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Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, Everything - Page 60

post #1181 of 1375
2/27/10 at 11:18pm
Thread Starter 






























Videos:

Front Side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNHlRScPYn4

Back Side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYiWOxdliiA
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post #1182 of 1375
2/28/10 at 5:52am
I think the screen is showing too much warping. I see this might cause the screen to press up against the acrylic window, reducing its over all effectiveness. Also it might cause blockage which will lead to slurping.

It might be a good idea to consider some pegs or something at the bottom to hold the screen in a relative straight line.
Or something at the bottom of the screen to keep it straight.
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post #1183 of 1375
2/28/10 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Interestingly the position of the screen doesn't have any impact at all on flow or growth. The only position that matters is the end, which gets less light, and doesn't grow green as much.
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post #1184 of 1375
2/28/10 at 6:34pm
After reading a lot of positive feedback I built a scrubber last week. It's an in-sump design and is on my 125 fish only. My nitrates have always been high
(160+ppm) so this should be an interesting test. Hopefully my water quality will improve like others. The screen is around 12x18 and is getting great water flow. The only thing I would like to improve is the lighting.

1st picture-seeding the screen.
2nd picture-scrubber set-up
3rd picture-pipes
4th picture- day 4 growth
5th picture- day 7 growth ( right side of screen has a lot of growth not visible because of bubbles in the water)

Towards the bottom of the screen you will notice very little growth. That is due to the water level sometimes raising when I need to top-off my aquarium. I have noticed a lot of evaporation since setting this up but if my water quality improves I don't mind at all.
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post #1185 of 1375
2/28/10 at 6:39pm
And a few more pictures. Including water flow and my water quality which has not changed yet (only 7 days into running scrubber though).


The design itself was easy to make, and I didn't have to cut into my wet/dry or mod it in any way. Running the pipe was a little tricky though because I had to cut into the existing pipe that ran entirely to the wet/dry and put in a splitter with a valve. The way it's set up right now I have some water still running through my wet/dry and the rest running to my scrubber. My water flow is excellent on the scrubber, It runs perfectly on the entire screen.
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post #1186 of 1375
2/28/10 at 11:59pm
Originally Posted by SantaMonica View Post
The only position that matters is the end, which gets less light, and doesn't grow green as much.
Any chances of increasing the reflector length or something?
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post #1187 of 1375
3/1/10 at 12:58am
Thread Starter 
Reflector? I did not see any light at all.
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post #1188 of 1375
3/1/10 at 4:04am
Originally Posted by SantaMonica View Post
Reflector? I did not see any light at all.
You have lights that run length of the unit on the outside of the acrylic panel, correct? Don't they have reflectors of some kind?

If not, maybe adding some will be an improvement to the design.
Hopefully to increase the light intensity near the ends of the screen.
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post #1189 of 1375
3/1/10 at 6:51pm
santa

how come in your vid you barely push against the algae with your thumbs and it comes right off the screen? I have to go at mine with a scraper to get it to seperate (usually a brand new razor) the stuff onmy screen is so tough I have a really hard time getting it off the screen. any theories on this? since your the long time screen runner I figured I see what you thought.

also your algal mass seems to get really long mine just gets about 1/2 inch thick on the screen and thats it. no giant mass of algae to remove? is my water too clean for bulk growth?
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post #1190 of 1375
3/2/10 at 5:27am
Yeah, same here. My screen is 3 layers and I have to scrape/slice off the algae when I clean it, and the growth is a thick mass of algae.
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post #1191 of 1375
3/2/10 at 8:13am
Originally Posted by reefkprZ View Post
I have a really hard time getting it off the screen.
Mine comes off with about as much effort as you put into wiping with a paper towel. Its not hard at all to clean my screen. I usually use my thumb and slide it down, scraping everything off along the way.
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post #1192 of 1375
3/2/10 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
As your nutrients come down, the algae gets greener and more hairy, and will come right off (which is why you need a rough screen). So keep cleaning all the dark stuff off.

Also, more powerful lights will grow greener/lighter, but you are limited by CFL spots light burning the middle. That's where T5HO's come in... they put full power all the way across without burning the middle. Even the ends of my 100 are dark brown, due to less light, even though the ends have the most flow.
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post #1193 of 1375
3/10/10 at 2:52am
Thread Starter 
Here is the initial design for a nano scrubber. Nanos have always been the hardest to DIY a scrubber for. This scrubber is designed to be mounted above the waterline of a nano, and then drain down into it, without needing a real sump below the tank. It will come with a pump that will go into the display (like a powerhead) or into the hidden "sump" section at the back of the tank. I'm building a test version of it now, and if it works out good I'll post the plans for others to build:


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post #1194 of 1375
3/19/10 at 2:28am
Thread Starter 
A great way to add a reflector to your DIY CFL bulbs:

http://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/...heap-easy.html
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post #1195 of 1375
3/29/10 at 2:49am
Thread Starter 
What to dose when you don't do waterchanges

Many folks ask if anything needs to be dosed, if they stop doing water changes. If a reef tank, you'll certainly need to dose Calcium and Alkalinity. Then some Magnesium when needed. And maybe Strontium. The easiest way to dose Cal and Alk is by mixing some powdered lime with your topoff water. For details, search for "kalkwasser dripping". The powder is cheap from here: http://store.mrswagesstore.com/mrswagpiclim.html

Everything else is supplied by the food you feed, and by the organics from the scrubber. This includes all the trace elements that you always hear about. Remember that in the ocean, 90% of all life (besides bacteria) is algae. Algae provides all the food for everything that lives in the ocean, by coverting the sun into organics. And included in these organics are the trace elements that your tank needs too. Cal and Alk, however, are inorganic, and are used up quickly by corals and coralline, so you need to dose them often or continuously. Mag is dosed when your test says to. And the same with Strontium.
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post #1196 of 1375
3/30/10 at 12:11pm
Hey SantaMonica I built a scrubber and my light is pointed at the center of my screen. Nothing is growing directly in front of the light. It is growing all around screen except for a perfect circle in the center where my light points. It's a CFL 26 watt. Equivelent to 90 watts. It was about 2 inches from screen. I have recently moved it back to about 5 1/2 inches.
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post #1197 of 1375
3/30/10 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
Turn the light off for 6 hours a day.
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post #1198 of 1375
3/30/10 at 2:51pm
It is off for 6 hours a day since day one. It's on a timer.
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post #1199 of 1375
3/30/10 at 4:08pm
mine is set to 12/12
(when I do have it running)
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post #1200 of 1375
3/31/10 at 10:07am
Thread Starter 
Then yes the bulb was too close. Tha't one problem with CFL's.... they concentrate the light in one spot. When you pull the light back to get less light in the spot, the surrounding areas don't get enough. Increased flow is another fix, but the screen needs to be very rough to hold on to the algae.
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