Algae Scrubber Basics
- Thread starter srusso
- Start date
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
PSB do exist, it's just apparently never been studied in aquaria.
It was right in front of me the whole time too...
Actually one of the best scrubber builds I've seen used that fixture, but you have to get the dimmable model. It's a build on TCMAS.
karimwassef
Active member
agent smith?? I'm lost
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Doesn't look like you are!
outy
New member
http://m.ebay.com/itm/10-20-30-50W-...t-/172160853326?nav=SEARCH&varId=470997009691
Many of us use these, some successful with 10w each side.
I use 2 30w lights as they only use 20w even though they are rated higher.
50w a side seems high and more expensive, your miles may vary.
MaccaPopEye
New member
SFish, as others have said, the flood lights are fine, I use them on my scrubber, it can just help to get the size above what you need. So if you need 10W then get the 20W flood light and so on.
That 300W light would work but is really expensive compared to a grow flood light.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
SFish
New member
SFish
New member
I have no problem with flood lights I just wanted to see what other types of lights work as well. Like I said I would not buy that light at that price over a flood light.
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SFish
New member
Oh ok
So it has to much power? Thought it said 3W Leds. I think i'm starting to get the idea of what type of LEDs will work.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Good start! Palm swipe on each side, quick rinse, and put it back in for 10 days
bheron
Active member
Sharing my experience...
I'm about 6-7 weeks in on my DIY ATS. I purchased two of these lights:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012C4QJ06?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
I haven't been handling spray very well, so one of my lights was getting alot of water sprayed on it. Figured, eh, these things say they're for outdoor use so let it go. Well just last week I was adjusting it (was getting soaked with water) and got a shock. I found stray current and it tripped my GFIC. Figured I shouldnt mess with it and ordered a new one.
Learned my lesson and now doing a better job keeping spray off it. HTH!
I'm about 6-7 weeks in on my DIY ATS. I purchased two of these lights:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012C4QJ06?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
I haven't been handling spray very well, so one of my lights was getting alot of water sprayed on it. Figured, eh, these things say they're for outdoor use so let it go. Well just last week I was adjusting it (was getting soaked with water) and got a shock. I found stray current and it tripped my GFIC. Figured I shouldnt mess with it and ordered a new one.
Learned my lesson and now doing a better job keeping spray off it. HTH!
That's interesting but just because they say they are IP65 doesn't mean they really are. They are from China afteralll. IP65, the 6 means they are totally dust tight, the 5 means that water projected in powerful jets (12.5mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.
Sounds like you are just having issues with incidental water spray contact which is a much lower standard, IP62 or thereabouts. I haven't started using my ATS yet as I am still in the early stages of my build but I have the same lights and now I am thinking that adding a bead of silicone all around the mating surfaces wouldn't be a bad idea.
bheron
Active member
Oh wow i had no idea about any of that. Still pretty clueless. I assumed I pushed the limits too much. So guess this is on the category of "ya get what ya pay for". Ready great idea about running some silicone around the seams. I'll have to do that.
For anyone who wants to know what IP ratings mean, here is a good chart. http://www.dsmt.com/resources/ip-rating-chart/
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Yea I took one of those lights apart... it's a rubber gasket that will slow down spray, but not stop it. It's ok in a light rain, until submersible grow lights are available.
Sounds like just not enough nutrients to fill up the screen. But if the tank is good, then it's working.
Sounds like just not enough nutrients to fill up the screen. But if the tank is good, then it's working.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
I wanted to post an update on the Mortar Screen process. After making quite a few of these, I think I've figured out the best way to make them, and reasons why other ways don't work quite so well. It's the little things that tend to make the difference.
First, I scuff up the screen using a wire brush drill bit attachment like this
or this
I mark off the area that will be the "active" growth area, tape off the area that will go into the slot (+ a few extra rows), then clamp the screen down to a hard surface that I don't mind scratching up (like MDF). Then, at a relatively slow/medium speed, I run the brush over that area + some bleed around the edges in 4 directions, up/down, left/right, and both diagonals. Flip and repeat.
Second, I rough up the screen with a 12pt 10" saw blade, like this
But I don't spend as much time doing this as I used to - 1 to 1.5" overlapping circular motion going from one side to the other, repeat until all rough. Then I reverse the circular direction and make another pass top-bottom. Flip and repeat.
Third, I cut the screen down to it's intended final size, then add some blue painter's tape to the un-roughed area to protect it from the mortar coating.
Now, it's ready for the mortar.
Mix the mortar, glop it on to the screen, and massage it in so that the whole screen is coated with a thick layer, maybe 1/4" thick. Flip it over and add more mortar, massage it in well.
Then I hold the screen over a garbage can and tap it hard with my fingertips - this knocks the excess off rather well while leaving behind a nice coating, and with enough taps the excess basically beads up and rolls off the screen so you get all the members covered really well and none of the holes filled in with mortar.
For the curing process, you will want a semi-airtight container, like a Sterilite storage box or Rubbermaid tote. You don't want an air-tight seal. I tried ziplock bags and while it worked well, it wasn't "perfect" and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. There needs to be a bit of "breathing room", if even just the air in the container.
Lay a piece of wax paper down and place the screen on it. Don't remove the blue tape. Lay another piece of wax paper on top of that.
Next, you can either take a small wet cotton towel or a micro-fiber cloth, and lay that on top of the wax paper. The towel does not need to be sopping wet, but you want it to be mostly wet but not quite dripping. You don't even need a cotton towel, you can also use a few paper towels and get those wet and lay them down - works just as well.
Close up the container. Once a day, take the screen out and give each side a few spritzes with water and put it back in it's little wax paper and towel sandwich, and back in the tote it goes. Repeat this for 3 days.
On the end of the 3rd day in the container, take the screen out, remove the tape, and place the screen in a bucket of water. Change the water daily. After a week, you're good to go. To make it go faster, add some circulation (3 or 4 days, and you're good). I use a utility sink and a small pump I had laying around. As long as the screen isn't banging around, you're good (you don't want the mortar to get knocked off)
I had a video made up of this process, but I have to trash that due to it's lack of perfection. But I'll post one as soon as I shoot a new one.
First, I scuff up the screen using a wire brush drill bit attachment like this
or this
I mark off the area that will be the "active" growth area, tape off the area that will go into the slot (+ a few extra rows), then clamp the screen down to a hard surface that I don't mind scratching up (like MDF). Then, at a relatively slow/medium speed, I run the brush over that area + some bleed around the edges in 4 directions, up/down, left/right, and both diagonals. Flip and repeat.
Second, I rough up the screen with a 12pt 10" saw blade, like this
But I don't spend as much time doing this as I used to - 1 to 1.5" overlapping circular motion going from one side to the other, repeat until all rough. Then I reverse the circular direction and make another pass top-bottom. Flip and repeat.
Third, I cut the screen down to it's intended final size, then add some blue painter's tape to the un-roughed area to protect it from the mortar coating.
Now, it's ready for the mortar.
Mix the mortar, glop it on to the screen, and massage it in so that the whole screen is coated with a thick layer, maybe 1/4" thick. Flip it over and add more mortar, massage it in well.
Then I hold the screen over a garbage can and tap it hard with my fingertips - this knocks the excess off rather well while leaving behind a nice coating, and with enough taps the excess basically beads up and rolls off the screen so you get all the members covered really well and none of the holes filled in with mortar.
For the curing process, you will want a semi-airtight container, like a Sterilite storage box or Rubbermaid tote. You don't want an air-tight seal. I tried ziplock bags and while it worked well, it wasn't "perfect" and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. There needs to be a bit of "breathing room", if even just the air in the container.
Lay a piece of wax paper down and place the screen on it. Don't remove the blue tape. Lay another piece of wax paper on top of that.
Next, you can either take a small wet cotton towel or a micro-fiber cloth, and lay that on top of the wax paper. The towel does not need to be sopping wet, but you want it to be mostly wet but not quite dripping. You don't even need a cotton towel, you can also use a few paper towels and get those wet and lay them down - works just as well.
Close up the container. Once a day, take the screen out and give each side a few spritzes with water and put it back in it's little wax paper and towel sandwich, and back in the tote it goes. Repeat this for 3 days.
On the end of the 3rd day in the container, take the screen out, remove the tape, and place the screen in a bucket of water. Change the water daily. After a week, you're good to go. To make it go faster, add some circulation (3 or 4 days, and you're good). I use a utility sink and a small pump I had laying around. As long as the screen isn't banging around, you're good (you don't want the mortar to get knocked off)
I had a video made up of this process, but I have to trash that due to it's lack of perfection. But I'll post one as soon as I shoot a new one.
bheron
Active member
Oh man that along with what Tony sent sounds like this product is definitely not recommended! This think should've stood up to the spraying from my ATS for sure. Will see if I can contact the seller or MFR for details.
herring_fish
Crazy Designer
Quite some time ago, I read that Floyd was doing this process so I winged it, guessing what would work before he gave us his first detailed explanation. By luck, I did it just the same way for the roughing part except for the following two steps that are not necessary and may not even help but it is food for thought.
Before doing the rest of the process as described by him, I sanded the surface(s) with fine sand paper. This took the sheen off, leaving a mat finish. Then I use more and more course grit until briefly using the coarsest sand paper. This added super fine abrasions and a variaty of fine cuts before I followed the rest of the process. I believe that this resulted in more cut size variations for algae to take hold of after the mortar sloughs off. It’s like a tree, going from main branch to a smaller one, to the stem and then to a twig. Many of the large branches will be scraped off after several cleanings but some of them will be pressed down into the voids of the screen.
The brush made the screen look hairy and the saw acted like a plow, digging down into the screen making rough gashes to create stubble. Up close, the stubble and hairs looked more like a feather. It was sort of fuzzy at the very ends of the branches.
Floyd ….. I put the screen on hold after that and am about to get started again. I don’t thing that I did the curing process as well as yours. Do you think that I should re-do it to get better results?
Before doing the rest of the process as described by him, I sanded the surface(s) with fine sand paper. This took the sheen off, leaving a mat finish. Then I use more and more course grit until briefly using the coarsest sand paper. This added super fine abrasions and a variaty of fine cuts before I followed the rest of the process. I believe that this resulted in more cut size variations for algae to take hold of after the mortar sloughs off. It’s like a tree, going from main branch to a smaller one, to the stem and then to a twig. Many of the large branches will be scraped off after several cleanings but some of them will be pressed down into the voids of the screen.
The brush made the screen look hairy and the saw acted like a plow, digging down into the screen making rough gashes to create stubble. Up close, the stubble and hairs looked more like a feather. It was sort of fuzzy at the very ends of the branches.
Floyd ….. I put the screen on hold after that and am about to get started again. I don’t thing that I did the curing process as well as yours. Do you think that I should re-do it to get better results?
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