I get that screen material from Wal-Mart. You get 5 big sheets for about $6. Its called plastic canvas.garvin123g;5030100; said:
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
Not much. I've had 4 10w LEDS on my 150 gal CA/SA cihlid tank....no alge even on the glass tops!
Well done santamonica, very nice and well executed. Do you plan to sell them? Pm me if you do.
Here is a video of what Dr. Walter Adey (inventor of the scrubber) was doing 20 years ago, in addition to working on scrubbers:
http://vsx.onstreammedia.com/vsx/pbssaf/search/PBSPlayer?assetId=68119&ccstart=0&pt=0&preview=
http://vsx.onstreammedia.com/vsx/pbssaf/search/PBSPlayer?assetId=68119&ccstart=0&pt=0&preview=
Long story short,
I work at a pet store with a 2600 gallon freshwater system (including the sump). The system is about 15 years old, so has 15 years worth of algae varieties that have gathered up. My employees spend hours a day scrubbing away and bleaching ornaments and gravel just to keep it all under control.
I like this idea and I think I can make it work for this system.
PROBLEMS
2600 gallons = 5200 sq inches
If I were to do 3ftx4ft screens I would need 18 of them
I have space for a 3ftx3ft footprint next to the sump that I could put something.
I don't think the owner would go for lighting 18 individual screens on an experimental idea. I want to keep this to a single light fixture.
I also know that the owner would never pay for this unless it was incredibly successful, so I need to keep costs down to cover the risk. I'm thinking $100 dollars, not including the pump
Anyone have any ideas on how to arrange this?
Also, any solid reports on LED lighting versus fluorescent? And does a full spectrum lamp make a large enough difference, or would algae grow from just more lumens?
I will be conducting tests in some spare tanks at home soon and can post some pictures of my progress.
I work at a pet store with a 2600 gallon freshwater system (including the sump). The system is about 15 years old, so has 15 years worth of algae varieties that have gathered up. My employees spend hours a day scrubbing away and bleaching ornaments and gravel just to keep it all under control.
I like this idea and I think I can make it work for this system.
PROBLEMS
2600 gallons = 5200 sq inches
If I were to do 3ftx4ft screens I would need 18 of them
I have space for a 3ftx3ft footprint next to the sump that I could put something.
I don't think the owner would go for lighting 18 individual screens on an experimental idea. I want to keep this to a single light fixture.
I also know that the owner would never pay for this unless it was incredibly successful, so I need to keep costs down to cover the risk. I'm thinking $100 dollars, not including the pump
Anyone have any ideas on how to arrange this?
Also, any solid reports on LED lighting versus fluorescent? And does a full spectrum lamp make a large enough difference, or would algae grow from just more lumens?
I will be conducting tests in some spare tanks at home soon and can post some pictures of my progress.
$100 sounds like a pipe dream.Samad;5074363; said:
Also, where did you get 18 3x4 screens? One 3x4 screen is 1728 sq in on one side, both sides are double that. So you need two at the most, and you could scrape by with one at the least. For lighting, you probably want t5s, either normal or high output. Normal t5s are more efficient (more light per watt), but output less light. HOs are more intense.
I would probably do one 3x4 screen, lit by 5-10 well-reflected t5s on each side. Pump will need to be approximately 1300gph at 4'.
Could easily spend $500 on lighting it, though. The good news is if you do it right, it will nearly eliminate algae in the tank.
2600 gal = 2600 sq in (not 5400). Example: 51 X 51 = 2600.
60" high would fit 60" (54 watt T5HO) bulbs. 60high X 36wide = 2160 sq in. A bit small, but could work.
2 screens is best, 1080 each (18 wide each). Clean one at a time.
2600 gal = 0.5 watts X 2600 = 1300 watts minimum. 1300 divided by 54 watts = 24 bulbs, which would be 12 bulbs per side. This would do the job.
If you go smaller, with less wattage, it may or may not do the job, but you could experiment. Totally depends how much you feed. If it's too small, or too little wattage, it will always grow dark/black algae because it can never reduce nutrients fast enough. Use this as a feeding guide:
Each cube of frozen food you feed per day needs 12 square inches of screen, with a light on both sides totaling 12 watts. Thus a nano that is fed one cube a day would need a screen 3 X 4 inches with a 6 watt bulb on each side. A larger tank that is fed 10 cubes a day would need a screen 10 X 12 inches with 60 watts of light on each side. If you feed flake, feeder fish, or anything else, you will need to blend it up super thick, strain out the excess water, pour it into a cube, and see how many cubes it is.
LED's have not worked yet.
60" high would fit 60" (54 watt T5HO) bulbs. 60high X 36wide = 2160 sq in. A bit small, but could work.
2 screens is best, 1080 each (18 wide each). Clean one at a time.
2600 gal = 0.5 watts X 2600 = 1300 watts minimum. 1300 divided by 54 watts = 24 bulbs, which would be 12 bulbs per side. This would do the job.
If you go smaller, with less wattage, it may or may not do the job, but you could experiment. Totally depends how much you feed. If it's too small, or too little wattage, it will always grow dark/black algae because it can never reduce nutrients fast enough. Use this as a feeding guide:
Each cube of frozen food you feed per day needs 12 square inches of screen, with a light on both sides totaling 12 watts. Thus a nano that is fed one cube a day would need a screen 3 X 4 inches with a 6 watt bulb on each side. A larger tank that is fed 10 cubes a day would need a screen 10 X 12 inches with 60 watts of light on each side. If you feed flake, feeder fish, or anything else, you will need to blend it up super thick, strain out the excess water, pour it into a cube, and see how many cubes it is.
LED's have not worked yet.
