Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
SantaMonica;3980804; said:
Quick guideline:

0.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon MINIMUM.
1.0 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon for HIGH filtering.
1.0 square inches of screen per gallon, with bulbs on BOTH sides. (10 x 10 = 100 square inches = 100 gal)
2.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if ONE sided.
18 hours of lights ON, and 6 hours of lights OFF, each day.
Flow is 24 hours, and is 35 gph per inch of width of screen, EVEN IF one sided.
Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.
Clean algae off of screen every SEVEN (7) days NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK.
Click to expand...

SantaMonica - Were these guidelines developed via AS on salt water systems? If so, has there been anyone that's tried more/less sq in per gallon, faster/slower flow rates, etc under FW?
 
Keith.B.Nimble;3981720; said:
This is a GREAT thread. I would really love to see more pics of freshwater AS.

I will be following Accident's posts very closely.
Click to expand...

I will post pix of the black algae mess next week. I forgot how long Santa Monica's tanks took to clear up. I have enough watts per gallon, but not enough square inches of plastic for algae to grow on and I don't think I have enough water flow. I can add water flow after a couple weeks if it doesn't control the algae.
I hope it works.:popcorn:

!A
 
ive just had an idea, although its probably been thought of before!

surely if you put the light behind the sheet, you wouldnt need to clean it so often due to the fact that the algea would keep growing,

it'll probably be less effecient the longer you dont clean it but would it work?

also do the watts per inch need to be the same for FW as SW

thanks
Matt
 
On my FW sideways (lol) scrubbers it's hard to tell just how thick it is. If I wait longer than the 7 days it will get very thick and come off in sheets. The dark side of the sheet is very obviously beginning to die.

!A
 
i would be building the scrubber inside my sump and so it would kinda look like this.

i understand that the thick algae will block out the new algae but surely if the new algea grows under the old thick algae, it could go ages without having to be cleaned?

Matt

Slide1.JPG
 
What you have in your pic has been analyzed, but not built and tested. Yes, theoretically, it can sit forever without cleaning, because as the algae gets thick, one side only gets light, and the other side only gets flow. With regular scrubbers, when the flow reduces for some some reason, the section of algae with reduced flow turns a rubbery yellow. It's not dead, just yellow. This may happen to the light-side of yours too. It may not mean anything bad, but, it has not been tested. One thing for sure is that it will not be as powerful as regular scrubbers since the light and the flow start separating immediately, thus slowing growth. But for people who can't clean weekly, it may work perfectly.
 
also, dead or dying algae releases nutrients back into the water. You will want to get it out. I know it's a long thread, but Santa Monica covers that topic well. You need to scrape off the algae every week in a salt tank. It's seems to be taking longer to build up in my fresh tanks, but I'm still able to scrape off some every week.
 
i think im going to give it a go and i can report my findings back to you guys, i will try and clean every week anyway but i am away for more than a week every now and again and so am looking to find one that will require less cleaning!

thanks for the help guys
matt
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom