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

ray j neal

ray j neal

Member
I got a piece of free non metal window screen. I set it on top of the water drip tray. There is a constant flow of water over it. It sits in 1/8" of water at all times coming straight from the overflow box. Is this not right? Version 1 design appears that the screen will not be exposed to air as in everyone elses designs. Is this wrong?
Light is 1" fm screen, dual sattellite 36w PC.

 
ray j neal

ray j neal

Member
It is not a hang on back setup, and yes the light is only for this (above the wet/dry sump) and is 1" away. Here is a picture of the unit I have:

 
ray j neal

ray j neal

Member
The screen is in place, it is mesh window screen. 9" long and 5" wide. Even light distribution, but no fan. Is the fan absolutely neccessary to begin the process?
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
Congrats on getting it going so quick! No a fan is no needed at all to start, and doesn't work anyway unless you pulse the flow. But you are under way! Great flow, so that's good to see. Give it a week to see what growth there is, and we can fine tune from there. Did you measure nitrate and phosphate?
By the way, I think your youtube link will work better like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzMGpGk8dng
 
ray j neal

ray j neal

Member
Thanks. I doubt this is near large enough surface area for a 150g decently stocked. We shall see. Nitrates are 40ppm...the ugly crushed coral needs to go!
 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
I'm sorry if this question was already asked, but every how often do you need to scrub each side of the turf? Every week or every month?
 
ilovemytank

ilovemytank

Member
I built mine on a screen that is in (bottom of the screen just touches the top of the water ) my sump. I'm experiencing side effects with my build that is probably make me dismantle mine. Mine is 12" x 12" and has experienced awesome algea growth. My problem is the light is provided by two 125 watt flood lights that are clipped onto the sump and aimed a couple of inches away from the screen. My sump is now growing lots of algea, I even have a buch of the red algea thats the end goal. Its causing the algea to even grow inside the neck facing the lights of my skimmer. I worried that the amount of algea being grown will clog up and burn out my return pumps. I keep haveing to pull off carpets of algea from them. Maybe this is the reason that it should be seperate from the sump. Anyone else experiencing this?????
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
lovemytank: Yes that is a real possibility with "open" designs; however yours is the first report of it, so maybe it just needs adjustment. Are the bulbs incandescent 125W, or CFL's with 125W equivalent?
keeper: You clean one side one week, then the other side the next week, etc. For 30 gal, a 5 " tall X 6" wide, lit both sides, is good. Multiply width (6) by 35 to get gph: 210gph.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
By request, here are a few pictures of my tank. These were taken about 6 months ago with a better camera than the ones in the following post. It captures the blue of the water a little better...




 
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