My new ATS

herkie

herkie

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I have not been using a ATS since my sump rebuild and I miss it dearly every time I have to clean the tank so I have decided to build a new ATS that will grow more algae and one that will also be more user friendly.

The main body in place
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The empty light holders
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The body from another angle
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Looking great herkie .... Busy with mine at the moment ... What the dimensions on this unit ..... Flow to it? Lights? Screen material?
 
@ Chikka the screen size is 630x 230 and the flow I will be controlling with a gate valve but it will be sharing a 5800l Lifetech pump with other equipment. Will be using 6 x 20w T4 tubes for lighting and DIY maak n plan starters that cost R20 per tube.
 
herkie said:
@ Chikka the screen size is 630x 230 and the flow I will be controlling with a gate valve but it will be sharing a 5800l Lifetech pump with other equipment. Will be using 6 x 20w T4 tubes for lighting and DIY maak n plan starters that cost R20 per tube.
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Shot thanx ... Will these be lower Kelvin rated? Like 4000K? More yellow than blueish/whitish?
 
Will you include some form of reflector?

anyway, nice design. I want to see the finished product. I had a ATS, but its too much of a schlep to clean. As you said.
 
RiaanP said:
Will you include some form of reflector?

anyway, nice design. I want to see the finished product. I had a ATS, but its too much of a schlep to clean. As you said.
Click to expand...

I will be using a chrome material as a reflector. It really is a sticker, don't know how long it will last but it is cheap and can be replaced easily. The perspex used is second hand otherwise I would have used black instead of the clear ones. The clear parts will be black in the end. The light boxes will be housing the starters plus a cooling fan in each

The cleaning should be fairly easy because I am planning to use a irrigation quick coupler to connect to the pump. The screen will be two separate pieces that will be easy to remove from the supply pipe.
 
Going through some older threads it looks like an ATS speeds up the growth of coralline algae ... Or should I say with lower Phos level, the coralline algae flourishes ....
 
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@Singularity, 2700k is better for algae, there is more red in the spectrum. I have tested both the 2700k and daylight and the 2700k grows better algae.
 
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I have two lights running on my ATS and I simply had one 2700k bulb and one daylight on either end of the scrubber, the side with the 2700k bulb grew more algae. If you read the link that @belindamotion gave they also refer to 2700k bulbs. But with my planted tanks I use daylight. And for the scrubber 2700k bulbs, I do not know why more algae grows but I assume its got to do with the more red light.
 
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In a planted tank 2700k bulbs asthetically would be very yellow and that why one uses daylight bulbs (looks more natural). When one increases kelvin you decrease lumen. So lower kelvin 2700k for algae = higher lumen available to algae. And astheticaly to the eye colour does not matter its about what the algae can do with the light and more lumens = more growth. This is also why some guys that have frag tanks use lower kelvin for growth of frags. More available lumens = more growth. The proper measure is par but then one needs a par meter for that, which I do not have.
 
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