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LED configuration for a 2 cube/day scrubber

Discussion in 'Algae Scrubber DIY' started by jfowler, May 16, 2014.

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  1. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    I've got 12 660 nm reds and 12 royal blues.

    I was thinking of doing 6 reds and 1 blue per side. Is it possible to wire the blue parallel to reduce power, even if there is only one blue? All photos I've seen of parallel wired blues are when there are two blues being used. Or should I not even worry about the intensity of just one royal blue in the mix if I was planning to use a diffuser screen?
     
  2. tedlietz

    tedlietz Member Customer

    Welcome....I live in north Sac 95842.I to am a Diy er I have recently purchased a L2......I've made 3 Algae scrubbers so far none as effective as Turbos L2...........I'm in the process of building a forth based on Turbos L2, it"s up and running using 2 compact R40 floodlights until I can purchase heatsinks for my LEDs.............maybe we should get together ?

    Later Ted
     
  3. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Hello Ted, good to meet another Sacramento reefer. Are you part of the reef central MARS forum?
     
  4. tedlietz

    tedlietz Member Customer

    I don't go to reef central very often.........I belong to MARS and use their forum as well as Turbo's.
     
  5. Yes it is possible to wire the blues in parallel with one on each side. You just have to run 2 extra wires from one side to the other. I just built mine that way and it works great. Check out my thread "on the right track". I believe I posted my favorite wiring schematic.

    Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk
     
  6. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Thanks for referring me to your thread. I've read through it once before, but I must have been skimming through it because I never realized you had asked the same question I am asking now. Now I see it can be done with one blue per side wired for half power.

    So I still wonder if wiring the blue in parallel is necessary if a diffuser screen is to be used? If it's not, then maybe I would add a second blue per side to even out the spread. In theory if one full power blue is safe under a diffuser screen, then 2 half power blues would also be safe.
     
  7. I just read my last post. Auto correct added the word favorite for me. Not sure why, but it made me laugh.

    As for how many blues to use, I would wait for Bud to respond on that one.
    Tom G
     
  8. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Turbo, do you think 2 royal blues at full strength can be subdued enough by diffuser screen to allow the screen to establish?
     
  9. Turbo

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

    Generally a diffuser by itself may or may not be enough to help knock it down sufficiently, but if it is not, you can place a small square of black electrical tape (1cm square or so) on the smooth side of the diffuser, right in front of the LED. You can also use blue painters tape, or masking tape, etc.
     
  10. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    So here is where I'm at so far. I would like to use one royal blue per side at half power, I attached a drawing showing my proposed wiring (sorry if I offend any engineers here with my "schematic"). Does this look correct? There is no resistors needed or anything, just straight forward wiring?
     

    Attached Files:

  11. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Here's a close up of my progress. I have 2 sides already constructed, I just need to move forward with the wiring.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Turbo

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

    Looks correct :)
     
  13. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    The lights are a success, and now I've started the acrylic box. This is my first time building something with acrylic and wow do I have a new level of respect for the DIY acrylic guys out there!
     
  14. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Well I thought I would do a quick update: the scrubber was a success, within one month I was harvesting great looking green algae, but then I hit a major setback. I had a mesh filter sock come loose from its resting place in my sump and get sucked up into the ATS pump causing it to seize. I didn't catch it for a few days and by that point the damage had been done. Needless to say I'm nearing 4 weeks on the restart and things are going well again. I'll post some pics soon when I'm not on the tablet.
     
    Turbo likes this.
  15. Turbo

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

    Yikes! I had a fish die and get sucked on to the scrubber pump and it choked off 95% of the flow for about 24-36 hrs, screen went white, house stunk. It recovered pretty quickly, maybe a week or so.
     
  16. jfowler

    jfowler New Member

    Oh, it stunk once I opened the scrubber box and disturbed the mat. It had gone white too, but I figured it dead. So I scraped it all of. I contemplated leaving it for a few days because in my line of work we use algae as a plant health additive in agriculture to prevent drought stress, so I thought it would rebound. But it stunk so bad I said screw it.
     

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