Algae Scrubber Advanced

[SantaMonica]

Be careful if you plan on putting those lights inside the box. They are not waterproof and it's a matter of time before something happens.

[Horace]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

Be careful if you plan on putting those lights inside the box. They are not waterproof and it's a matter of time before something happens.

I plan on putting an additional glass shield over it, and I also removed the glass and siliconed it on to make it water tight. Agree the rubber seal was garbage....it didn't prevent moisture.


I plan to cut holes in the side panels and mounting the lights to the outside.

More importantly, how well do these lights work? They are bright pink. I have 2 rated for 50w each.

I plan on a roughly 8x8 screen

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[Horace]

Finished it up tonight.

It has 10x7 screen

Should git er dun I hope on the 180g



Screen removed



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[SantaMonica]

They should be ok. It will have a hot spot in the middle, but overall should be ok.

[Horace]

So one thing I didn't adequately prepare for was the LOUD noise of the drain. This thing is insanely loud.....

How the heck are you guys handling that? unfortunately the water level is all the way up to the point where it is nearly spilling out of the holes I cut for the lights....so I cant really let the water go any higher up w/out sealing those openings. The only thing I can think of to quiet the thing is to create some sort of spill ramp that gently lets the water go from the box to the sump, or put a gate valve on there to do a siphon and put an overflow tube in as well.

I have my doubts that will work well with only 1/2" of water in the bottom of the ATS....Honestly I really am struggling with what to do here....

[Floyd R Turbo]

Put a valve on the drain and "tune" it to the input rate. Possibly stick a piece of airline hose into the drain also (from above). The valve thing usually works best when you have a secondary drain, just in case. Though I've literally never had one clog, your drain is exposed to the algae screen directly, so it's possible.

If the holes around the light fixture are sealed up, that's a start. Hopefully it's "well" sealed up?

[SantaMonica]

If you can find a way to get the drain to the sump water level, it will be silent.

[Horace]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

If you can find a way to get the drain to the sump water level, it will be silent.

That just gave me an idea....

Build a float for it! It already has flex pipe feeding it. The issue is the water level goes up when the return is turned off and I can't have the lights go under water

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[Horace]

So here is about 10 days growth since starting the new ATS. Not too shabby. Hopefully the next couple weeks should keep filling in nicely. Should I leave it alone for a while longer?



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[Floyd R Turbo]

Just back from vaca...surprised no one else replied!

I would just gently rub & rinse to clear off any loose growth and let it keep growing

[kenneth wolfe]

Originally Posted by Horace

So here is about 10 days growth since starting the new ATS. Not too shabby. Hopefully the next couple weeks should keep filling in nicely. Should I leave it alone for a while longer?



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Imo your method of spraying water on like that is washing off the Algae, more holes, a diffuser? Something

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[SantaMonica]

No it can't wash it off because it's attached. The usual problem with that design is the holes clog.

[kenneth wolfe]

Wash it off also means never getting a chance to attach, if you let it go longer it would most likely work threw it, but wanting to scrape it every few weeks , it's to much flow for that, you said it buy "blowing threw the holes " tuning a algae scrubber sometimes takes patatints, and understanding on what's going on, I personally don't like those high maintenance devices, but ok , I have a sorta high end scrubber, a lot easier than those..for sure. Jmo

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[ali1]

Any decent Led fixture for waterfall type scrubber? Ive used 2 of the 60w versions below to light both sides of my scrubber. Now im making the scrubber bigger and Im wondering if theres alternative fixtures without dropping $70 per fixture.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073C...rch&th=1&psc=1

[karimwassef]

This is what I use

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B017GX6USY

[salty joe]

Just wondering how long that light has been working. I got a few similar lights that were 10W and they failed after a couple months. I even put a little fan on each one since they got a little warm, which kept them cool.

[karimwassef]

I bought 5 and all have been running continuously for 40 days now.

[ali1]

So red leds isn’t necessary?

[karimwassef]

Eh.. I tried comparing red & blue & white... I couldn't make out a measurable difference. Algae is pretty indiscriminate in my view... they grow wherever the sun shines.

Others may disagree - I just share my results and observations. More PAR = more algae.

[outy]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Others may disagree - I just share my results and observations. More PAR = more algae.

I agree.

been running the 30W versions of those lights for a year.

Red on one side and white on the other, water flow dictates growth more so then color

[iammrhappy]

Originally Posted by outy

I agree.

been running the 30W versions of those lights for a year.

Red on one side and white on the other, water flow dictates growth more so then color

Do you have a link? Are they truly waterproof?

Thanks

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[Floyd R Turbo]

IP65 is not waterproof. IP67 would be, for our purposes, waterproof

http://www.dsmt.com/resources/ip-rating-chart/

[karimwassef]

I left mine out in the rain... no issues. Unless you're submerging them, IP65 has worked ok for me

[Floyd R Turbo]

IP65 | Protected from total dust ingress. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction.

That would make sense, rain would qualify as probably less than "low pressure water jets". But IP65 is not for full submersion. Add in IP65 from China, definitely not full submersion.

[outy]

Originally Posted by iammrhappy

Do you have a link? Are they truly waterproof?

Just cheap ebay crap, they are also rusting from mist lol

not waterproof


I hang mine with brass coated looking chain from eyehooks.