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Lighting Best single leds for Scrubbing

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Skull, May 18, 2018.

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  1. Skull

    Skull New Member

    Hello Guys:

    First of all, thank you for letting me be a part of slgaescribbing.com, hello everyone!

    I am finishing my new scrubber device, it is a small algae scrubber (16x20cm) with 6 leds, my reef tank is 60x60x60 cm, my Nitrates are 0,5 and Po4 not measured yet, I have some nasty green algae on my display, but not too much (before my algae appears, my NO3 was 5ppm).

    I still didn't choose the leds for the scrubber, but I think is gonna be 2-660nm Cree, 2-Full spectrum for plants, 2-630 reds

    The LEDs I have available at my home are:
    A-660nm Cree Leds
    B-630nm Chinese Leds
    C-Full Spectrum Plant Grow Chinese Leds
    D-Semileds 415nm and 425nm Leds
    E-Cree Blue 460nm and Royal Blue 450nm Leds


    What Do you think? Is it good to try 2pcs-A, 2pcs-B and 2pcs-C?
    I am totally new to scrubbing, I don't want to be very specific with this, just start with the best light and leds I can choose.

    Thank you guys.
     
  2. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    Welcome from Argentina!

    I'm working on a revision to the LED "recommendations" actually. So you may want to wait a bit to decide on what you're going to purchase, as the new recommendations will open up the door to more options for the DIY builder.

    What it comes down to is that there is definitely more than one combination of LEDs that will work.

    There are many factors that go into what makes a scrubber work efficiently. Lighting is one of the primary ones, obviously. But with LEDs, the issue is that not all LEDs are equal.

    So, a super-cheap Chinese 660nm LED will likely not perform as well as a Cree or Phillips 660nm LED. That applies across the board for any LED, any spectrum, and in fact, any application.

    Intensity also matters, as does the distance of the LEDs to the screen. There is a "balance" needed between the intensity of the light and the rate of nutrient delivery to the screen. If there is too much light compared to the nutrients delivered, then algae growth can be inhibited.

    for a 16cm x 20cm screen (about 6" x 8", or about 48 square inches, which is about a 4 cube/day screen) you will want somewhere between 6 and 12 LEDs per side. That screen might be a bit big though, if your tank is about 60 gallons, I would say you can get away with a screen about 1/2 of that size. But going slightly larger is fine, as long as it's not too much bigger that 6x8

    Based on your list above, I would say use mainly 660nm and then some of the SemiLEDs (those are good quality also).
     
  3. Skull

    Skull New Member

    Thank you Turbo.

    I can go for a smaller design, it is 10x16cm, which is half of the other design I mentioned before, and I believe that will fit great on my sump, so good news!
    Actually my net water is 50 gallons, do you believe 10x16 could be handling the load nutrients of those 50 gallons without problems?

    I will go with the Cree Photo Red 660nm and the Semileds 420nm then, but I believe I have a space for..let's say.. 2 more leds on the fixture and I run out of Cree Leds, do you think I can add may be a Full Spectrum led? Or..Do you think is useless? I will definitely buy some more Photo Red units from Cree.

    So the fixture could be (10x16):
    -3 CREE Photo Red
    -1 Semileds 420nm (U80)
    -2 Chinese Full Spectrum?? (to be changed to Photo Red once I have them)

    Leds will be at 1cm of distance from the net (algae).
    (What do you think?)

    I will gladly read your document recommendations, as I found this to be a very interesting matter (Photosynthesis on the green hair algae), please let me know once it is finished.
     
  4. Skull

    Skull New Member

    I forgot to mention, this is going to be only one sided scrubber.
     

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