1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

led scrubber fine tuning issues ! advice please

Discussion in 'Algae Scrubber DIY' started by Turtle power, May 10, 2014.

Welcome to Algae Scrubbing Join our community today
  1. Turtle power

    Turtle power New Member

    7
    0
    uk
    DSC_5008.JPG DSC_5012.JPG DSC_5014.JPG DSC_5009.JPG
    ive recently added a second light to make it a 2 sided scrubber but having a few issues so looking for some advice ,the problem is the centre of the screen appears to be balding/burning ,I presume this is due to to much light but im a little confused as to why this would be
    here are the specs
    4.5" by 4" screen
    good flow at recommended level from return pipe
    2 lights featuring 4 osram 660nm leds in a rectangle and driven at 700ma ( there were 5 on each but I removed the centre one as I thought that could be causing light saturation in the centre )
    one light on outside of tank other suspended inside
    feeding approx. 1 cube daily
    diffusers used which are approx. 10mm off front of heatsink
    lights are approx. 90mm from screen ( this is from actual leds to screen ) they were closer but ive moved them back to try and reduce the bald area
    lights on for 10 hours - 2 split 5 hour periods
    so my questions are:
    how come the L2 doesn't have this problem when its using more leds and they appear to be much closer to the screen ? how close are they ?
    how far from the leds is the diffuser panel on the L2 - as in are my diffuser panels to close to the leds and thus not doing much to spread the light ?
    is running the leds at 700ma an issue ?
    what distance from the screen are others successfully placing similar lights ?
    any advise much appreciated
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2014
  2. Turbo

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

    How long have you been running the scrubber?

    The L2 is 4x6 with 6 reds at 700mA but the Rev 3 actually runs initially at 350mA and I have one that I've left at that level and it grows nicely. The LEDs are 2" (5cm) from the screen. Rev 2 used diffusers that were at 1" and the LEDs were hard wired series so 700mA, then you removed the diffusers if you wanted more intensity (rev 3 has jumpers for increasing current from 350 to 700)
     
  3. Turtle power

    Turtle power New Member

    7
    0
    uk
    hi turbo
    thank you for the info ,its been running as a 1 sided for a few months and I added the second light about 4 - 6 weeks ago and that's when I started getting this issue ,its been a bit better since I moved the lights a bit further back but of course that's caused a lot more light spill ,I think the diffusers would be a lot more effective if they were at 1" rather than the 10mm at the moment as I don't think this is producing a very even light with them so close to the led , is there a way of wiring the leds to half the 700ma to 350ma using the same driver I only ask as I seem to remember some mention of doing this for blue leds to reduce intensity
    thanks
     
  4. Turtle power

    Turtle power New Member

    7
    0
    uk
    hi everyone
    an update and a few questions
    having rearranged the pipework to the scrubber a little I now have the lights an extra couple inches from the screen and this has solved the uneven growth problem ,the scrubber has been running since January and second light added around march , the thing im rather confused with is having worked out my feeding is about 1/2 cube a day when added up over a month is how come im getting thick green algae growth on the screen and algae still growing in display tank ( not massively but still there ) and getting a a daily dusting on glass and and plastic weir cover ,sometimes this is a thin brown film and over times a fine green dusting , I can,t seem to increase my scrubber lighting phase beyond 10 hrs ( 2 x 5 ) with out burning the screen so that doesn't appear to be an option
    the tank has always tested zero for nitrate and phosphate ( using hanna checker ) though obviously there are nutrients available for the algae
    so im running a way over powerful scrubber for my feeding regime and getting good growth and also a high end tunze skimmer rated 5 times tank volume yet still have nuisance algae after 7 months of adding scrubber ? im aware of the idea of nutrients leaching from live rocks and just interested to hear others experience as to how long it took there scrubber to clear there display tank of nuisance algae ? is my scrubber playing catch up removing nutrients that have built up over time and will one day the display tank algae suddenly start to disappear ?
    any feedback much appreciated
     
  5. Turbo

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

    How much flow are you pushing across the screen?

    What I've found is that you can usually increase the light photoperiod if you also increase flow.
     
  6. Turtle power

    Turtle power New Member

    7
    0
    uk
    flow is from display tank return and ive measured it at approx. 900 litres an hour at the screen with screen being about 4.5" wide so at or above recommended level if I understood correctly ?
    so do you think the problem is down to the scrubber not working hard enough one way or another ? or is this a familiar situation with the time its taking to clear nuisance algae ?
    thanks
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2014
  7. Turbo

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

    There are many possible factors that might be causing this. Don't believe everything you read from SM about "leeching" that is a highly debatable topic. After 7 months, something else is going on.

    How often do you clean the scrubber, and when you do, about how much growth do you get? Do you have any pics of the before/after/harvest?
     
  8. Turtle power

    Turtle power New Member

    7
    0
    uk
    DSC_5259.JPG DSC_5260.JPG yes I must say im very dubious about the leaching theory especially after running for such a long period - I don't have any pics of what I get off the screen but Ive just taken a couple pics of the screen ,ive been cleaning sides alternately so first side is approx. 14 days growth second side about 6 , I tried cleaning both at once for a while but it dramatically slowed the screen growth down , I only use RO which has 0 tds and the only supplement I use is kalkwasser so im rather baffled as to the source of the nutrients
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2014
  9. Do you use for filter socks? If so, have you tried increasing how often you change them out? My gha problem persisted, even with my ATS, until I increased how often I changed my socks from 1x a week to 2x a week.
    HIH,
    Tom G
     

Share This Page