Built-in and quiet ATS?

[rrasco]

I am going to be moving my sump from under the DT to the reef room behind the wall. I currently have a waterfall ATS, and I hate how it has to sit above the water level and splashes into the sump. I was curious if anyone has a design to build an ATS into the sump? I will be constructing a new sump, so with an ATS in mind, I would like to design a part of the sump for it. Preferably not sitting way above the sump, but in it. While I am at it, I want to try and make it quieter. This is not a requirement as it will be in the other room so I won't care as much, but it sure would be nice. Short of using an UAS, I don't have many ideas to accomplish this.

 

[crn005]

I built my scrubber to be more incorporated into my sump. Given, it still sits above but only by 6". I just found that a lot of them are just too space consuming. I don't think it's going to be possible to have one submerged because you're going to be worried about water getting at the lights. Anyways, here's what I did.

 

[rrasco]

Thanks for the pictures.

I didn't really want to submerge the ATS, I know I worded that weird. Just looking for ways to keep it in the sump rather than on top.

 

[dartier]

My current temporary ATS is in my sump. I created a light box that hangs on the side of the sump and shines through the glass onto the screen suspended across the baffles. The major issue that I have had is the mess it makes in your sump by the excess light escaping. If you do make one in your sump, make sure the light only shines where you want it to.

My next ATS (and hopefully permanent one) will be made with a 5G tank stood on its end with a LED array on both sides, The open side has a clear piece of acrylic cut to fit. I plan on putting in a light shield so only the portion on the screen I want growth on is lit.

I just need my LDD's to arrive to get this done.

Dennis

 

[blackwidow]

You cannot have an effective ATS without good flow over the screen so either you go UAS route or mod the original waterfall design so that it makes less noise.

The only way to do this and fit it so that it sits in the sump would be to incorporate it into the last chamber of sump where the return pump sits as here you can the water level lower than in any other compartment, then attaching the scrubber so that the screen sits inside the third compartment rather than above it could work. Imagine my scrubber but without the legs just resting on the last sump compartment:

You can find my build thread here too if you wanna ask anymore questions, http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2261943

 

[rrasco]

That's what the design issue is. I'm aware of the levels in the sump and why it's so hard to build in the ATS. That's why I'm asking here for suggestions. Mine currently rests above my refugium. Also, noise is secondary, just trying to figure out how I can keep one compartment in the sump low so I can put the ATS there, while also keeping the rest of the sump functional. That kind of goes against the properties of fluid dynamics though. I've got some R&D to do.

 

[blackwidow]

There is one thing you could do ill draw some diagrams up of ideas I have for integrated ATS and an adjusted version
to suit your needs, watch this space

 

[rrasco]

Patiently waiting

 

[blackwidow]

sorry got sidetracked today will get on this tomorrow

 

[crn005]

I think I might have an idea. What type of lights are you planning on using? LEDs would be best because they're going to have to be on the outside of the tank. I'll make some sketches and post them in a bit.

 

[crn005]

Also, how much feeding are you going to be doing and how tall is your sump?

 

[burban94]

This is how I have my ATS mounted in my sump. It only uses about 2" of space. My screen sits about 1/8th of an inch under water and it is dead silent. Hope this helps.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II using Tapatalk

 

[crn005]

Ok so excuse the crummy hand drawing but here's what I was thinking. Of course you would have to figure out the dimensions but the overflow should run into the box. The sides of this box should be pretty close to the sides of the sump so as to allow proper lighting. I didn't draw the lights but they should be on both sides. The baffle should be set to keep the water level catered to the screen. All you have to do is throw some plastic hooks on a couple of screens and you're set. Plus you can alternate their cleanings to balance out the growth.

 

[ChrisOaty]

Here ya go =]

This is made from a 40g breeder and provides about 88 square inches of single sided scrubber surface area. Light it with some red LEDs and you're set.

 

[rrasco]

Thanks for the pictures guys.

Am I understanding right that the concept is to allow the water to flow over the baffles edges where the mesh is hanging on the side? That's pretty genius if it grows.

To answer a few questions I recall from above:

-I don't feed much, maybe a cube a day.
-For now, I'm using CFL, but I may be transitioning to LEDs so I don't have to replace bulbs, plus they take us less space.
-Sump height is not determined, I currently have a 40B as my sump, but plan on building a new one when I re-plumb everything into the reef room.

 

[_shorty_]

When I moved my ATS from an above tank acrylic box that I made for my old tank, to in-sump on my new tank. I just extended the screen down to the surface of the water with fishing line and another piece of screen by litterally sewing them together.. It was a good 16ish inch drop to water line and wasn't too bad as far as noise goes - I found that as long as the screen touches the water it reduces spalsh and noise. The light was really only hitting the upper part - so the growth on the extended part was mostly just slimy stuff that easily scraped off upon cleanings.

So keep that in mind - if you can lower the whole thing through design, then great: go for it - but you might be able to get the extra distance you need by lengthening your screen size, or extending current screen size if it's already broken in. I know this goes against design specs - but I don't think it had that many 'ill effects' - just try to limit/focus the lighting to the section of screen you want to light, as best you can.

In addition - you can see my current UAS setup in my sump on the AS basic thread - where I designed the sump with this UAS in mind. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1977420&page=190
That first long OF chamber having at least 8" of water level in it for the purpose of the UAS. We'll see if the thing keeps up as well as the ATS did. You can see my extended ATS screen on the previous page of that thread before I took it down.

 

[crn005]

Am I understanding right that the concept is to allow the water to flow over the baffles edges where the mesh is hanging on the side? That's pretty genius if it grows.

Yep. That's exactly right. Just make sure that the other baffles that the water is not intended to go over are slightly taller so as to direct the flow of water over the screen. I've seen people attempt this concept before but every one that I saw was poorly planned and more so a last minute attempt to slap something together. When I set up my frag tank, I'm going to give this design a try.

I just extended the screen down to the surface of the water with fishing line and another piece of screen by litterally sewing them together

I saw a similar design that lowers the screen, but this one takes the opposite approach. It lengthens at the top and allows you to just hang your screen on the PVC pipe. Plus you don't have to worry about getting the slit in the PVC right. I plan on using this design in my scrubber I'm about to get up and running.

 

[_shorty_]

I saw a similar design that lowers the screen, but this one takes the opposite approach. It lengthens at the top and allows you to just hang your screen on the PVC pipe. Plus you don't have to worry about getting the slit in the PVC right. I plan on using this design in my scrubber I'm about to get up and running.

Yep - I thought about playing around with some waterfall style designs, myself. I can't see the pics on this thread from here (they're blocked), but pretty sure I know what you're talking about. Remember that the single sided screens should be double the size. Also - depending on how much flow you have over it and how much drop we're talking about, you could potentially generate more noise and salt creep than a typical ATS. So being able to adjust the flow over this wall would be ideal if possible. I'm up for any ideas of being able to eliminate the slotted pipe as this is one of the biggest maintenance challenges IMO about the ATS. Good luck. Post your progress. I like to see different designs.

Hopefully we are talking about the same thing.. cause if not - that might not make any sense. LOL.

 

[rrasco]

my current one does actually go into the water, its not too loud, but when it gets loud it needs a good cleaning. I've never gotten good gha growing though, just thick n slime.

 

[rrasco]

Yep - I thought about playing around with some waterfall style designs, myself. I can't see the pics on this thread from here (they're blocked), but pretty sure I know what you're talking about. Remember that the single sided screens should be double the size. Also - depending on how much flow you have over it and how much drop we're talking about, you could potentially generate more noise and salt creep than a typical ATS. So being able to adjust the flow over this wall would be ideal if possible. I'm up for any ideas of being able to eliminate the slotted pipe as this is one of the biggest maintenance challenges IMO about the ATS. Good luck. Post your progress. I like to see different designs.

If I did it, I'd probably design it like my current fuge. It's about 1" higher than the other baffles, and a closed system relative to the rest of the fuge. Only way to get water in there is a pump, and then it overflows back out. The pump I have in there is adjustable, so that is one way to control the amount of water going over the baffle.