DIY Algae scrubber

[markstrimaran]

Well Santa Monica has some excellent lights, I have a demo set. They are my best growers.
Next on the list is LED Rock lights, built for rock crawlers Jeeps for night time stump jumping. They are waterproof and nearly indistructable. With Cree leds, not quite the optimal spectrum but they will grow.
Third is the 12 volt 10 watt cob Led, in the IP65 CASE, I have DIY, LED with glass and hot glued, to an aluminum heat sink. With glass and silicone they would be submersible.

Santa Monica. 3 watt chips 15 watt

Rock light, Cree 3 chips 9 watt.

DIY 12volt cob.10 watt. Powered with any 9 volt DC 1 amp transformer. Or a 12volt cc transformer.

 

[jaws7777]

Mhhhh now those rock light look promising. I can light both sides of the screen and get double the surfaxe area. How many perside would i need for a 12 1/2 x 16 sheet ?

 

[markstrimaran]

I use 2 of them, spaced at 4" center. It grows a semi circle about 4" × 6" . About 24 square inches, with 18 watts of leds.
Mounted on 4" centers,3 per row, stacked, 4 tall, on 4" centers. 12 lights.
More is better, as a high intensity will grow in half the time.
The optimal would be 36, 3 watt led chips, evenly spaced, for about 100 watts of total leds. This would equall, about 600 watts of incandescent brightness, from old school.
Single sided. With lots of air.

 

[jaws7777]

I use 2 of them, spaced at 4" center. It grows a semi circle about 4" × 6" . About 24 square inches, with 18 watts of leds.
Mounted on 4" centers,3 per row, stacked, 4 tall, on 4" centers. 12 lights.
More is better, as a high intensity will grow in half the time.
The optimal would be 36, 3 watt led chips, evenly spaced, for about 100 watts of total leds. This would equall, about 600 watts of incandescent brightness, from old school.
Single sided. With lots of air.

Wait that was confusing lol you use two per side or 12 ?

Scratched up enough ? Using a hole saw in reverse

 

[markstrimaran]

sorry, lol.
Basicly, you will need one 9 watt rock light per 3" x 3" area of screen, or maybe one per 4"x4" .

I have only experimented with them. So I use them in pairs, one in my upflow, and one pair in my 6x6 drip through.
On my up flow they grow an area about 4"x6" on a large roughed screen that's 8"x 20".

 

[jaws7777]

sorry, lol.
Basicly, you will need one 9 watt rock light per 3" x 3" area of screen, or maybe one per 4"x4" .

I have only experimented with them. So I use them in pairs, one in my upflow, and one pair in my 6x6 drip through.
On my up flow they grow an area about 4"x6" on a large roughed screen that's 8"x 20".

Wait your screen are 4x6 and 6x6 ? I think i oversized mine

 

[markstrimaran]

My top tank has an 8x20, and two 4x6 Hobs. Total of 50 watt leds, 36 watts of CFL.

My lower tank has a 7x14 waterfall, and a 7x7 drip thur, with 60 watt leds.

It depends on how much you feed, as to how much screen space you need.
I have a very tight sump, Their is a formula that uses cubes, of food to screen size. I use it as a rough guide, as my population is growing.
It is easier to have plenty of room, and add more lights, or increase the duration of the light. My lights are on 24x7, if I had twice the scrubber space. I could cut that back to 12 on 12 off.

 

[markstrimaran]

I have a sump build project in my garage, it will have a 18" × 20" double sided screen. I doubt I will use it all, but it will be zoned, as scrubber space.

 

[markstrimaran]

I have only used the plastic sewing screens, Walmart sells them for .99 each in the sewing craft section.
The holes in the screen serve as a "seed" to grow a new crop rapidly after harvesting.
I get abut 1/2 cup of wet algae each week on my waterfall scrubber. It will take about a month to grow that amount with a sterile screen.
You also will burn the algae if it is really thin on a new screen, using full power.

The type of algae growing is dependent on what happens to be in your sterile fish tank, and what was accidentally imported with your fish.. Some good and some bad.
I have about 6 different types growing. The best ones, I cultivated from local creek. I anchored a screen for 3 months in a creek that had a variety I liked.


Multi colors, the green, the purple, the slime.
This is more dependant on water quality, It is still an experiment, I think.

 

[markstrimaran]

Then theirs this stuff. Started growing by accidentally not cleaning a HOB diy filter element.
I have a 30 gallon tank of it in my basement, with 0 ppm nitrate. I am still tinkering with it.
Same algea, growing on sanded HDPE. It takes a long time to attach. I