My DIY Horizontal ATS It's working!!New RB LED light.

Well so far so good after three days I have a good bit of brown algae forming.

I hung the light so it is directly over the screen.




1st day




3 days of growth.



You can see the small wave that forms at the head of the screen.

 

cool ;D wait to you get a bright green door mat in the sump

 

Thanks man I hope so.

 

ok fixed my awful spelling ;D

 

I am real interested to see how this turns out subscribed

 

Just a thought. If you were to extend that wave affect at the start across the entire screen and create more turbulent flow, you could probably reduce sedimentation rates from what they would be with linear flow. That could be good to wash out dead growth breakdown that can start once the algae layer thickens up. Increased turbidity usually leads to an increase in mass:surface area that is capable of settling. I would see doing this by adding strips of many short (3-4mm) monofilament filaments across the screen, perpendicular to the flow. Having each strip spaced about an inch to create a rolling current, without reducing the available growth space. Also mono filaments could be scraped with the rest and be good to go for a long time.
Just a random thought should sedimentation become a problem or you feel like trying some experimental stuff.

 

FWIW, the guys that have ATS in my area, are now saying in order to get the real nice green matted algae, they are using LEDs. The cfl bulbs really promote the brown slime.

 

Very Creative man, I'll definitely be following the progress of this design. Great way to utilize your existing space and flow patterns.

 

How is that screen looking?

 

Me too !!!

Well so far my flow seems fine and have some good growth started. I will definitely be tinkering if the need arises.Thanks for the ideas.

Interesting.I would much rather run the leds but because of the distance I was running the light I was afraid it wouldn't be strong enough.In the ATS's I have seen with CFL'S they have been growing green algae but I would love to switch.After I have all the bugs worked out I will definitely give the leds a try.

Thanks.Fingers crossed.

Brown!!!LOL Will take a couple more pics soon.