Algae Scrubber Basics

[Floyd R Turbo]

I've read enough to know I wanna try an Algae Scrubber with the 40B I'm building, but is there a condensed "How To" version of this thread? This thread is 288 pages long and was started in 2011.

Look in my signature for the summary posts

 

[hkgar]

Yup, I have always been dragging it across the screen and not pushing the algae off. I did this because it was easier than pushing as the screen wouldn't buckle up.

 

[sensei]

Floyd,
attached is a photo of my screen, it has been running for 2 days.
you can see some detrietus in the top where the water comes out of pvc.
is this normal? or is the hole may be to small??

regards,

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

2 days is not very long to determine much of anything so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I get detritus all throughout my growth mat

 

[sensei]

Floyd,

here is a picture of the screen after 5 days.
algae has started to grow, but it is growing in the suroundings of the spot of light. There seems to be NO algae where the light spots the screen directly. is this normal?

thanks again

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Your light is probably too close, which is causing photosaturation = zero growth. I would back it off, that spotlight looks pretty tight. I believe they make CFL flood in different configurations, so a wide-angle would work better up close.

 

[karimwassef]

so much light that you bleach algae... ? kind of

 

[sensei]

Your light is probably too close, which is causing photosaturation = zero growth. I would back it off, that spotlight looks pretty tight. I believe they make CFL flood in different configurations, so a wide-angle would work better up close.

Floyd,
how many inches from the screen should I put the CFL?

 

[Duality]

Harvested my scrubber last Monday. This is what I got off of it

Squeezed all the water out and compressed into a ball

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Floyd,
how many inches from the screen should I put the CFL?

Like I said is depends on the fixture, just back it off an inch or so and see what difference that makes. Do you know if it is a spotlight vs floodlight? Looks like more of a spotlight to me and you have it about 1-2" away, I would do at least 3 or 4

Harvested my scrubber last Monday. This is what I got off of it

Nice!

 

[sensei]

Like I said is depends on the fixture, just back it off an inch or so and see what difference that makes. Do you know if it is a spotlight vs floodlight? Looks like more of a spotlight to me and you have it about 1-2" away, I would do at least 3 or 4


Floyd,
I don´t have to much space in sump that is why it is somewhat close, but if there is no other alternative I would have to see what I can do you separate it least one inch more.

attached is photo of the reflector that I used. It is 2,700K but I don´t know how to say if it is a spot light or flood light. can you tell by looking at the photo??

thanks again

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Can't tell from that box, it might say on the side, maybe not. Look for something that described the spread angle.

If you don't have much room to back it up, I would back it up as far as you can and then raise it a bit and angle it downward to compensate. It's not ideal but that should spread the light out a bit.

 

[sensei]

Can't tell from that box, it might say on the side, maybe not. Look for something that described the spread angle.

If you don't have much room to back it up, I would back it up as far as you can and then raise it a bit and angle it downward to compensate. It's not ideal but that should spread the light out a bit.

Floyd,

I found a Flood light ( energy saver) of 11W equivalent to 50W 2700K
the size of the bulk is smaller thus it would back up around 2"

attached is the photo of the size comparison of the 2 bulbs. The other photo shows the specs of the flood light. the one I am using now that is to tight is 20W equivalent to 80W

do you think that this one of 11W equivalent to 50W would work fine??
how do I know what is the ideal CFL light for my screen?

thanks

 

[Spar]

View attachment 333711View attachment 333710

Floyd,

I found a Flood light ( energy saver) of 11W equivalent to 50W 2700K
the size of the bulk is smaller thus it would back up around 2"

attached is the photo of the size comparison of the 2 bulbs. The other photo shows the specs of the flood light. the one I am using now that is to tight is 20W equivalent to 80W

do you think that this one of 11W equivalent to 50W would work fine??
how do I know what is the ideal CFL light for my screen?

thanks

with CFL you want 1w per sq/in. so if you have an 8x8 screen, = 64 sq/in, you will want 32 watts on the front and 32 watts on the back, totaling 64 watts.

the wattage you are looking for is the actual wattage, not the equivalent. so you would want 3 of the bulbs (3x11 = 33 watts) you are looking at if you want to get to the 32 watt/side example I gave (for each side).

 

[sensei]

Thanks Spar,
I actually sized my screen 8 x 8 to match the size of the big CFL bulb I was using, but I actually feed 4 cubes so 48sq/in screen would be enough. I think in this case I can use two of these small 11W CFL flood lights in each side.
With this small CFL bulb I gained space and now I have 3.5" from the end of bulb to the screen.
I will try to put two bulbs in each side tomorrow
thanks again

 

[brewtus]

The guys that are running algae scrubber are they also using a uv you would thing using a uv would be a lot waster then setting up a scrubber

 

[SantaMonica]

UV's and scrubbers don't have anything to do with each other.

 

[MorganAtlanta]

Thanks Spar,
I actually sized my screen 8 x 8 to match the size of the big CFL bulb I was using, but I actually feed 4 cubes so 48sq/in screen would be enough. I think in this case I can use two of these small 11W CFL flood lights in each side.
With this small CFL bulb I gained space and now I have 3.5" from the end of bulb to the screen.
I will try to put two bulbs in each side tomorrow
thanks again

You can also try LED grow lights. They come in lots of sizes and are pretty cheap on ebay.

 

[sensei]

You can also try LED grow lights. They come in lots of sizes and are pretty cheap on ebay.

I already installed the 2nd bulb
here is a photo with the two little bulbs in each side.
now the canvas is all brown so the photosaturation problem of the other bulb being to close is gone.
ATS has been running for 8 days now.
I have a rock bellow ATS were water falls and the rock has a little algae, not much though. I guess some of the algae falls from ATS. is this normal??

by looking at the growth of algae in screen and having it running only 8 days, can I know if it is apropriate growth?

thanks

 

[sensei]

Floyd,

here is a photo of my screen after 10 days running.
Why is the alge brown? I expected to see green algae