My Attempt at An Algae Scrubber With Pics

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by dngspot, Nov 27, 2009.

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  1. dngspot

    dngspot Spaghetti Worm

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    A while ago I made an attempt at SantaMonica's early design. I followed his instructions to the "T", and had no luck growing anything in it.

    During my research on scrubbers I came across a design that looked a little better than a bucket with a couple of floods in it. The design that I am going to use also uses two floods but, I have an old 150 watt mh I am going to use with a 10k bulb. I have 3 400 watt mh's over my 210g am hoping the 150 mh will give the algae a more favorable environment than the display. I am also going to use a different water delivery to the screen. The design uses a container on a pivot, I am going to use a piece of glass tilted to the screen and attached to three sides of the aquarium. The rest will be a close copy to the design below, except I will be using 20g aquarium.

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    The aquarium is a simple 20g long. It is about the same dimension as the original design. I bought this thing to be used as a refiugium for my 55g in our office, but that is no longer a need since I built the fish room in the basement. Eventually it be on the same sump as the 210g, This is what I started with.

    [​IMG]

    This morning I ripped 4-1.5 inch pieces of 1/4 inch acrylic. Two are 24 inches long and the other two are 8 and 7/8 inches long. I used Weldon 3 to bond them together. This will be the frame for the screen.

    [​IMG]

    I cut 2 pieces of 1/4 inch glass 24X1.5. I had the glass in the basement. These will be used to hold the screen assembly off of the bottom of the tank.

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    I used 2X4's on their sides to hold the glass strips in place during siliconing.

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    I cut 4 legs 1.5X3.5 inches from 1/4 glass to support the 24 inch long strips. I cut the bottom corners off of the legs to clear the silicone on the bottom of the 20g. This is my first setback. I attached the strips and did not put the legs in first. I cannot get my calking gun under the strips to silicone in the legs. I will go to Home Depot and pick up a tube of silicone; I should be able to reach them with the tube. You will have to look closely the legs are barely visible.

    [​IMG]

    This is what it looks like so far. I will be using nylon screws to hold the frame up when done.

    [​IMG]

    Tomorrow I will be installing the glass drip plate, drilling for the water lines and finishing the screen assembly.
     
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  3. ReefSparky

    ReefSparky Super Moderator

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    I always love your builds, dngspot. Looking forward to the progress as I'm sure you'll keep us up to date with pics.
     
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  4. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    I am tagging along on this one.
     
  5. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

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    with the old design what was the gph over it and what did u use to scrach the material. Also what kind of lighting did u use
     
  6. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    If you're going to go metal halide I would get one of the 6700K bulbs(or less). Algae and plants favor warm or daylight spectrum.
     
  7. dngspot

    dngspot Spaghetti Worm

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    Today was a bust. I woke up to a leaking water heater. Just as I was finishing that I figured that I would stop putting off the LFS and install a sump for part of their salt room. Now I am going to find some material to use as a screen. I will start at the hobby stores.

    Newreef15
    I do not have anymore information other than what I have listed. I do not know who made it or what he called it to look it up. As for my setup I am going to install it on the sump line from the display. I will divert some of that water with two valves and a tee. This will give me a source of up to 3000 gph that I can tap. but I think I will need about 800 to 900 gph. The water from this guy will be the only water that is not put back into the filter basket, this should help with pod population.

    Av8Bluewater The ha seems to thrive under the Reflux 12000K's. I think it should do pretty good under a 10000K. I now own the 10000K, when I ordered the light I could not find a DE 150 watt 6500K. If you have a lead that would be great.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2009
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  9. dngspot

    dngspot Spaghetti Worm

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    I found stuff that looks like the mesh inside the tank divider that SantaMonica recommended in his early design. It is used to pull yarn through and make rugs. Those dividers cost over $15.00 at the lfs and they are too short for my needs. Again my frame is 12 X 24 inches, the panel that I bought is 13 x 21.5. I bought a short one also. They both are 13 inches wide. My wife said she could sow them together with fishing line, how can you not love a woman like that? We spent about 15 minutes in the store and she knew exactly where to look of what I described. The total cost for the mesh pieces, $2.00.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    That material looks promising, but does your design light only one side of the screen?

    This was my ATF when it was in use. It worked really well, but I wanted to try the vodka dosing method, which is also very effective.

    Also, your lights are too far away. I kept mine 3"-4" from the screen.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2009
  11. dngspot

    dngspot Spaghetti Worm

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    Yes only one side. but it is almost twice as long as my first attempt. I will keep the light 6 inches above the algae to start, the mh will be a bit hot. I have a small fan to use if needed also. Again those lights in the first pic are from a design I am using as a base mark, my setup is different in someways and the light is one of those examples.
     
  12. dngspot

    dngspot Spaghetti Worm

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    My wife finished sowing the panels, in the morning I will sand them, staying clear of the fishing line. They are cut to fit the screen frame. I am one screw short but, I need to take a trip to HD tomorrow anyway. The long bolts will also be used to set the angle of the screen assembly, the short ones to hold the screen to the frame.

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