Algae Scrubber Basics

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have some extra LED bulbs from my hot pepper growing. They are advertised as 54w bulbs, using 18 3 watt leds. They are mostly 660nm with I think 4 blues, 1 white, and 1 880nm. I unfortunately have not seen my killawatt in years. It is packed away somewhere. I assume though that I am running about 30-36w.

Can you link to the specific lamp?

 

[Scuba_Steve]

It was a few years ago, so they are not in my order history anymore.

It is one of these though, just with a customized led spectrum layout as I described above.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291618222699

They cover about 12" at 12" btw. So I am thinking 6" away which will cover 6-8" with full intensity.

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[Floyd R Turbo]

That says they actually used 3W Epistar LEDs. It's rare to see them name the brand. Indicates to me that it could be legitimately 3W LEDs but probably are still not running at full current I would guess. Best to put one on a watt meter to verify. Probably a decent light for a 6x6 one sided.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Yes, and the one I bought also said 3w Epistars. I will have to break out the multimeter.

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[Scuba_Steve]

Never mind. My meter has a 200ma AC limit. Fwiw, @ 119.5v, I overload the 200ma limit. So it is over 24w...

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[Optimus_Prime]

Turbo
I did in fact, cut down my screen size to 6x6, but the funny thing is, when I was blowing off the algae from my frags, obviously some, if not most of the algae was going down the drain tubes and into a sock, which I only put on when I clean the frags. I normally remove the sock and clean it until the next time. Well, I forgot to remove the sock for 2 days. Next thing I noticed, I have green algae growing on the outside of the sock which is somewhat close to my ATS light. It grew more on the outside of the sock in a few days as opposed to my ATS, which has not grown any green algae, only the brown crap. Hmmmm...I'm so confused!

Help... Anyone?

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[Floyd R Turbo]

Need pics of your setup, I haven't seen any in this thread. That might help quite a bit.

My gut tells me your light is too close, too intense, or you're running it too long. If you have too much intensity, this inhibits growth. But you are getting growth off of the light bleed from that lamp, which is much less intense at that distance - but that level of intensity is working (obviously, where it shouldn't).

This tells me something is wrong with your arrangement of things.

 

[Optimus_Prime]

Need pics of your setup, I haven't seen any in this thread. That might help quite a bit.

My gut tells me your light is too close, too intense, or you're running it too long. If you have too much intensity, this inhibits growth. But you are getting growth off of the light bleed from that lamp, which is much less intense at that distance - but that level of intensity is working (obviously, where it shouldn't).

This tells me something is wrong with your arrangement of things.

Possibly my light could be too close to the screen. It is approximately 4 inches from the screen and approximately 10 to 11 inches away from the sock.

Here are some pics of my diy ATS:

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[Floyd R Turbo]

I see a few things:

1) the lamp and reflector are not well matched. In the 3rd pic you can see the lamp sticks out way past the reflector, so you are losing over half the light sideways.

2) the end of the lamp is generally a hotspot so you could be getting most of this, but in looking at the screen there does appear to be growth. It's not stark-white. It's just not taking off.

3) your reflector is curved outward, but I'm not sure you can get the bowl-shaped ones in 6", haven't looked lately.

I think this is possibly a case of just not having the light directed at the screen correctly.

The large 10" reflectors are definitely bowl shaped

http://www.homedepot.com/p/150-Watt-Incandescent-Clamp-Light-HD-300PDQ/205031467

This is ideally what you want. But the reflector you are using is too small for the lamp, so I would use a smaller lamp - 23W, 26W, I think that 42W lamp is too big

Honestly you could do without the reflector at all - just get one of the floodlight CFLs, that has a reflector built in, however I am now seeing that these are becoming more difficult to find so just a smaller lamp with a possibly more round reflector would be much better I would think.

 

[Optimus_Prime]

I am also feeding heavily as of 5 days ago. 3 times a day. Approximately 2 to 3 cubes equivalent, I guess. Should I cut back? Don't really want to, tho, but if I should, then I will.

I do have a 10 reflector from HD. I will switch out the reflector. Shall I also, move the light further away from screen?

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[Floyd R Turbo]

Try the 10" reflector with the 42W lamp I suppose. What I would also consider doing is adding a ring of aluminum foil to the lip of the 10" reflector to "extend" it a bit, and prevent light bleed. Make the ring extend straight out rather than follow the curvature of the reflector, if that makes sense. A 10" reflector is already kind of too big for your screen.

what you could do is take the current reflector you have and extend that using aluminum foil so that you capture & re-direct the light forward. I'm not sure I would more the lamp toward the screen, I don't think that is your problem. You just need to be using the light you have.

also adding that ring/extension will prevent light from getting everywhere else in the sump. My guess is that you have algae growing all over the place due to that excess light bleed and this is competing with the scrubber also.

 

[Optimus_Prime]

Try the 10" reflector with the 42W lamp I suppose. What I would also consider doing is adding a ring of aluminum foil to the lip of the 10" reflector to "extend" it a bit, and prevent light bleed. Make the ring extend straight out rather than follow the curvature of the reflector, if that makes sense. A 10" reflector is already kind of too big for your screen.

what you could do is take the current reflector you have and extend that using aluminum foil so that you capture & re-direct the light forward. I'm not sure I would more the lamp toward the screen, I don't think that is your problem. You just need to be using the light you have.

also adding that ring/extension will prevent light from getting everywhere else in the sump. My guess is that you have algae growing all over the place due to that excess light bleed and this is competing with the scrubber also.

I will then, do so, use the smaller reflector and extend it towards the screen with aluminum foil.
I don't have any green algae that I can see in my sump but I do see a butt load of the brown snotty stuff with bubbles, everywhere.

Thank you, Turbo, I will update in a few days!

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[JMBoehling]

Adding a algae scrubber to my reef is the best thing I have ever done for my
Reef. No more vinegar, vodka, sugar, GAC, or GFO. Water is crystal clear and sps, lps and fish look amazing. Wish i did this 20 years ago. I use my
Megaflow to house the algae screen and iluminate 24/7 with a cheap T5 bulb and reflector. Cheers!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

From the lighting thread:

I have about 80$ give or take in this ATS. I am feeding it with my main pump off a manifold. I am using the 30 watt version of the waterproof flood light with red and blue LEDs.

I am using two 1" bulkheads as drains. I have a 2" piece of pvc in one above the operating level in case the first drain becomes clogged. I am going to change these 1" bulkheads to 2" bulkheads run the same way.

Thanks for your help fullbore. I decided to use the container vs the bucket since I had the space.

it's more for the basics thread vs the lighting info thread but IMO that's an iffy install, you're trapping all the heat from the heat sinks against the plastic and even though those are IP65 fixtures I would still hesitate to put them into a semi-closed box. JMO though.

It's heat dissipation that concerns me here in addition to water exposure. Heat is the enemy of LEDs.

So remove the top? Or remove them from the box completely? Or is the whole design shotty? I have several friends that use it with great results.

As a rule of thumb I don't like to put fixtures into a location where they can get wet, at all, ever. I just don't trust ratings, even IP66 and especially not the IP65 ones out there, there are several videos out with people opening these up and finding power supplies not bonded to the heat sink, loose or disconnected ground wires, etc. The LightingEver IP66 fixtures seem to be build properly (I took one apart myself) but they only come in Warm White and I haven't tested them for current/power draw or intensity. Gotta grab my club's Apogee meter (new version) and test a few things

Regarding the rest of the build, it'll work well I think. I'm not a fan of the spray bar for one reason or another, but that one looks pretty nice. There is actually someone who made a production model using this method. The streams hitting the screen cause a ton of spray and salt creep but if you contain it well you're OK. I would be less concerned about that and more concerned about the light fixture exposure.

Can you get a narrower bin and place them outside of it so that the back of the fixture is exposed and can radiate heat?

 

[SantaMonica]

Friday night growth pics...

 

[jerseypete]

Well I started to grow some algae on the sides of my sump from the lights for the scrubber. so I tried to build a box. To help contain the light some. At least t to block the light from the sump walls. Here is what I got done so far. Just waiting for nylon screws to mount the lights. Will have them installed tomorrow View attachment 351766

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[karimwassef]

Working on "the beast".

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/B102BDF1-A4B7-4079-A53F-15BD38443116_zpsevoikpxi.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/B102BDF1-A4B7-4079-A53F-15BD38443116_zpsevoikpxi.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo B102BDF1-A4B7-4079-A53F-15BD38443116_zpsevoikpxi.jpg"/></a>

The pipe is 1" PVC. The dimensions are ~36" x 36". I'm not sure how large to make the slit since the flow varies between 2000gph and 3000gph (during surge).

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/B1FAA359-1E9F-45DF-8C20-E4DB758EF125_zps3nlxeuzw.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/B1FAA359-1E9F-45DF-8C20-E4DB758EF125_zps3nlxeuzw.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo B1FAA359-1E9F-45DF-8C20-E4DB758EF125_zps3nlxeuzw.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/4A493E2A-BC06-4125-B3E5-77E4CC695D48_zpswfuy473q.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/4A493E2A-BC06-4125-B3E5-77E4CC695D48_zpswfuy473q.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 4A493E2A-BC06-4125-B3E5-77E4CC695D48_zpswfuy473q.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/EB2E9E7A-6A99-4CD1-92AC-48B32C0D6E85_zpsbewnzsmx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/EB2E9E7A-6A99-4CD1-92AC-48B32C0D6E85_zpsbewnzsmx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo EB2E9E7A-6A99-4CD1-92AC-48B32C0D6E85_zpsbewnzsmx.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/18D1FA61-258A-4669-A3A1-4F5D2995A2B5_zpsbbpgjghx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/18D1FA61-258A-4669-A3A1-4F5D2995A2B5_zpsbbpgjghx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 18D1FA61-258A-4669-A3A1-4F5D2995A2B5_zpsbbpgjghx.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/9533FAA9-224E-4C53-888C-887D4334CBAD_zpsbhlov8mm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/9533FAA9-224E-4C53-888C-887D4334CBAD_zpsbhlov8mm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 9533FAA9-224E-4C53-888C-887D4334CBAD_zpsbhlov8mm.jpg"/></a>

The water comes from my Rubbermaid quarantine/aux 50gal tank and flows down into my Rubbermaid 100gal aux sump. In case I want to isolate the quarantine tank, I can run it closed loop from my aux sump.

Open loop:
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/1CB2D3E6-615B-465A-87A7-68FFB8D67DA4_zps4hqckvg6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/1CB2D3E6-615B-465A-87A7-68FFB8D67DA4_zps4hqckvg6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1CB2D3E6-615B-465A-87A7-68FFB8D67DA4_zps4hqckvg6.jpg"/></a>

Closed loop:
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/D2C79593-F6B0-47E7-97B2-3F3EA120C7E2_zpsweewxlyj.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/D2C79593-F6B0-47E7-97B2-3F3EA120C7E2_zpsweewxlyj.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo D2C79593-F6B0-47E7-97B2-3F3EA120C7E2_zpsweewxlyj.jpg"/></a>

Here is the feed from my DT's main end to end overflow weir
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/3D575CFB-19FB-4A0D-A35C-3B924D53546A_zpspwqxrxml.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/3D575CFB-19FB-4A0D-A35C-3B924D53546A_zpspwqxrxml.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 3D575CFB-19FB-4A0D-A35C-3B924D53546A_zpspwqxrxml.jpg"/></a>

So... Slit size to handle the flow? Light on each side? Planning on 200W CFL on each side (since I have them).

 

[karimwassef]

Forgot to mention that my system is ~700gal, in case anyone is wondering why I need to go big like this. I have two other smaller ATSs and they're working but I have a massive load since the tank is exposed to the elements (massive insect population since we live by the lake in TX). I have nets to keep them out but they're an army of attacking nutrients.

 

[nanomania]

Any idea which works better, water fall ats or up flow? Also there are hydroponics leds available.. can we use them?

 

[SantaMonica]

That big screen might have issues where the pieces overlap; water tends to jump outward there. If so, sewing them together end-to-end with no overlap will fix it.

Choice between down and upflow is mostly determined by space and building skills, but technically an upflow has a smaller boundary layer and should be more efficient.

Hydro lights are fine.