Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[Pwny]

i saw plans for a nano scrubber on your site and changed them a litte. Im thinking of making a 5.5 nano mantis tank and useing a scrubber because i think it will just work best for this small setup large chamber will be the overflow onto a 2xscreen for the algae to grow on. the smaller part will be a spot mainly for the heater since this will be for a mantis but i will also make it a mini fuge with sand rubble and chaeto since it will be getting light also. the small chamber will overflow into the bigger one where the return pump is. light will be a 23w cfl in a clip on fixture to give it a reflector. let me know if you think this setup will do ok.

 

[Piratefish]

Looks good keep us posted

 

[SantaMonica]

No chaeto, just rock rubble and sand.

Otherwise is ok.

 

[Pwny]

santamonica one more quick question i saw on your fourms it says to run the light 18 houres a day, my nano setup would be in my bedroom and because its a faily open setup i dont wana run it when i sleep. is there a shorter time frame i can run it so it still works?

 

[SantaMonica]

Each hour shorter means less filtering. But the 23 watts is a lot for that screen size, so you can try it.

 

[parrotchute]

SantaMonica,
Any opinion on using high-end LEDs for the scrubber? I have AI LEDs, which are more than powerful enough for SPS - what about using one of their nano SOLs to light a scrubber?

 

[x19]

The nano sol's are expected to be about $400, a lot of money for a algae light. I'm thinking of trying this from Ecoxotic on my fuge:

Ecoxotic PAR38 LED Aquarium Lights

I bet it would work well on a scrubber.

 

[parrotchute]

oooh, yeah, good point, those look a lot more appropriate. I'm wondering if 12,000K is too high, tho...just did some research and it looks like 2-3K are better. And, I found a whole thread of LED lights & scrubbers that probably would work for a fuge too...
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - LED Scrubbers

 

[Piratefish]

Yeah, You will want something in the 2-3k range.

 

[SantaMonica]

LED scrubbers are experimental and may or may not work for you. The prooblem is the light needs to have even coverage across the screen; not spotty. The exoexotic bulb would not work because it's focused on a spot. Here are some more threads:

Algae Scrubbers • View topic - LED lighting
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - New project. LED - how many and where to buy ?
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - mean well led driver LPLC-18-700
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - Should i use these led lights
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - Modern LED scrubber light
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - LED lighting for scrubbers
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - LED powered scrubbers
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - Screw In LED Bulbs
Algae Scrubbers • View topic - Hexagon LED scrubber

 

[parrotchute]

Santamonica, yeah, that's the reason I initially thought of AI, because I'm happy with their spread. I'm not thinking more about looking into the plant-growing LEDs. Most the saltwater oriented ones are more aimed at growing corals, obviously.
Hard to find still, though.

 

[Ace5high]

Can any Scrubber experts give me some advice on my first build? My Project thread is below:

https://www.livingreefs.com/my-first-sump-refug-advice-needed-t31896p2.html

 

[SantaMonica]

Looks pretty good. What's the wattage?

One thing... only the middle will be effective; the side are too far from the bulb/reflector. You could reduce the size width of the screen if you want. Better would be two of those bulbs/reflectors.

 

[Ace5high]

Looks pretty good. What's the wattage?

Its a single 23 Watt 2700 CFL.

My main concern was for the amount of water flow over the screen. There are a few spots that sit above the water and are dry, underneath there is water flow just not on the surface...

 

[shades251]

very nice

 

[bjohanson1234]

Can any Scrubber experts give me some advice on my first build? My Project thread is below:

https://www.livingreefs.com/my-first-sump-refug-advice-needed-t31896p2.html

I am going to suggest maybe instead of the CLF bulb, go with some t8 grow lights. It will spread the light out more and be a bit more compact and fit under your stand batter than the CFLs in a reflector

 

[SantaMonica]

When the algae gets thick, you'll have islands all over anyway, which will block and/or re-route flow, so it doesn't matter.

 

[Tristan]

santamonica, are you selling custom algae scrubbers?

 

[SantaMonica]

Not custom, just the standard size 100.

 

[BL1]

SM, my display has been looking really great since I started using my scrubber. But, my sump and overflow have been getting overtaken by the hair algae. Is that normal and is it ok? I do pull some of it out about once a week but, I'm worried that the algae has just moved and not getting better.