chipmunkofdoom2
Always Making Something
A while ago, I purchased a Clearwater CW-50 scrubber for my tank. The scrubber has never really worked well, and has been having overflow/leaking fits for the past few months. I normally would call this a bad buy and move on with my life, but this one was a bit more irksome than usual.
The first problem was I had trouble ever getting the flow above 100 GPH. Did some playing around with the drain tube and was finally able to just barely get 110 GPH or so, but that's the absolute max. Using theoretical calculations, 200 GPH is ideal for a screen this size (more on drain speed in a minute). But, the main drain on this thing is a 1/2" bulkhead. Depending on the figure you trust, at most you're going to get out of a 1/2" drain under gravity pressure is 200 GPH. When this is the ideal flowrate for a screen this size, using a 1/2" drain was probably not the best choice in terms of design.
Probably the bigger issue is this scrubber would overflow usually about two times a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. It doesn't leak through the emergency drain and it doesn't physically overflow. I can only guess that the spray bar gets blocked up with algae and starts shooting water out the ends because it has nowhere else to go. Because this scrubber is mounted next to my tank, and because these were big leaks, usually about a gallon at a time leaked out. I thought I could fix the problem by cleaning it more, so I started brushing the spray bar once a day. No luck. I started taking it apart and cleaning it every three days after the last overflow, but still, no success. It overflowed again today, spilling about a gallon of water onto my floor in the course of about an hour. I wrote an email to Clearwater (mostly because there is no phone or chat available, and they don't answer posts on the forums here) to ask if there's anything I could do to make this thing work. A guy from Clearwater called me and was nice enough, but he didn't have any answers. He said that it never happened before and that he doesn't know why this might be happening. He doesn't know where the water could be coming from and suggested putting some zip-ties on the spray bar. After talking a bit, he blamed the problem on my flow. I told him that I was only able to push about 100 GPH through the thing and he said this is the cause of the algae buildup that causes the overflow. He said that a 1/2" drain should handle 400GPH of flow, no problem (his exact words) and that I need to hard plumb it to get more flow through it. I'm sorry, but there's no way a 1/2" drain will allow 400 GPH of flow under gravity. I'd be really surprised to hear if anyone actually has got this much gravity-fed flow through a 1/2" pipe, especially when you include the losses from fittings and elbows, which must be used because the drain comes out the side of the scrubber. While I appreciate that their support took the time, I can't be experimenting with something that without warning can dump a gallon of water on my floor in short order.
What really bothered me most is that Clearwater scrubbers are sold by Bulk Reef Supply and they're a sponsor on R2R. I admit that I should have done more research before my purchase, and that's my bad. But I sort of assumed that the product would at least be good if BRS stocked them and they sponsored here. Moreover, I assumed that I would be able to get support in the sponsor forum here from Clearwater. The one thread I posted forever ago was never once answered by the vendor. So keep that in mind if you think getting support from Clearwater will be easier because they're a sponsor here.
Maybe this is all my fault. Maybe if I would have hard plumbed it I would have got 400 GPH of flow, "no problem" through it. Maybe with more flow, the bar wouldn't have stopped up and water wouldn't have shot out the ends. Maybe if I would have put it over my sump like most people do, I wouldn't have had such overflows. Having said that, maybe if all these things are important, Clearwater should include something in the box to tell you these things are important. Something besides a link to some setup videos that have since been taken off Youtube. Either way, the Clearwater scrubber was a swing and a miss for me. It's possible their other products are okay, but I would strongly advise against buying the CW-50 version of their scrubber.
The first problem was I had trouble ever getting the flow above 100 GPH. Did some playing around with the drain tube and was finally able to just barely get 110 GPH or so, but that's the absolute max. Using theoretical calculations, 200 GPH is ideal for a screen this size (more on drain speed in a minute). But, the main drain on this thing is a 1/2" bulkhead. Depending on the figure you trust, at most you're going to get out of a 1/2" drain under gravity pressure is 200 GPH. When this is the ideal flowrate for a screen this size, using a 1/2" drain was probably not the best choice in terms of design.
Probably the bigger issue is this scrubber would overflow usually about two times a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. It doesn't leak through the emergency drain and it doesn't physically overflow. I can only guess that the spray bar gets blocked up with algae and starts shooting water out the ends because it has nowhere else to go. Because this scrubber is mounted next to my tank, and because these were big leaks, usually about a gallon at a time leaked out. I thought I could fix the problem by cleaning it more, so I started brushing the spray bar once a day. No luck. I started taking it apart and cleaning it every three days after the last overflow, but still, no success. It overflowed again today, spilling about a gallon of water onto my floor in the course of about an hour. I wrote an email to Clearwater (mostly because there is no phone or chat available, and they don't answer posts on the forums here) to ask if there's anything I could do to make this thing work. A guy from Clearwater called me and was nice enough, but he didn't have any answers. He said that it never happened before and that he doesn't know why this might be happening. He doesn't know where the water could be coming from and suggested putting some zip-ties on the spray bar. After talking a bit, he blamed the problem on my flow. I told him that I was only able to push about 100 GPH through the thing and he said this is the cause of the algae buildup that causes the overflow. He said that a 1/2" drain should handle 400GPH of flow, no problem (his exact words) and that I need to hard plumb it to get more flow through it. I'm sorry, but there's no way a 1/2" drain will allow 400 GPH of flow under gravity. I'd be really surprised to hear if anyone actually has got this much gravity-fed flow through a 1/2" pipe, especially when you include the losses from fittings and elbows, which must be used because the drain comes out the side of the scrubber. While I appreciate that their support took the time, I can't be experimenting with something that without warning can dump a gallon of water on my floor in short order.
What really bothered me most is that Clearwater scrubbers are sold by Bulk Reef Supply and they're a sponsor on R2R. I admit that I should have done more research before my purchase, and that's my bad. But I sort of assumed that the product would at least be good if BRS stocked them and they sponsored here. Moreover, I assumed that I would be able to get support in the sponsor forum here from Clearwater. The one thread I posted forever ago was never once answered by the vendor. So keep that in mind if you think getting support from Clearwater will be easier because they're a sponsor here.
Maybe this is all my fault. Maybe if I would have hard plumbed it I would have got 400 GPH of flow, "no problem" through it. Maybe with more flow, the bar wouldn't have stopped up and water wouldn't have shot out the ends. Maybe if I would have put it over my sump like most people do, I wouldn't have had such overflows. Having said that, maybe if all these things are important, Clearwater should include something in the box to tell you these things are important. Something besides a link to some setup videos that have since been taken off Youtube. Either way, the Clearwater scrubber was a swing and a miss for me. It's possible their other products are okay, but I would strongly advise against buying the CW-50 version of their scrubber.
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