Algae Scrubber design help

I also like the one on the far left. However, instead of ball valves, I would go with gate valves. They are more precise. You will probably find that the ball/gate valve on the farthest left will almost be entirely closed at all times, but it would allow for better adjustment.

The gph over the screen depends on the horizontal width of the screen. you need 35gph per inch of horizontal length.

I also have another idea for the design, and I'm just putting it out there for consideration...

You could put a T fitting in the center of the scrubber that is fed by your overflow, and have both ends of the scrubber fit with ball valves. At the top, you could use a union. It would allow for more even flow across the screen. The only problem I see is taking the scrubber off to be cleaned, you would have to turn your return pump off or replace it with a piece of PVC with a union on it while you are cleaning the screen.

Just another design to consider.

Also, think about a splash shield and how you would mount it. Personally, I am going to install a scrubber into a drilled 10g aquarium , and baffle the inside of it and install the lights in the dry spots... Kind of like Al&Burks design.

It definitely will. I love these kinds of threads that show the power of scrubbers. :D Can't wait for more pics. I'll post a "paint" pic of the design I am talking about soon.

Simple, basic design. It would allow even water flow over the screen (if the slot is cut correctly, all the way across the T) and the ball valves on the sides would simply be a way for extra water to escape, if there was too much flow over the screen, or if you wanted to increase the flow over the screen. As you see, the union at the top can have another piece of pipe with the other side of the union on it that you can replace the screen with to keep your return pump going when  you are cleaning the screen.

Anyways, I'm not saying DO THIS DESIGN, I'm just saying consider it, and if it suits your fancy, give it a go.

I like Al's design. No offense. Lol. 

900gph turnover on a 20g? Just making sure your not doing a fuge down there as well. Cause that's really fast if you plan to have stuff growing down below.

My water runs really slow over my current fuge. Right now my 55g fuge has about 160gph turnover. Its nice and slow so things can stew a bit.

Back on topic, here is an old scubber I did a couple years ago:

Its pretty self explanatory. It was double sided and had about 300gph running across a 10.5' wide screen. It was the drainage from the overflow on a 125g tank.

The sump in the photo was a 55g that I picked up for $20 on CL. I had the return in the middle. The overflow from the DT could go down the right or left side, I could independently control more or less flow to each side depending on my preference. EX: the scrubber side had just LR in it. The other side had a fuge going where I could really slow it down significantly if I wanted. The return I could also throttle as needed:

At first the water didnt flow good, but after algae grew things were fine:

Hope this helps.

Nice Scrubber - I don't understand this part

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al&Burke 

Nice Scrubber - I don't understand this part

 

Water from the DT drains down to the "T"  and can go two ways: to the line down below, or keeps moving forward to the upper line. I could close off the bottom line and force the pressure to the upper line, or vice versa cut the upper line and have it flow downward. The upper line was what fed the Scrubber. I honestly only opened up the bottom line when I was needing to clean the scrubber. In that case I would close the upper butterfly valve and open the lower one. From there I could unscrew the scrubber via a simple coupler.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cipher43 

the 900 GPH is going on my 120 with a 40 gallon sump/fuge.  Also the tank has double overflows so i may put one going into the fuge and the other one feeding the ATS.

Like your scrubber btw

 

 

What size pipe would you all suggest for these?

Your fuge side doesnt need much, youlle just have to make a judgement call really. Remember, think of it like the crockpot of the tank. Its just not cool to have water racing though a fuge.

If memory serves me, my main drain line on that build was 2" each side. And my scubber junction featured a 1.5" offshoot. Theres plenty of gravity calculators out there. I think I chose to have overkill on each side so that in emergancy, one whole side could get backed up(which never happened) and still have enough to allow drainage on the other.

Draw up a design in paint program and we can spot flaws in the design. It's hard to visualize it with just words for me.