Hair Algae Problem, What Should I do to Fix?

[yannifish]

Thanks for all that.
To clean, I just have to turn the turn the return pump off, that's not a problem.
I'm plumbing it so I have a T in the pump, one going to the scrubber, the other going strait the the sump. I'll control how much water goes to the scrubber with a ball valve (or I'll control how much goes to the sump, I haven't decided yet).

 

[al&burke]

I thought that the surface where the algae grows was supposed to be rough, I dont understand the half pipe below the spray bar as well is that attached to the algae screen. Looks really good once I understand it.

 

[jstdv8]

well in that cool system i showed the water comes out of the spray bar and into the trough style bar which holds the screen, so basically you can take the trough and the screen out and jsut let the spray bar run without ever having to shut off the overflow or the pump.
Its alot more elaborate than most designs, I jsut thought I'd post it as something neat. especially if you were going to go with 100% overflow water since its a bit of a pain to shut down your overflow and start it back up and all (my pump doesnt always turn back on by iteslf, needs a good vingar bath)

 

[jstdv8]

the other thing thats really neat about that design is that you should get very little spray, since the water is coming out of the upper tube its never going to had a change to have algae buildup in the slot and spray water.
the only downside I can see is that I wonder how much flow you can have before the water jsut comes up over the top of the trough instead of out the slot and onto the screen.
In a standard system the water doesnt have any choice but to be forced out the screen slot.
may be a downside.
Sure looks nice though.

 

[jstdv8]

this is an easy nice design for one with a pump.

Mine looks very similar to this one except I put caps on the ends of the feet at the base and my inlet is not at the top like that its on one of the "legs" but overall very similar

 

[yannifish]

How do you keep the water from just flowing up, over the screen, and back down the other pipe?
Hopefuly I can get more materials tomorrow, and get building. If not, it will have to wait until after thanksgiving.
I'm looking forward to seeing this in action, and seeing how it works.

 

[jstdv8]

I think in that system pictured at the bottom he must have the pipes plugged. in mine all the ends of the pipes are plugged with a cap so the water has nowhere to go out except the slot where the screen is at.
The screen should sit into the water about an inch as well, this will help keep your pods hapilly in your sump and in your Dt eventually.

 

[yannifish]

I'll just have a curve in the pipe going up (after the slot), so water has to go down the screen. But it can still flow up and over the curve if for some reason the screen clogs.
I've been busy lately, so I haven't managed to get much done. But, I'll keep you posted.

 

[jstdv8]

yep, the overflow thing is a good idea.