turf scrubbers

J

jstdv8

Guest
That looks awesome!
I use a black piece of ABS pipe thats 3" for my spalsh shield exactly what you were thinking of doing. The bigger pipe is not very pretty but it is functional.
Also for those of you who may not have started your screens yet. I'm hearing the hot thing to do as far as roughing up the screen is to leave the first 1" of the screen smooth so algae can't grow there easily. Sounds like a really good idea.
Too late for most of us, but for the future :)
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
So, I'm late to the party here but....its 35 GPH for every linear 1". Not for ever linear foot.
Here is a clipping from the scrubber site.
Q: How much flow do I need on the screen?
A: At least 35 U.S. gallons per hour (gph) (133 lph) for every inch (2.5cm) of width of the screen. Thus a screen one inch wide would need at least 35 gph, and a screen two inches wide would need at least 70 gph, etc. More is even better. Less flow means less performance, and parts of the screen may go dry. And if you are making a horizontal screen, you then want ALL the flow on the one (top) side. This is because fast flow is critical, and horizontal screens do not have fast flow. So you make up for this by putting all the flow from a two-sided screen onto the one top side of a one-sided screen. And in all screens, flow will be limited by the roughness of the screen, because a smooth screen will let go of algae sooner than a rough screen will.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I was going to mention that too, but I figured everyone kinda got the idea.
I didn't see anybody trying to put 3 GPH over thier 10" wide screen
Posiden,
Youve got a scrubber if I recall right?
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
ok i have been away for a while for work, a few updates. on day 8 when i checked the screen it had some gha groing on it, very little but it was still there. then on day 10 i went to clean it off and all the gha was gone and all i had was diatoms. not sure if i waited to long to clean or what. i have a question about personal experiences. how far do you guys keep your lights from screen? (mine 2-3inches) didnt know if i am too close. i still have a green film on my screen, but it seems like my gha was growing in the lower light areas. i will wait til next cleaning to see what it looks like, if it's the same way i will probably move lights back a few inches and see what happens then.
 
gill again68

gill again68

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Posiden http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/180#post_3338054
So, I'm late to the party here but....its 35 GPH for every linear 1". Not for ever linear foot.
Here is a clipping from the scrubber site.
Q: How much flow do I need on the screen?
A: At least 35 U.S. gallons per hour (gph) (133 lph) for every inch (2.5cm) of width of the screen. Thus a screen one inch wide would need at least 35 gph, and a screen two inches wide would need at least 70 gph, etc. More is even better. Less flow means less performance, and parts of the screen may go dry. And if you are making a horizontal screen, you then want ALL the flow on the one (top) side. This is because fast flow is critical, and horizontal screens do not have fast flow. So you make up for this by putting all the flow from a two-sided screen onto the one top side of a one-sided screen. And in all screens, flow will be limited by the roughness of the screen, because a smooth screen will let go of algae sooner than a rough screen will.
So 35 GPH for a 10" wide screen would need a pump that puts out 350 GPH?
Of course thats not calculating any head loss and assuming the pump specs are 100% accurate which we know they typically aint.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Has anyone built one of these where the overflow from the tank directly feeds this contraption? No pump needed?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Is pressure needed? You just want the water to flow over the mesh no? Seems that in reading the discussion here the amount of water going over it is the most important thing.
IDK just throwing it out there.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
yes spanko, there are several like that. I think one of these new guys has his setup with jsut his overflow.
Then at the end of the spray bar they have the tube elbow upwards with the end uncapped so in case the screen clogs up the slot in the spray bar it just overflows out the end of the pipe and into the sump so you don't back up your DT.
I prefer the pump so I can shut it off when I want for cleaning. But that is more electricity
 
desertdawg

desertdawg

Member
I have,
From my overflow box to the screen, to the tub and pumped back to the tank with a ball valve to control flow back up.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
well my growth has went back to just the diatom lookin stuff, but it's pretty thick. so i keep cleaning every 4-5 days? how long does it usually take to start getting a bunch of gha?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
mine took a long time (like almsot 2 months) becuase I had a few problems
Not enough light, slightly too little flow and i had a load of GHA in teh DT that it was competing against.
So there are a few things that might make it grow in slow, but I think 3-4 weeks is really common before you start seeing significant amounts of algae in the screen. so you are probably right on schedule.
I also started feeding really heavy and that helped kick it up pretty quickly.
But I also fixed teh lightinga nd adjusted the flow rate at about the same time so its hard to say what finally got mine going good.
Once its established you will be good to go though.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i was reading on the scrubber site and i think i might need more light. i have only one 26 watt bulb on it right now. i bought a 2nd fixture and bulb when i set it up, but i was going to try and see how well it did and try to save on power, and mess of cords and clutter under tank. but i will set up the 2nd light tommorow. i too started feeding heavier when i set up the scrubber. i can tell a big difference in how fast the glass gets dirty, and i get hardly any algae growing in display, if i fed this much before my lr would have been covered in green or brown algae! its only day 13
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
Here a shot of mine 8 days running - I put stainless steel bowls around my lights to direct the light over the screen, I tested my paramters they haven't changed from last time
NO3 = 20
Phos = 1 to 2
Here are some pictures
 
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