Algae Scrubber Basics

[XSiVE]

Simply don't respond to me and I'm gone.

i suggest you guys take this advice, so we don't get the thread closed.

on topic, I opened up the slot in my tube a bit the other day and Im already seeing better growth on my 2 week old screen as well as the GHA in my display starting to brown. YAY!

 

[dc]

Time to step out Barfly.

 

[mrbncal]

I hope that this "œdiscussion" that has developed here does not cause this thread to be closed, that would be a shame. I read the linked article that Barfly posted a few pages back. It offered no scientific proof one way or another. In fact it states at the top of the original page these are opinions:

The authors of this document have kindly spent the time to bring you their opinions. They are not liable in any form or fashion, nor are their employers, for how you use this information. Their opinions should not be construed as fact; don't blame them if your tank has problems.

This is what I would like to address, the use of the word "œscientific". The linked article and a lot of the "œtalk" against ATS in general are aimed at the institutional level (public aquaria, thousand gallon systems and such). The difference between the average hobbyist and the larger aquaria is night and day and cannot (should not) be compared to each other in the level or type of care each one needs to be successful. While the article made note of "œmany failures" using ATS' on a institutional level, it does not point out that the same could be said for some using conventional methods.

This brings me to another point of common confusion. The idea that's getting lost in this discussion is the basic nature of the filter. By design it is NOT an algae turf scrubber as described by Dr. Adey. TURF is the key word and there is no water surge. The idea of the filter in this thread is not to grow turf. When this filter is running properly and maintained regularly it will grow "œhair" algae under a steady stream of water flow. In fact the designer of the SM100 says its best to scrape off any turf that grows on the screen, as it decreases the effectiveness of the design he has come up with.
Now is this "œscientific"? No, its real world experience, gained by trial and error (just like the conventional methods did). . . and some form of success. This success is based on a hobbyist level where he was able to see a favorable result of the applied method. His results were posted and tried by others and (like other forms of filtration) SUCCESSES AND FAILURES were seen. People have had success with this method as their only form of filtration.

To me its kind of like the debate between LED and metal halide. Some users swear by LED while others claim that leds "œcannot" grow SPS as well as metal halide lighting. At this point in the development there isn't any "œscientific proof", but there is a lot of real world hobbyist experience and demand. In the end only time will tell which side was more accurate.

Personally I hope this thread gets back to discussing how to set up and maintain an "œalgae scrubber".

 

[rysher]

i've read the links posted by barfly, they were informative.
However, the style algae scrubber used by those people were outdated, some of those even clean their screen in the water which is a big no no- this is discussed in the basics- causing yellow water.

if ATS is your only form of filtration (me), how many months or years before it will crash, since this is what barfly implies, that an ATS only system will crash and is the cause of his friends tank crashing.
If you can't give me a definite number of months or years, i say you are blaming the scrubber for any crash that uses ATS. How about those tanks that have skimmers and fuges and still crashed, which equipment will you blame?

 

[redneckgearhead]

Ok guys lets get back to building/improving ATS. I hope barfly starts a thread debating the merits of ATS.

I have noticed growth on my ATS has slacked off and the algae is building up on my tank walls quicker. I did some checking and realized I hadn't replaced my bulbs since I set my ATS up in April. So with new bulbs lets hope things pick back up again.

 

[rysher]

i'd like to hear from those using LED's.
what kelvin are you guys using?
how's the growth?

 

[SPotter]

i'd like to hear from those using LED's.
what kelvin are you guys using?
how's the growth?

Rysher,
I'm currently using LED's on my system that is a month old. I am using cree
3w leds and each side has 3 warm white and 2 red. I am thinking about adding 3 more red on each side but not sure yet. I have been moving the lights further away from the screen every week because I am noticing a "burn" patch. I will be upgrading to a larger tank in a few months and plan on building another ATS for that tank and will most definitely use t5 for that based on expense and space that I will have available for the ATS, the t5's seem to be the better choice for me.

 

[SPotter]

finally measure my flow....and its low

finally measure my flow....and its low

So I was finally able to come up with a more precise flow rate and I am very low at around 250 gph. My ATS is manifold fed and I have room on the ball valve to open it up more but when I do that, water starts flying out of slot in multiple directions. I am guessing that I need open up my slot more to handle the increased flow.

Does that sound right?

 

[srusso]

So I was finally able to come up with a more precise flow rate and I am very low at around 250 gph. My ATS is manifold fed and I have room on the ball valve to open it up more but when I do that, water starts flying out of slot in multiple directions. I am guessing that I need open up my slot more to handle the increased flow.

Does that sound right?

Can you remind me, what your screen dimensions are?

 

[SPotter]

Can you remind me, what your screen dimensions are?

Its 10"x8"

 

[XSiVE]

That sounds like your slot is a little on the small side based on my experience with the previous design of my scrubber.

 

[srusso]

Its 10"x8"

Your short about 100GPH, for that size screen. What size tank?

 

[SPotter]

Your short about 100GPH. For that size. What size tank?

I'm running around 60 gallons total volume. I went a little bigger than what I needed.

 

[srusso]

I'm running around 60 gallons total volume. I went a little bigger than what I needed.

I would say you should downsize your scrubber.

 

[SPotter]

I would say you should downsize your scrubber.

Ok I'll go to 8x8

Steve

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

Here is my new ATS/ 30g tank:

The tank is a 30g long, the sump is a 20g tall.

I tested my overflow and full bore it's about 400gph. I valved it back to as close to 280gph as I can get it. My screen size ended up being 8" due to my narrow sump and lighting space with the equpiment I had on hand. So I have 35gph per inch of flow on my screen.
I've got two light fixtures that will each hold 23 watt 3k bulbs. This should give me pretty close to 1 watt per gallon of light. The screen is 10" long before it hits the sump water line so I'm not sure how far down below the light center the algae will grow.

I get a bit of splashing at the end of the slotted drain, you can see in the end of the video. Any tips to fix this? For now i've got a splash shield that drips back into the sump.
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/seekndestroysa/?action=view&current=100_0912.mp4

 

[coraltastic]

i have a algae problem. just built a ats want uall to cortege it. i am plaining on putting a light on the other side tommorrow.

my tank(S) r- a 180 gallon display tank.there isnt no hair algae in the display just some slime algae here and there. the fish i have in there r 1 salfin tang, 1 clown tang, 1 powder brown tang, 7 green chromis, and several hermits, one apple snail, 1 turbo snail, and lots of corals.

110 gallon water troph with deep sand bed and live rock, small tube with cheato in it with overflow pipped in and water flows from bottom threw cheto and over the top into the 110 troph. i have a 3 foot long engineer gobie,and 2 dart fish in the troph.

also 40 breeder for a frag tank. i have 2 clowns, 2 peperment shrimp, coralbanded shrimp, pistel shrimp, several hermit crabs, 4 anemones, and lots of frags in the 40 breeder witch where all the algae is growing. these pics r from a few months ago before the algae started to get bad.

and a 75 gallon sump

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

Hey Coraltastic,
Consider putting 2 spiral cfl lights on each side like srusso has done in post #2.
Your screen looks like it's 18" wide, make sure your getting 630 gph flow to it, or 35pgh for each inch of width.
Is your screen roughed up enough? See post #150.

 

[coraltastic]

the bulb i am using is a plant grow bulb, and am going to put one on the other side when i figure out how to do it. i am using a mag 7 as u can see it inst pumping far.yes the screen is roughed up. thanx for the input.

 

[srusso]

Here is my new ATS/ 30g tank:

The tank is a 30g long, the sump is a 20g tall.

I tested my overflow and full bore it's about 400gph. I valved it back to as close to 280gph as I can get it. My screen size ended up being 8" due to my narrow sump and lighting space with the equpiment I had on hand. So I have 35gph per inch of flow on my screen.
I've got two light fixtures that will each hold 23 watt 3k bulbs. This should give me pretty close to 1 watt per gallon of light. The screen is 10" long before it hits the sump water line so I'm not sure how far down below the light center the algae will grow.

I get a bit of splashing at the end of the slotted drain, you can see in the end of the video. Any tips to fix this? For now i've got a splash shield that drips back into the sump.
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/seekndestroysa/?action=view&current=100_0912.mp4

Nice build, should work well. Please keep us posted as to growth each week etc, again nice work.