Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

LED test on SM100:

9 days of growth after cleaning. Fluorescent on left, LED on right. LED is the 50 watt Grow Light from EshineSystems in China. Actually uses 41 watts per the KillOwatt. Was raised up 3/4 inch to fit in middle of scrubber window. Camera is unfortunately an old one, since new one is being repaired. Growth was very similar on both sides; too similar to tell them apart. Growth on the LED side was floating a bit higher since it had no light near the bottom. LED was about $140 including shipping, and I asked for the black case:

SM100 LED Test 1.jpg


SM100 LED Test 2.jpg


SM100 LED Test 3.jpg


Video:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKcib4YaoTc]Santa Monica 100 LED Test - YouTube[/ame]

LED:
3G 50W LED Grow Light - LED Grow Light, LED Aquarium Light, LED Lighting...
 
Wow, great news SM, looking forward to hearing more as the experiment progresses.

How would you work that LED into your calculations for light demand? (i.e., how much gallonage would you say one of these supports, and how many square inches of screen)
 
Where can I actually buy one of those? The site is pretty hard to navigate.

What's the wattage of the t-5 it's compared to?
 
New Scrubber Sizing Guideline (Sept 2011)

Scrubbers will now be sized according to feeding. Nutrients "in" (feeding) must equal nutrients "out" (scrubber growth), no matter how many gallons you have. So...

An example VERTICAL waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen)
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen)
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen)
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen)
10 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen)
5 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen)
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)

High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.

HORIZONTAL screens: Multiply the screen size by 4, and the wattage by 1.5

Flow is 24 hours, and is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen [60 lph per cm], EVEN IF one sided or horizontal.

Very rough screen made of roughed-up-like-a-cactus plastic canvas.

Clean algae off of screen every 7 to 14 days, so that you can see the white screen material.
 
This revised size is great news for me. I don't need a Cal King bed sized screen now. Any calculations for me if I feed 3 cubes a day and a 4x4 of nori?
 
I'll post the led update soon.

Size: Just add the two together...

3 cubes need 3 X the example screen above.
16 sq in needs 1.6 X the example screen above.

This is a total of 4.6 X the example screen above.
 
SantaMonica said:
High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster...
Click to expand...

Ah! That's explain the brown screens I first got when I first started the new scrubber! Too long the light hours!
 
SantaMonica said:
New Scrubber Sizing Guideline (Sept 2011)

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen)
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen)
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen)
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen)
10 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen)
5 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen)
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)
Click to expand...

I bought the algae scrubber from you awhile back and it came with the 2 T5 lights on both side. How much food intake it can handle? 1 frozen cube per day?
 
SantaMonica said:
Not too long hours... too weak light.
Click to expand...

That was the scrubber I got from you with the brand new T5 lights on both sides. So, since the light is fixed, what could I have done to adjust it to make it not brown? Less flow? Shorter hours of light?
 
Last edited:
With new bulbs, it can handle up to 10 cubes a day once it is growing. When new, it can handle 5.

How old are the bulbs?
 
When I had the brown algae issue, the bulbs were about 1 month old. It lasted for months. I kinda just ignore since nothing could make them turn green.

Many months later, I still haven't change the light, but the algae finally turned green. I just cleaned it yesterday and it has very thick and nice green algae on the screen all around and doing the 3D scrubbing as well. It's great right now.
 
If I have a 5" double sided screen, with 170gph flow rate, and two 26w cfl 6500k bulbs, and I feed1/4 cube morning and a 1/4 cube at night, what's a good lighting schedule?
 
By the way, thank you very much SM for staying so dedicated to this thread. This is extremely helpful.
 
Glad you like the info :)

Here is the sizing and lighting guide:

An example VERTICAL waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen)
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen)
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen)
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen)
10 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen)
5 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen)
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)

High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.

HORIZONTAL screens: Multiply the screen size by 4, and the wattage by 1.5
 
+1 SPS, this must be the gnarliest thread in history. You should get paid.

I'm a bit confused so is it 1/2 watt per square inch on a two sided screen and 1 watt per square inch on a one sided screen?
 
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