OK. So I've decided to build a vertical flow scrubber and am going to feed it with one of my drain lines. Because of my space I have to work with, I am going to need to use a screen that is pretty wide but not very tall. I found some 13 inch mesh screen and want to use that. It's going to be 13x8 inches. Now I understand that I need around 35 gph per horizontal inch so that's 13x35=455 gph of flow. After cutting my slit in my pipe and roughing it all in, I am beginning to have my doubts that 455 gph will flow through that tiny 13 inch slit. I am using a ball valve to regulate my flow through it and can easily use a gallon jug to get the flow coming straight out of my pipe to that level, but I'm thinking once I add the pipe that the slit is really going to restrict the flow and it's not going to be easy to catch all the water coming out of a 13 inch slit to measure it to make sure I'm still at the roughly 455 gph I am looking for. Am I over thinking this? Maybe that little slit will give me all that flow but I certainly have my doubts. I can see where a screen that is taller rather than wider would be an advantage b/c it would require less flow but like I said I can't do that with my current distance between the bottom of my tank and the water line of my sump. Any of you water calculating geniuses on here care to chime in? LOL.
Question on flow rate for algae scrubber
- Thread starter leerph
- Start date
Crusinjimbo
New member
Without info on your tank and drain I would guess you are not going to get that volume of water through a slot with just gravity as power. You may get a good guess by determining the volume your return pump sends back to your tank and proportioning that number to the drain volume and distribution. Scrubbers will work at almost any reasonable flow volume, screen angle and light intensity but the level of production will will also vary. You migh want to check out the Advanced area Algae Scrubber Threads. Good luck
