Algae Scrubber Basics

[Floyd R Turbo]

WB Floyd! I turned the lights back on for the scrubber but have had the DT lights off for about a day. From what I can tell the dinos have mostly receded in the DT and the LPS haved picked up a bit. I'm going to start with T5s on for 6 hours later today, but you say increase the photo period? I was running with T5s at 12 hours and MH split between 5 hrs on the left and 3.5 hrs on the right (I have SPS on the left side and LPS on the right). How much more should I increase it? I don't run a chiller and my temp swings 2-3 degrees during the day.

Here's what the scrubber looks like this morning... brown. Srusso - not really seeing hot spots fortunately.

Oh, regarding pH... I can't keep it up any higher than 8.2 (been dosing manually). Guess it's time to install those dosers!

In your case, 12 hours is enough, I wouldn't make it longer. Most go 8 or 10 hours. So just slowly extend it back up. Dripping kalk will help the pH and other things, just read up some on it and understand it first.

As for the growth, it looks to me like you might not have enough flow. Have you tested it to see where it's at? If you can't increase it, adding iron will help green it up. But unless the dinos return I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[srusso]

Decided to clean the screen today, on day 6. Dosed iron pills today... Let's see how this stuff works.





Not bad for six days growth for only being my first week with new scrubber version 4.

FYI- I removed the splash guard... It just wasn't needed... IMHO the new slot tube came out nice and straight.

 

[srusso]

Oh, I can't remember who came up with this idea but loving the new screen hangers I just made!

Lastly my new splash guard, this is b/c I only get a little splashing at the end.

Works very well... Actually a part from a tank separator.

 

[thefuz]

I'm dosing BRS 2-part currently, but I suppose I can give Kalk a go - I have plenty of pickling lime atm.

I went 6 hours on the T5s today and things looked just OK. Toadstool polyps are nowhere to be seen and the plate corals, ricordeas and zoas are still depressed looking. SPS looked quite good and the RBTA was extended nearly as much as it normally is (no MH so I'm not surprised it wasn't out in full). I still see trailing filaments of brown stuff from the snails on the glass and they tripled in length by the end of the photo period. I think I'm going to need to try to black out the tank entirely, but maybe in a few days.

I'm pretty sure I'm OK on flow, but haven't measured it directly (only rough calculations). It's running off of an Eheim 1262 which puts out 900 GPH. The flow is split between the scrubber and the return line. Given the screen is 11" wide, I need at least 385 GPH. I'm fairly certain I top this given that up until this week I had really nice green growth across the screen for several weeks.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Just thought I would let those of you who are using t5 bulbs for your scrubbers. Friday I talked to the people at aghydroponics about the bloom bulbs and how often they felt they should be changed. They confirmed what has been stated here that they should be changed every 3 mos. or a very maximum of 4. Getting ready to order 16 of the 24" Bloom bulbs for the scrubber for 900+ gallon fish system.

 

[6Speed]

I am getting ready to build a scrubber for my elos mini system. The tank is small at 20 gallons and the sump probably only holds about 5 gallons. Has anyone seen a scrubber built for a small sump like this? (or more specifically has anyone built a scrubber to use in an elos mini system?) I have some ideas I'm bouncing around.

Other than the ideas, I do know that -

I want to use the overflow to feed the scrubber.

I want to keep it simple.

 

[SPotter]

Anyone have a picture of a dino????

Steve

 

[Robert Patterso]

Here is an article in Reefkeeping Mag.. Talks about them and shows what could be dinos. Not sure this is going to work but here it goes.....



http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

 

[SPotter]

Here is an article in Reefkeeping Mag.. Talks about them and shows what could be dinos. Not sure this is going to work but here it goes.....



http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Thanjs robert....i was actually just reading that article. Ive battling hair algae in my frag tank and wanted to make sure thats sll it was. The frag tank is on the same system that my dt is on and since I've been using the ats the hs is slowly going away.

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I'm pretty sure I'm OK on flow, but haven't measured it directly (only rough calculations). It's running off of an Eheim 1262 which puts out 900 GPH. The flow is split between the scrubber and the return line. Given the screen is 11" wide, I need at least 385 GPH. I'm fairly certain I top this given that up until this week I had really nice green growth across the screen for several weeks.

Eheim 1262 puts out 900 GPH at zero head. Your total tank flow is likely 1/2 of that with head and plumbing restrictions, then you're tapping off that for your scrubber. I'd be surprised if you're getting 150 GPH across the entire screen. Flow is definitely your problem.

 

[OodleyBoodely]

I am getting ready to build a scrubber for my elos mini system. The tank is small at 20 gallons and the sump probably only holds about 5 gallons. Has anyone seen a scrubber built for a small sump like this? (or more specifically has anyone built a scrubber to use in an elos mini system?) I have some ideas I'm bouncing around.

Other than the ideas, I do know that -

I want to use the overflow to feed the scrubber.

I want to keep it simple.

I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with. I removed my 6g from the 37gallons sump, and, I don't have any filtration in it now except the 6lb live rock in the tank. It has a 5g bucket as a sump and it is very cramped and limited for space, but, I'd love to put a scrubber on this if I can come up with a decent design to use. Please do post here when you do yours for your Elos. :hmm5:

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

It may not be the lamps. There may be other contributing factors. Just looking at one parameter (lamps) may not solve the issue. Lighting spectrum comes 3rd behind flow and light intensity in importance.

Please post information on your scrubber and tank, and pictures of the algae you ahve having in the tank. It sounds like cyano if I have to guess.

 

[redneckgearhead]

Look on page 81, post 2004 and it will give you a run down of the lighting. What size is your screen, how many GPH of water are you running. How many hours a day are the lights on? How old are the lights?

Dang, Floyd beat me! lol

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Page #'s aren't the same depending on your personal settings. I view at 50 posts/page so it's page 41 for me. Just FYI. Better to just note the post number, that never changes...

 

[redneckgearhead]

That is good to know!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Just thought I would give a little info. about the sump system for the 900+ gallon fish system I plan to build the ats for the lfs I work part time at. The sump is 72Lx24Wx36dp. The bioball area itself is 36Lx24Wx36dp. The water line is approx. 16" from the top. I can go as tall as I want but to tall would be just over kill. My plan is to build 2 screens 24x24 with 12 t5s. My thinking is lighting the 2 screens in the middle with 4 bulbs that way I won't need reflectors because they will light both screens. Of course the outside bulbs will have individual reflectors.

Do you guys think that will be enough or should I add more lights. The owner says he will supply me with whatever I need. My thinking is that if the 2 screens are close enough to each other that the bulbs in the middle won't need reflectors. Otherwise I can add 4 more bulbs with reflectors. What you guys think?

Any input would be appreciated before I get started on this project

Thanks in Advance

I just wanted to comment on the center-lamp idea. When you take a 2-screen system and put lamps in between the screens, so you have lamps-screen-lamps-screen-lamps, the center lamps have about 1/4 of the effectiveness. The reason is that #1 you are splitting the lamps between 2 screens, and #2 you lose all the light power that is not directed/reflected one way or the other. Since no one makes a reflector that can effectively take a linear light source and direct 50% of it one way and 50% the other way, you end up with a bare lamp in between the screens. So it sounds great on paper because it saves real estate but to get the effectiveness of 1 reflected T5HO on the outside, you would need 3 or 4 lamps stacked up next to each other on the inside.

This is why I am not a fan of the center-lamp design. You just can't squeeze any more lumens out of a lamp. You are way better off going with 48" lamps, or just making 2 24" units. If you made a 4-4-4 unit, you would be better off making two 3-3 units, because you can reflect all the lights and maximize the power to the screen.

Also T5HO fixtures are 24" long, but the portion of the lamp that is actually illuminated is more like 20", so having much wider than a 22" screen doesn't do a whole lot. If you use T5HO waterproof endcaps, you end up with 19-7/8" exposed lamp.

Also like srusso said, you have a maximum lamp spacing of about 3 or maybe 4 inches. So 3 lamps on a side means a 12" x 22" screen, two of those means you have about 24x22 scrubbing power or about 525 gallons of filtering capacity. Having your lamp spacing a little wider than 3" will decrease that a little, but using T5HO you're ahead of the game, so that would effectively filter a 500 gallon fully stocked tank. So if you have 900 gallons and it's half stocked (or only moderately fed) that will probably work well.

Hope that helps

 

[Gandolfe]

I have 2 screens 13.5 x 10 that i bought and was thinking about doing a tee with both screens, if i have lights on both sides of screens and only 2" or 3" between the screens with that be enough light to grow algae on both screens or should i just glue them together and make one double screen

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have 2 screens 13.5 x 10 that i bought and was thinking about doing a tee with both screens, if i have lights on both sides of screens and only 2" or 3" between the screens with that be enough light to grow algae on both screens or should i just glue them together and make one double screen

You kind of lost me. Maybe try that again.

The one part I can pick out of this is the double-screen: no. Don't double up the screen, it doesn't do anything for you unless you have massive flow, capability for 3D growth, and cleaning between the screens. Even then, you're at the point of diminishing returns.

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

Decided to clean the screen today, on day 6. Dosed iron pills today... Let's see how this stuff works.

View attachment 158008

View attachment 158009

Not bad for six days growth for only being my first week with new scrubber version 4.

FYI- I removed the splash guard... It just wasn't needed... IMHO the new slot tube came out nice and straight.

Hey srusso,
I notice the top of your screen is very clean. Is that just because it's all in the slotted pipe or are you doing something to block the light there?

 

[6Speed]

I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with. I removed my 6g from the 37gallons sump, and, I don't have any filtration in it now except the 6lb live rock in the tank. It has a 5g bucket as a sump and it is very cramped and limited for space, but, I'd love to put a scrubber on this if I can come up with a decent design to use. Please do post here when you do yours for your Elos. :hmm5:

I will let you know soon as I come up with some plans.

For now here is a schematic of the sump (not drawn by me. credit to the creator is on the schematic):

I hope I can describe this well enough to make sense. If you're not familiar with this sump, the layout is:

- far left compartment: rodi topoff reservoir
- front two 5"x4" compartments are for a filter sock and refugium
- middle compartment just behind the front two is for return
- rear-most 2" wide compartment with the slanted baffle is for the outlet of the overflow to dump into.

So my two options are:

1. to have a vertical scrubber fed by the overlow cascading water down into the 2" wide area behind the slanted glass

or

2. have a vertical scrubber above the two 5"x4" compartments and have some sort of tray or splash guard that would funnel all of the water off the end of the scrubber into the sock filter compartment (left 5"x4" compartment on front).

Keep in mind that I run my return compartment water high, almost to the top of the 9" tall sock/fuge compartments. Basically the slanted baffle in the rear of the sump is of minimal use because the water level is well above it.

note: the glass pane in-between the two small 5"x4" compartments on front of the sump actually has a gap at the bottom for water to flow under from the sock filter to the refugium, before it returns to the larger compartment behind them via the circular hole on the back piece of glass.