Hi all, I am in the planning stages of my first algae scrubber. I'm going to go with a waterfall style in the sump being pump fed. 20-25mm pvc frame with a 8inch slot. Ultra stiff 7 count mesh roughed up well. Going to go with about 9inch length to just enter water and to minimise noise. Flow I've worked out at 280gallons per hour (1200litres) so have spare 2400l/hr pump to use and I'll add ball valve to control flow onto screen. Lights I'm going with light on one side only. 54watt LED lights ( 18 piece 14red 4 blue). By my calculations I'll need two of these as not including the blue wattage so will have 84watts of red onto screen using the two bulbs. Going to start with 9hrs per day and increase from there if necessary. Can anyone just check if I'm on the right track and calculated properly please? Lights are E27 ES 6/15/21/27/36/45/54W LED Plant Grow Light Lamp Bulb Flower Hydroponic NEW
I've actually found that the ultra-stiff mesh tends to get brittle over time. I would use the normal mesh. Also consider the mortar screen, it starts up faster (the mortar is "sacrificial") Screen & Fasteners
Also, that's a pretty good lamp. looks like 3W LEDs but they may not run them at the fully rated current (which is usually 700mA for Deep Red) Also "54W" is probably a stretch, if you were to hook these up to a kill-o-watt meter I bet they would pull between 20 and 30. So for an 8x9 screen, 72 sq in, two of these per side is probably pretty decent coverage. I think you're good. One thing to look for when you get them to is to see if they have a removable bezel. A lot of these PAR laps come with a front bezel that holds lenses in place. You can remove the bezel and the lenses and get a wider distribution of light, which also allows you to place the light closer. With the lenses in, sometimes these fixtures create a really tight hot spot on the screen and you end up with no growth there
Ok that's all good info thanks. I'm guessing so that 2 of these on one side only will not be sufficient as per my plan. Hopefully removable lenses so for light dispersion
Anyone using these with success LED Grow Light 10W 20W 30W 50W Blue 445nm Red 660nm Hydroponic Plant Flood Lamp Found neat looking build While browsing. Or are the bulb options above much better. Just this looks neat and compact. I'll have bulbs all over place with my other plan above.
You can do one sided, but then the capacity is halved and you would likely have to clean more often to prevent die off. Doing one lamp on each side would be better than 2 lamps on one side, you could start there These seem to work pretty well, the only downside of multichip fixures is the hot spot on the middle. That, and they tend to get hot, especially on the glass right in front of the LED chip
