Yet another DIY algae scrubber idea - with a twist

[Greybeard]

I've been looking at my sump, pondering an idea. Was hoping I might get some feedback from other DIY'ers.

I'm using an EShopps RS100 sump. Has a 7" sock compartment. I dislike socks... they're a pain to clean, and I'm not at all sure how much good they actually do. So, I've got a 7" round 'hole' where water falls 5" or so on a constant basis.

I've got a thought coming together. Make a 7" round, 5" tall 'roll' of plastic mesh canvas, rough it up on the inside surface as in most DIY scrubber projects, and suspend it from the hanging ring of one of my old socks. Put an LED light source over the thing, and let it grow algae. I'm thinking a magna-fuge on the lid over the sock area might do it. There's several cheap waterproof LED bars on Amazon that might work, need to research the most suitable lighting. It'd be suspended on the clear acrylic cover over the sock area, it'd need to spread to a 7" round spot in roughly 4" drop before it'd hit the top edge of the growth media.

Easy. No pump needed, a steady stream of water guaranteed, takes no additional space (can't use the space it takes up for anything else, anyway) Seems like someone could sell a commercial 'algae surface ring' in common sock sizes pretty cheaply... any of you with more of an entrepreneur bent than I have, feel free to take it and run with it. Maintenance should be a snap, since the sock rings are meant to be easily removable, yank it out, scrape it off, drop it back in.

Downsides? It's not contained, meaning the light can escape to other areas of the sump. I suppose some sort of dark plastic on the outside might be workable, but honestly, I'm not sure it'd be needed. On my sump, the frame holding the sock is opaque anyway, there's not going to be much light spillage. Any algae that breaks away would run on through the sump, but in my sump, anyway, it'd be caught by the open cell foam between the skimmer and return pump compartments. It'd only be lit on the inside, but once again, is that a bad thing? There's at least as much surface area in a 1 sided 7" round, 5" long 'tube' of growth media than in the single 'sheet' of double sided material most DIY scrubbers use.

Lighting... I've never run an algae scrubber. Most of the commercial ones have some flavor of 'red' light. I've never had a problem growing algae under white... what would be best from a lighting standpoint?

Love to hear your thoughts...

 

[bhavy]

I like the idea I just wonder if the water flow speed would be to much volume or speed wise . At least mine might be. I have a seperate sock tub but running about 2000gal per hour.
Would like others thoughts

 

[mcarroll]

I'd use a nylon mesh bag in there whether you decide to light it up or not. Good idea to experiment with!

Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Micron-Nylon-Filter-Liquid-Filtering/dp/B00F7C1O06

There are some nylon meshes that are more stiff like the ones Tunze uses in their skimmer outlets.

 

[Greybeard]

I like the idea I just wonder if the water flow speed would be to much volume or speed wise . At least mine might be. I have a seperate sock tub but running about 2000gal per hour.
Would like others thoughts

Good question. My system is only running about 800gph through the sump, but even at that, what is the proper flow for a waterfall type ATS?

 

[Greybeard]

Ok, I finally went beyond the thinking about it stage... Bought a $10 submersible white LED strip from Amazon, and some plastic canvas. Roughed up the canvas with a hole saw, used an old mesh sock cut back to just the ring, and some zip ties. Drilled a couple of holes in the cover over the sock section of the sump and zip tied the LED in place. That's it. Took like 20 minutes to assemble, cost $14. My main light timer had an empty socket, so for right now, this LED is on when my main lights are on. Not ideal... I'll switch it around to run at night, eventually.

We'll see how it goes. Shouldn't take too long to see if this is going to grow hair, or not. Here's hoping

Excuse the dirty old sock ring Looks worse in the photo, guess I should have bleached it.

 

[Devaji]

cool I like the idea. its fun to experiment. red led would have been better in the 660nm but I am sure that will work. its algae after all. plz keep us posted.

 

[Greybeard]

That's what it's all about, experimentation Couldn't find a cheap, RTU 660nm waterproof LED... This one is supposed to be around 10,000k, but for a $10 chinese LED, who knows.

We'll see in a week or two

 

[mcarroll]

red led would have been better in the 660nm

I'm aware of this in concept too, but have you ever seen someone test it? I'm curious how big a difference it would make in reality.

 

[Greybeard]

I'm aware of this in concept too, but have you ever seen someone test it? I'm curious how big a difference it would make in reality.

BRS is doing a multi-part video on growing chaetomorpha in refugeums under various lighting... The red light is a high end Kessel, and it's growing like wildfire, but the cheap screw in white LED bulb is doing well, too. The little white LED strip is doing OK, I guess. The CF bulb isn't doing so great. With their test, you can't tell for sure if it's color, or intensity, since the red light is also the most intense. I'd like to see a test on different color LED's, same water, same algae, same wattage... but who's going to do it

The DIY macro algae reactor thing, usually with low output white LED tape lights, seem to be working OK... I'm hopeful that what I've got running will work well enough.

I did change it to an always on power source already. Only time will tell.

 

[Paullawr]

Algae pref warmer lights. Hence why reds are pushed in commercial setups. Having said this I converted a two little fishes reactor in to a chaeto reactor several year ago. That was lit from the outside. I'd say it ways around 6000 Kelvin. Grew well to be honest.
Cleaning was quite easy as chaeto is like a wire brush. On pulling in order to prune, it removed most of the film algae on the reactor wall. As it grew there was less film.

If you cannot get a red led go with warmer whites.

I wouldn't worry about light spill.

 

[Paullawr]

I'd run the light 18 hours a day with 4 off personally. That provided good results. I know some commercial recommend 22 on 2 off. Personally i think that's too much.
The other train of thought is to reverse your main lights. So off whilst display is on.

I did try the latter way but growth wasn't half as good.