now i am seeing diatoms on the rock and sand.

shouldn't the scrubber be preventing them?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Diatom blooms are typical at some point the cycling process, no matter what. They inevitably go away. A scrubber should help to reduce them, but I have yet to hear of a system that eliminates them. Honestly I'm not sure you would necessarily want them eliminated, just controlled as best as you can.

I think yours is cycle related though and you should let them run the course.

 

[herring_fish]

Some people actually dose silicate during tank start-ups so that they get a diatom bloom. Diatoms can populate the sights that hair algae would want to attach too so that it suppresses their chances of taking hold later on.

Of course this is not something that you want to have go on too long.

 

[salty joe]

Some people actually dose silicate during tank start-ups so that they get a diatom bloom. Diatoms can populate the sights that hair algae would want to attach too so that it suppresses their chances of taking hold later on.

Of course this is not something that you want to have go on too long.

Interesting idea.

 

[speedo2wet]

Floyd: My apologies from an earlie statement; Did a little digging around and noticed that my sources were infact all pointing to the same aquatic aquariuim location.