There have a been a few threads lately on turf scrubbers, and I wanted to share with the group the plans I used to make one for my system. I made my own waterfall style algae turf scrubber, sized for 3 cubes of frozen food a day. I found some really good online resources, and realized that all the necessary parts and pieces are readily available. Construction itself is pretty easy and doesn't require any particularly special knowledge or tools. I made my unit in a small condo, in the kitchen and dining room, with hand tools and a dremel. I don't have a table saw, I don't have a router. I will still able to make a watertight acrylic box.
So first and foremost - these really do appear to work. I was battling nuisance turf algae in my display tank, but had never had much luck growing macro algae in my fuge. After installing my ATS, I have increased my feeding at least double (some weeks pushing triple) and my display algae has not grown at all. It has receded.
Second, and equally important - these things are not complicated and don't need to be expensive. Like I mentioned, I built mine with hand tools in my condo - and mine is certainly overkill. I knew I would only do this thing once, so I wanted to do it "right" on the first pass - all the bells and whistles. Building one yourself WILL save you money, and although it might take a bit of time, it's really not too difficult. I had never worked with LED's or acrylic before, and I did just fine after a little practice. I got my totally overkill setup complete for ~$250. I could have made about as effective for maybe half that depending on the lighting I chose.
I am an engineer, so I totally geeked out on my design. AutoCAD and all that. I can share those plans with you if there's interest. I'll probably share them even if there's not interest. Like I said, overkill... Here's what I needed for my 6"x6" screen size scrubber:
Lighting (sources - LED Supply and Steve's LEDs)
Plumbing (sources - Marine Depot, Amazon)
The Box (source - Amazon)
Miscellaneous stuff
Tools
I'll post the resources I found at the tail end of this. (new member, links still disabled)
So first and foremost - these really do appear to work. I was battling nuisance turf algae in my display tank, but had never had much luck growing macro algae in my fuge. After installing my ATS, I have increased my feeding at least double (some weeks pushing triple) and my display algae has not grown at all. It has receded.
Second, and equally important - these things are not complicated and don't need to be expensive. Like I mentioned, I built mine with hand tools in my condo - and mine is certainly overkill. I knew I would only do this thing once, so I wanted to do it "right" on the first pass - all the bells and whistles. Building one yourself WILL save you money, and although it might take a bit of time, it's really not too difficult. I had never worked with LED's or acrylic before, and I did just fine after a little practice. I got my totally overkill setup complete for ~$250. I could have made about as effective for maybe half that depending on the lighting I chose.
I am an engineer, so I totally geeked out on my design. AutoCAD and all that. I can share those plans with you if there's interest. I'll probably share them even if there's not interest. Like I said, overkill... Here's what I needed for my 6"x6" screen size scrubber:
Lighting (sources - LED Supply and Steve's LEDs)
- Luxeon Royal Blue LED's (2 @ $3 each)
- Luxeon Deep Red LED's (12 @ $3.40 each)
- Makers 6" Heat sink kit (2 @ $25 each)
- Meanwell LPC-35-700 Driver ($30)
- Shipping on the above (~$30)
- Miscellaneous wire, heat shrink, quick connects, thermal paste, etc - mostly had laying around, rest from Radio Shack
- Light diffuser ($8? Home depot for a 2'x4' sheet, I needed two 6"x6" squares)
Plumbing (sources - Marine Depot, Amazon)
- Rio+1100 Pump ($30)
- 3/4" Tubing ($2/foot)
- 3/4" Barbed Ball valve ($7.50)
- 3/4" Barbed to slip fitting ($3)
- 3/4" Union (had one)
- 3/4" Hard PVC Pipe (~8", 12" 12", had some laying around)
- 1" PVC pipe (~1/2", had some)
- 3/4" Uniseals (2, had them already)
- 3/4" Ball valve (had it already)
- Plastic knitting mesh (fabric store, ~$1)
The Box (source - Amazon)
- Acrylic sheet, black and clear, 1/4" and 1/8" thick (~$30)
- Weldon #4 Solvent ($10)
- Fiberglass driveway marker (Home depot, maybe $3?)
Miscellaneous stuff
- Zip ties
- Airline tubing
Tools
- Hand saw
- Drill
- Standard drill bits
- 3/4" hole saw
- 1" hole saw
- Radio Shack soldering iron
- Screwdriver
- Sandpaper, from 60 grit down to ~2000 grit wet/dry grit for the plastic
- Dremel
- measuring tape, ruler, etc
I'll post the resources I found at the tail end of this. (new member, links still disabled)
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