gill again68
Active Member
Would someone mind sending me "the Link". I would really like to start studying on this. May be a nice addition to my setup.
turf scrubbers
- Thread starter d-man
- Start date
d-man
Member
I'm starting to think that one 23w CF will not be quite enough, but there is only one way to know for sure. I like the trash can idea a lot because I'm all about saving time and money, but I don't think I'm going to go that way for 3 reasons. 1. I've done enough of the "funky look" for my fish tank and would like to start making "cleaner" designs. 2. I'm planning on making a sump/fuge and have never glued Plexiglas at all, so I feel the experience will be good for me. 3. I have a very specific space to work with.
ok, I'm not the best at describing this stuff and I have no clue how to draw it up in some program, so I hope this makes since.
It will not be in my sump, but a stand alone item before my sump. All measurements are in inches.
it will be 14T 11w and about 11or so long. The bottom will be a 2in catch that connects both the screen towers. I will have 2 screen towers that will be 2w and 12 tall with a 7in gap in between them for my lights. the top 2 of the screen towers will be where I put my spray bar and I will make a notch in the sides of the tower to place the screes (witch I'm going to have some tabs on the top of to fit the notch) The screen will go all the way to the bottom and the out let will be 1 up from the bottom so the bottom of the screen can be fully submerged.
ok, I'm not the best at describing this stuff and I have no clue how to draw it up in some program, so I hope this makes since.
It will not be in my sump, but a stand alone item before my sump. All measurements are in inches.
it will be 14T 11w and about 11or so long. The bottom will be a 2in catch that connects both the screen towers. I will have 2 screen towers that will be 2w and 12 tall with a 7in gap in between them for my lights. the top 2 of the screen towers will be where I put my spray bar and I will make a notch in the sides of the tower to place the screes (witch I'm going to have some tabs on the top of to fit the notch) The screen will go all the way to the bottom and the out let will be 1 up from the bottom so the bottom of the screen can be fully submerged.
J
jstdv8
Guest
the link to the website is www.algaescrubber.net
They don't sell them on SWF.com so I think its ok to post since its all DIY.
If i'm wrong mods please delete this post.
They don't sell them on SWF.com so I think its ok to post since its all DIY.
If i'm wrong mods please delete this post.
gill again68
Active Member
Thanks got the link.
J
jstdv8
Guest
Here's the most important information needed when designing your scrubber. The only scrubber systems i've seen fail (at least those that posted about it) were the ones that tried to do something other than reccomended. New experimental stuff is fun, but you have to realize you may or may not get results. The basic guidlines give results.
Since others have taken an interest to this thread i figured it would be a good idea to post this up here.
Scrubber Quick Guideline:
0.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon MINIMUM [0.13 watts per liter].
1.0 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon for HIGH filtering [0.26 watts per liter].
1.0 square inches of screen per gallon, with bulbs on BOTH sides (10 x 10 = 100 square inches = 100 gal)
[1.64 square cm per liter]
2.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if vertical but lit on just ONE side. [3.28 square cm per liter]
4.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if HORIZONTAL [6.56 square cm per liter].
1.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon if HORIZONTAL [0.4 watts per liter].
18 hours of lights ON, and 6 hours of lights OFF, each day.
Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen, EVEN IF one sided [60 lph per cm].
Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.
Clean algae off of screen every SEVEN (7) days NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK.
Since others have taken an interest to this thread i figured it would be a good idea to post this up here.
Scrubber Quick Guideline:
0.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon MINIMUM [0.13 watts per liter].
1.0 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon for HIGH filtering [0.26 watts per liter].
1.0 square inches of screen per gallon, with bulbs on BOTH sides (10 x 10 = 100 square inches = 100 gal)
[1.64 square cm per liter]
2.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if vertical but lit on just ONE side. [3.28 square cm per liter]
4.0 square inches of screen per gallon, if HORIZONTAL [6.56 square cm per liter].
1.5 actual (not equivalent) fluorescent watts per gallon if HORIZONTAL [0.4 watts per liter].
18 hours of lights ON, and 6 hours of lights OFF, each day.
Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen, EVEN IF one sided [60 lph per cm].
Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.
Clean algae off of screen every SEVEN (7) days NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK.
gill again68
Active Member
Is there + s to having more than recommended? Meaning if I have 100 gal do I get twice the benefit of a 20 inch screen versus 10 inch or do the benefits of overdoing fall off at some point?
J
jstdv8
Guest
I think it would be a waste of energy to be honest. My screen took my phos from .5 and my nitrates from 40 down to 0 even when it was barely grown in, So its much more powerful than I even need.
If you want to know you could always just ask SantaMonica on the website or on his really long thread on this site.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/330606/mega-powerful-nitrate-and-phosphate-remover-replaces-skimmer-refugium-everything
If you want to know you could always just ask SantaMonica on the website or on his really long thread on this site.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/330606/mega-powerful-nitrate-and-phosphate-remover-replaces-skimmer-refugium-everything
gill again68
Active Member
Thanks for the info. I trust the people that have gone before me.
d-man
Member
I was finally able to get most of the stuff today, hopefully I'll be able to get everything tomorrow without driving to far. It might be hard to find the right stuff to glue or cold weld the plexiglass together. If I have to I'll drive the 45 min one way to the Tap Plastics store. It might be fun to go there anyway. I'm not set on what I'm going to use as a screen. I picked up a plastic sand bag that looks like I could rough it up until it was pretty fuzzy. It cost .60$ so if it wont work no big deal. I'm thinking if I scrape it up with a saw blade on my dremel as really low speed I could get it so it has little holes in it. what do you think Jstdv8?
gill again68
Active Member
Im going to a local hobby store today to see if I can find the plastic screen that others on here use. It has very small square holes in it. I was thinking to ruff it up I might use a brass wire brush attachment on my drill.
Anyone know of any danger if some small brass particles were introduced to a salt water system?
Anyone know of any danger if some small brass particles were introduced to a salt water system?
al&burke
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill again68 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/20#post_3333379
Im going to a local hobby store today to see if I can find the plastic screen that others on here use. It has very small square holes in it. I was thinking to ruff it up I might use a brass wire brush attachment on my drill.
Anyone know of any danger if some small brass particles were introduced to a salt water system?
I got some last night at a craft store, must of been funny seeing a 6'3 guy buying knitting screens and some cotton bat. LOL
Originally Posted by Gill again68 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/20#post_3333379
Im going to a local hobby store today to see if I can find the plastic screen that others on here use. It has very small square holes in it. I was thinking to ruff it up I might use a brass wire brush attachment on my drill.
Anyone know of any danger if some small brass particles were introduced to a salt water system?
I got some last night at a craft store, must of been funny seeing a 6'3 guy buying knitting screens and some cotton bat. LOL
d-man
Member
I was going to look at the craft store as well, but I'm also going to keep my eyes out for something that can get a little rougher. People say they have a hard time getting it to the point they want. It's going to be easy to replace the screen in my set up so I might make a few of them and try different things out. Maybe they'll have something good at Tap Plastic today.
Personally I would be concerned if I had brass in my tank, but I think you can wash it after your done and get all the brass out.
Personally I would be concerned if I had brass in my tank, but I think you can wash it after your done and get all the brass out.
J
jstdv8
Guest
that bag will probbaly work, however, it would be cool to get the lighting effect with the mirror so its able to grow a little on the other side as well and fill into the holes in the screen I guess.
But as long as you can get it rough enough and it is completely waterproof you should have no problems making algae with it.
Flower is exactly right, I got mine from jo-ann fabrics, but I'll bet there is some screen at wall mart, the stuff is cheap. I bought 2 screens for like $1.50 Or something like that.
But as long as you can get it rough enough and it is completely waterproof you should have no problems making algae with it.
Flower is exactly right, I got mine from jo-ann fabrics, but I'll bet there is some screen at wall mart, the stuff is cheap. I bought 2 screens for like $1.50 Or something like that.
al&burke
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/20#post_3333439
that bag will probbaly work, however, it would be cool to get the lighting effect with the mirror so its able to grow a little on the other side as well and fill into the holes in the screen I guess.
But as long as you can get it rough enough and it is completely waterproof you should have no problems making algae with it.
Flower is exactly right, I got mine from jo-ann fabrics, but I'll bet there is some screen at wall mart, the stuff is cheap. I bought 2 screens for like $1.50 Or something like that.
That is what I got, do you still need to roughen it up a bit with a hole saw?
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/20#post_3333439
that bag will probbaly work, however, it would be cool to get the lighting effect with the mirror so its able to grow a little on the other side as well and fill into the holes in the screen I guess.
But as long as you can get it rough enough and it is completely waterproof you should have no problems making algae with it.
Flower is exactly right, I got mine from jo-ann fabrics, but I'll bet there is some screen at wall mart, the stuff is cheap. I bought 2 screens for like $1.50 Or something like that.
That is what I got, do you still need to roughen it up a bit with a hole saw?
J
jstdv8
Guest
ohh yes, I put about 20 mins of pretty labor intensive circular motions with an 1 1/4" hole say per side.
The roughing of the screen is the part that sucks the most out of everything becuase its a bit of pretty good manual labor.
I thought maybe a belt sander with really heavy grit paper on it might do the trick, but I didn't know if the plastic would suck up any of the sand and there migth be stuff on there I don't want in my tank, so I skipped that idea.
The roughing of the screen is the part that sucks the most out of everything becuase its a bit of pretty good manual labor.
I thought maybe a belt sander with really heavy grit paper on it might do the trick, but I didn't know if the plastic would suck up any of the sand and there migth be stuff on there I don't want in my tank, so I skipped that idea.
J
jstdv8
Guest
http://tingaling.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/blank-canvas.jpg
The plastic stuff in this picture is what we are talking about.
The plastic stuff in this picture is what we are talking about.