Hello everyone, Been following for awhile and wanted to share my DIY scrubber 2.0 and story. Thanks to this website for the great info!! It made all the difference in deciding to do this project. First, I have been intrigued by the idea of algae surfers for a while, decided to jump in and build one after reading more on this site. My thought process was initially, build a small simple one that if successful I could turn into a larger solid unit. I knew my 1.0 was essentially a prototype and wouldn't be perfect no matter how much design effort I put into it. Long story short I built the 1.0 and it worked very well. It was only sized for 1 cube/day but it was having a noticeable impact on the tank. Tank algae was dining, water as clearer and skimmer performing better, go figure. image of growth from 1.0 I was pleased, but corrosion on my LEDs, from quick build, and a desire for a double sized screen led me to build 2.0 ! It has the same LEDs and and components, but it is built much better to prevent corrosion, sound reduction and light reduction. The old scrubber was all clear acrylic and growing extra algae everywhere in the sump. Scrubber 2.0 LED Control box (since upgraded with new SilentX fan!) LED arrays from Steves. This area was covered by a dark acrylic panel with insulation, so LEDs were completely sealed in. They stay very cool though, the fans work well. Keeping it sealed off as much as possible Up and running. Now you can see the back panel that seals in LEDs with the thumb screws. So far it is running great and screen is maturing quickly! Been operating for about a week. I will post updates if folks are interested in the growth as it goes. Once again thanks for the great site and valuable resources! -Mike
2 weeks of operation. Started with LEDs turned all the way down, at 9 hours per day. At ~10 days I increased to 10 hours/day. I think I'm ready to start increasing the photoperiod gradually to 15 hours or so.
5 weeks of growth. Up to 15 hours per day of light. Dimmer is about halfway to maximum. Taking it slow to increase intensity. My first version of the scrubber had the LEDs right at 2 inches from the screen and I could never get to full intensity without bleaching/yellowing the algae. This scrubber 2.0 has the LEDS 3 inches from screen and no signs of yellowing. I have 5 deep reds on a 750ma driver and 2 violets on a 350ma driver, on each side.
