Ace's ATS Build
- Thread starter Ace25
- Start date
This weeks cleaning pictures:
Red/White Side
Red/White/Blue Side
Harvest (wet: 38.2G on Red/White side (left), 37.9G on Red/White/Blue side (right))
Red/White Side
Red/White/Blue Side
Harvest (wet: 38.2G on Red/White side (left), 37.9G on Red/White/Blue side (right))
Another week, another harvest. Harvest weight (wet but squeezed as much water out as I could): Red/White side=50grams, Red/White/Blue side=46grams. PAR is higher at the screen than a SM100 scrubber, so I am doubting that lighting is an issue, but I still think I can refine it more (possibly use optics/switch out the whites for more reds/blues to maximize LED potential). I also added a Maxijet 1200 going up through my emergency output side so I have about 500GPH coming in from the overflow side and 300GPH coming from othe opposite side. It seemed to help out. Now I am thinking my slot it just a tad too tight... when all clean it is loose, but any little bit of algae gets stuck in the pipe and it causes flow problems in narrow spots on the screen, as can be seen by the yellowing areas on each side which corresponded with less flow over those spots.
This will be my last update on AC about my scrubber since it appears it is of no interest to anyone else and it seems I am just wasting my time posting these updates on here. Actually, seems this site/sw section has really died in the last 6 months.
Red / White side:
Red / White / Blue side
Better picture to show true coloring of the screen, pics above don't come out showing the true color due to angle, lighting, and really crappy camera I have.
This will be my last update on AC about my scrubber since it appears it is of no interest to anyone else and it seems I am just wasting my time posting these updates on here. Actually, seems this site/sw section has really died in the last 6 months.
Red / White side:
Red / White / Blue side
Better picture to show true coloring of the screen, pics above don't come out showing the true color due to angle, lighting, and really crappy camera I have.
it would seem that the two sides are just about the same? i dont know your personal take on it
based on my experiments with terrestrial plants, its hard to say that reds are very good for growth in the wavelengths that they come in normally, there was a lot of talk on candlepowerforums a while back concerning deep reds and nasa experiments..although i dont know how much that applies to growing algae
based on my experiments with terrestrial plants, its hard to say that reds are very good for growth in the wavelengths that they come in normally, there was a lot of talk on candlepowerforums a while back concerning deep reds and nasa experiments..although i dont know how much that applies to growing algae
I am getting about 2x as much growth since adding the 660nm reds. The Royal Blues do not appear to have any positive effect on algae though (which I kind of expected but wanted to test anyway).
Before? Do you mean my old CFL ATS? I was using 126w (3x 42w) of CFL before and now I am using 60w (20x 3w) of LEDs and the growth is much better with the LEDs in my opinion. I did take a lot more LEDs than I was originally expecting it to take since I didn't use optics.
Before? Do you mean my old CFL ATS? I was using 126w (3x 42w) of CFL before and now I am using 60w (20x 3w) of LEDs and the growth is much better with the LEDs in my opinion. I did take a lot more LEDs than I was originally expecting it to take since I didn't use optics.
This will be my last update on AC about my scrubber since it appears it is of no interest to anyone else and it seems I am just wasting my time posting these updates on here. Actually, seems this site/sw section has really died in the last 6 months.
Don't quit posting on me, now. Results look fantastic. Beyond optimizing everything, how satisfied are you with the results system-wide?
Well, I discovered the secret to doubling the growth.. big fan over the screen. I put a 10" fan over it for the last week and I have had to clean the screen twice within a week, both times the screen was stuffed full, so full my emergency overflow was kicking in. I cleaned it last Sunday then put a fan over it to keep my tank cool due to warm weather, and by Wed the screen was full.. so I cleaned it Thur morning and had to clean another full screen Sunday.
So for right now I am going to say that LEDs work great on my ATS, although with all things LEDs, there is no "one answer fits all". Distance from the screen and choice of optics play a role in amount of LEDs. Right now I am not really saving any power with the setup I have. If I refined it a little more I could take out 4 LEDs and add 80 degree optics without sacrificing growth. Only benefit with going LEDs vs CFL or T5 is the lack of need to replace bulbs, but up front cost for LEDs is going to offset that for quite a while if you use 23/26w CFLs. Power wise you won't be saving much. So I have to agree with Santa Monica in saying that LEDs on an ATS are still "experimental" because while yes, they do work, they are certainly not for everyone and a CFL setup will do almost as good of a job for a lot less time and money up front.
So for right now I am going to say that LEDs work great on my ATS, although with all things LEDs, there is no "one answer fits all". Distance from the screen and choice of optics play a role in amount of LEDs. Right now I am not really saving any power with the setup I have. If I refined it a little more I could take out 4 LEDs and add 80 degree optics without sacrificing growth. Only benefit with going LEDs vs CFL or T5 is the lack of need to replace bulbs, but up front cost for LEDs is going to offset that for quite a while if you use 23/26w CFLs. Power wise you won't be saving much. So I have to agree with Santa Monica in saying that LEDs on an ATS are still "experimental" because while yes, they do work, they are certainly not for everyone and a CFL setup will do almost as good of a job for a lot less time and money up front.
Video and picture .. I really wish I had a better camera than this 10+ year old one I have, but so many reef items take priority for me.
3 days worth of growth with fan over ATS, this is the same amount I used to get at 7 days with no fan. Lighter spots on screen are flow related issues I need to resolve with my slot.
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3 days worth of growth with fan over ATS, this is the same amount I used to get at 7 days with no fan. Lighter spots on screen are flow related issues I need to resolve with my slot.
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