DangerDave
NJRC Member
Ok so heres where I am with it:
The lights are just taped up. I haven’t decided how to mount them yet.
The lights are just taped up. I haven’t decided how to mount them yet.
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Algae scrubber who uses one and why
- Thread starter Hockeynut
- Start date
DangerDave
NJRC Member
Sure, but it’s real basic, you can see everything there. The acrylic is a display box, but it may warp from the lights. They don’t give off much heat so I’m hoping it stays. The best part is you can build what fits your need.
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DangerDave
NJRC Member
@Hockeynut Rob, I’m trying to figure out how to mount the leds. My initial plan was to use small squares of the heavy duty Velcro (the type the ezpass is held up with). It would hold tight, and provide the 1/4 or so of spacing to keep the lights off the acrylic. The 3m tape and CA glue doesn’t stick to that white plastic. Even though they’re encased in silicone, and don’t put off much heat, I want to keep the acrylic from bowing. any ideas you have I’d love to hear.
(Anyone plz give me you ideas, I need em!)
dave
(Anyone plz give me you ideas, I need em!)
dave
Hockeynut
NJRC Member
Thi
They sell it in the Home Depot
This double sided foam tape will hold anything and has some thickness so the lights won’t be touching the glass
They sell it in the Home Depot
DangerDave
NJRC Member
bro great minds think alike. I snuck out to the fish room during a really lame conference call. I ended up using that exact tape, strips were provided with the lights to put on the back. I cut little squares and stuck it to the hard Velcro. I got what I’m hoping is perfect spacing for heat dissipation.
thanks for the ideas guys, all good ideas. love this place.
dave
DangerDave
NJRC Member
DangerDave
NJRC Member
I measured it with my par meter, the screen is getting a little over 100 par on each side. With the edges going down to 80. These lights are cheap. If it’s not I can another another pair. I need to look up the formula of watts per screen size for how much food it can support.
I’m just lost for some reason,, it pisses me off I can’t grab the concept of a algae scrubber I’m looking at these photos and I just don’t get it. And I need to because my cheato is all but dissipated and I don’t wanna deal with a refugium anymore,, things like does that go in your sump or MD , do u need certain amount of space ,, I’ve seen 2 videos and read about them and it’s just not clicking (feel like I’m in school again)
DangerDave
NJRC Member
I made that to run from the pump on my manifold. It flows into the pipe and down the screen. It gathers at the bottom of the container and overflows back into the sump.
Its simple,
The water flows through the pipe and and down onto the plastic mesh. The lights are then shine'd towards the mesh, (trickled with water) and eventually grows algae. You then scrape and remove, then the process repeats itself. It's the same as adding chaeto to your sump, but it's more efficient IMO
DangerDave
NJRC Member
I ran one for many years that hung over my sump, and was sourced from the overflow from the display tank. It used two 150 equivalent cfl bulbs inside polished clamp on reflectors.
The world is your oyster. you just need water flowing down a roughed up screen with light on both sides.
The world is your oyster. you just need water flowing down a roughed up screen with light on both sides.
@Paulie 069 , like @DangerDave mentioned, you can build one of these anyway you like to fit your tank set up. This is also great if you're on a budget as mentioned, you can use a clip on light and bulb for a light source.
I ran one a while ago, one of the Santa Monica units and when it worked, it worked but to get going it just took forever.
I ran one a while ago, one of the Santa Monica units and when it worked, it worked but to get going it just took forever.
It sounds simple and I get concept,, the more I keep running it through my head and keep reading this thread it’s becoming less cloudy
Question can I use the outflow from my UV light as water source because as I think about it my problem with my Cheato started because I ran my outflow hose from the UV light into refugium chamber because my cheato was not spinning around, someone suggested that I needed more flow to get it moving. I did that for about 3 weeks,, that’s when my cheato started falling apart after 2 weeks, as it slowly began to shrink in size my refugium started growing large amounts of green hair algae on the back wall n both sides and not the front. It took a little time to figure out why,, then it hit me. I lined the refugium chamber with black plastic panels on the inside of refugium to block light from the other chambers,, and the plastic has a rough surface. So that’s why the algae grew on that and starved the cheato
I mean the walls are blanketed like a golf course with algae that keeps coming back even after I took hose out of there.
And it all hit me after reading all the explanations I got from my njreefer peeps
I’m gonna out the hose back in that chamber tomorrow morning it’s already like an Algae scrubber and I’ll start designing one for my new build and see what happens with one that’s running now
Any feedback on what I’m thinking of my current algae collector at moment. I’ll try n post pics tomorrow
I probably have all that pvc stuff in my garage, that diagram was very helpful. Thanks to everybody’s advice
With help from the village I will build one so help me god