So after a lot of research and what appears to be a never ending battle with GHA I decided to give it a go. I started with an acrylic box used for a retail display Added two 1" bulkhead for the drain and the emergency drain Carved out the u grooves to hold the 3/4" spray bar Added two 9w LED light bars each with eight 1w red bulbs and one 1w blue Placed it above my sump and good to go
I am using a 1200 DC Jebo pump and a 6"X6" screen. It has been going since Sunday (three day) and already see algae growing.
Yes I did read that you recommended 2 per side. Do you suggest something different?? Or different fixtures?
Quantity of fixtures and size of screen, etc, that's all dependent on what you're trying to accomplish - how big the tank is, how heavily stocked, how much you feed, etc. For your setup it might be hard to put 2 more on the other side unless you put them inside the tank, otherwise they'll be too far away to be effective. But you could use an LED floodlight that is mounted to the stand to light up the other side. What I usually recommend, if you're going to use a stock fixtures, is that you choose one based on your tank/scrubber needs. So you figure out your scrubber size (total area) and then pic a fixture, then shape the screen to fit the fixture. For your above, what you might consider is making the screen longer and less height (but same overall area, so instead of 6x6 you might go 9x4, and moving one of the fixtures to the other side. Double-sided lighting is always better. But you still have the issue of protecting the light, but that's not too big of a problem, if you're handy, you can make a bracket out of acrylic that hangs on the tank edges and at the same time protects the fixture from splash. I don't think you have to worry about the chamber filling up with water, plenty of volume there. But let's back up - tank size? Feeding?
Thanks turbo here is what I am looking at. Tank is a 180gal stock list 2 small saddleback clowns two pj cardinals and a small flasher wrasse. About 7 small less the an 1" frags of sps and Cuc. I calculated the light, flow and mesh size as following. Screen light on one side 1.5 cubes 36" Flow 35gph per inch of screen width (6x6) 35x6=210 gph Lights Led .25 w of LED per square inch of screen 36x.25=9 watts Then I read you recommended to another person using the same stick lights two per side since I am one sided I added the second I am gladly open for suggestions on improvements. Thanks Dan
Yup you've got it right, if you wanted to, you could make the screen 8-9" wide (and 6" tall), that's not vastly oversized,and would use the entire length of the light fixture
Ok great if I change the screen is there a way to transfer the algae. Not that I have much to any now. But I guess it's better to change now vs later?
Yeah, you can cut it into strips and use tiny zip ties to tie them on to the new screen, cut strips about 3-4 rows wide, alternate sides, orient vertically, ties at the top. Then remove 1/2 of them after 2-3 weeks, then another 1/2 after 1-2 more weeks, then the last group a week or two later. Or depending on how your screen is maturing (usually goes pretty quick)
Thanks for asking. I all take a pic later when I clean the screen. I will say phosphates have dropped from .15 to .02 since I started using the ATS.
I think you got too much light on it. I would double my feeding If you are going to keep the two lights I would go down to one light bar until you get green algae. Watch this video the guy uses the same light as you but he starts out with one.
Interesting. The bottom of the mat is dark green this is not a great picture. I may try that and post another pic in a week.
I think the pic is not enough to tell, need a good flash pic so you can see colors well. Looking via phone so can't tell for sure. But what's most important is: N & P under control? Tank algae under control?
Well I can say the tank algae is 100% better my no3 have always been low between 0-1 but po4 has decreased from as high as. .25 to between.01 to .03. Since in installed this. My sps color has also improved. I am very happy
