Algae Scrubber Basics

[gark666]

my alge turf scrubber is growing yellow slime alge any idea on how to fixed this?

 

[tankaddict]

I have read up on ATS for months and finally made one. My tank is about 35g total volume. The ATS has been running for about 2 months and the algae on my LR is growing like crazy. My screen grows a red turf like algae which i have to take a butter knife to scrape off every week. I have about 400gph flow over my screen (horizontal ATS)and 36w 24" long pc light directly over the the 7"x14" screen. Is it normal to get an increase in HA on LR as phosphate is leaching back to reach equalibrium?

 

[srusso]

my alge turf scrubber is growing yellow slime alge any idea on how to fixed this?

Yellow indicates low nutrients, normally caused by lack of flow, lights too intense or bad placement. Some times it means the tank is not being fed enough food... Let's see some pictures and details about your setup.

 

[srusso]

I have read up on ATS for months and finally made one. My tank is about 35g total volume. The ATS has been running for about 2 months and the algae on my LR is growing like crazy. My screen grows a red turf like algae which i have to take a butter knife to scrape off every week. I have about 400gph flow over my screen (horizontal ATS)and 36w 24" long pc light directly over the the 7"x14" screen. Is it normal to get an increase in HA on LR as phosphate is leaching back to reach equalibrium?

Let's see your setup. PC lighting is not recommended for algae scrubbers. Be sure your also changing bulbs every three months. I would say your scrubber is not performing as it should and likely to have a design flaw. But to answer your question directly, no your LR should not be growing algae "like crazy". Without seeing pictures, I'd say lighting is the issue.

Change out that PC for two CFLs...

 

[srusso]

Scrubber has been getting good solid green growth for about a month, nothing like yours, but decent. I have a 26watt cfl on each side of my screen mounted on drop lights, using aluminum foil to make a bigger reflector. The dino's have been unchanged for the whole course of the ATS. I've read they don't really need much in the way of nutrients, and can survive in ULN systems.

The only good way I've read to kill them is elevated pH, but I cannot get me pH to stay at anything higher than 7.8. Even dumping in kalk slurry only raises pH for a few hours. Can't wait till my tank is moved to a more ventilated room.

I wonder If you'd be up for a little experiment. I think if you setup a fan perpendicular to your screen you have the chance to increase the amount of O2 exchange. (FYI - This will drop the tank temp, so monitor that) Also my help to check the water surface in the DT is highly agitated. Do you have a hood? Where is the tank now?

Leave tank stand doors open and if there is a hood, open it or take it off completely. If your willing, let's see if it makes a difference for a month.

 

[jrp1588]

Well the room itself has lots of CO2 in it, so I don't think it'll help much. The tank will be in a new house in a few days anyway, so no chance for an experiment.

 

[SPotter]

I've been having a chronic problem with low ph because my tank is in the basement. I run a CO2 scrubber and that does great in the fall, winter and spring but the summer has been a killer. I am going to try point the fan down on my screen since thats only direction I can point it based on my box.

My PO4 level has increased for the 2nd week in a row now and its back up to .0335 so I am definitely going to work on increasing my flow. I have also noticed an increase in algae on my dt glass so I will definitely make this a priority to correct.

 

[jrp1588]

Yeah, I've been looking at CO2 scrubbers. There is actually an Airgas within shouting distance of my internship. Soda lime is a special order item I think though, or so it sounds from all the stuff I've read.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

my alge turf scrubber is growing yellow slime alge any idea on how to fixed this?

Just to clarify what srusso said, yello growth is too much light in relation to the amount of nutrients getting to the algae. The algae can't move nutrients in and out fast enough and 'locks up'. You either need to 1) increase the flow, 2) add iron, or 3) decrease your photoperiod (until you get green growth). If you do the last one, I would also increase the intensity of the lamps, which could mean even short photoperiod. You ultimately want green growth which does the best filtering, so if that means you sacrifice a longer filtering period for a shorter, more effective one, then that's what you do.

If you're not feeding enough (low nutrient system) and don't want to increase feeding, then you can alternatively reduce the width of your screen which would result in a higher flow rate per inch if you keep the same total flow rate. You may have to widen your slot if the flow goes up over 35 GPH/in

I have read up on ATS for months and finally made one. My tank is about 35g total volume. The ATS has been running for about 2 months and the algae on my LR is growing like crazy. My screen grows a red turf like algae which i have to take a butter knife to scrape off every week. I have about 400gph flow over my screen (horizontal ATS)and 36w 24" long pc light directly over the the 7"x14" screen. Is it normal to get an increase in HA on LR as phosphate is leaching back to reach equalibrium?

Horizontal scrubbers are not as effective and really only work well if you have a surge type of setup. Horizontal screens that are constantly submerged do not work well at all. Also you need 1.5W per square inch, minimum, and must have reflectors. You have 36W over 98 square inches which is 0.36 W/sq in.

Horizontal surge/dump scrubbers have a tendency to grow red turf algae, which is not as effective as vertical waterfall style scrubbers. This is why I don't recommend horizontal scrubbers - they're fraught with the problems of the past.

PC lights are fine as far as intensity but run way too hot (for any use, IMO).

Well the room itself has lots of CO2 in it, so I don't think it'll help much. The tank will be in a new house in a few days anyway, so no chance for an experiment.

So there's no way to bring fresh outside air in?

I've been having a chronic problem with low ph because my tank is in the basement. I run a CO2 scrubber and that does great in the fall, winter and spring but the summer has been a killer. I am going to try point the fan down on my screen since thats only direction I can point it based on my box.

My PO4 level has increased for the 2nd week in a row now and its back up to .0335 so I am definitely going to work on increasing my flow. I have also noticed an increase in algae on my dt glass so I will definitely make this a priority to correct.

You might be nitrate limited. If your N hits zero and stays there, no P can be absorbed. That's where I'm at, N=0, P=0.09 and won't budge. But corals look great, growth rates aren't fantastic, but then again I don't have the room for it and the corals grow thicker and stronger as they grow slower so who cares.

 

[SPotter]

my nitrates have been at zero since the 2nd week of using my ATS so that could make sense. All of my corals look great and are growing. I'll see what happens once I get the flow rate up to where it should be.

 

[jrp1588]

Nope. No way to ventilate my basement bedroom really. There are no windows down here, no doors to the outside. No matter though, moving out friday.

 

[tankaddict]

Let's see your setup. PC lighting is not recommended for algae scrubbers. Be sure your also changing bulbs every three months. I would say your scrubber is not performing as it should and likely to have a design flaw. But to answer your question directly, no your LR should not be growing algae "like crazy". Without seeing pictures, I'd say lighting is the issue.

Change out that PC for two CFLs...

Can you tell me why PC are not effective? On the scrubber site SM said it was fine to use in one of his write ups. I can grow good algae with it. I will try some clip on CFL and see if it grows different algae.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I'm not saying they're not effective, they just burn way, way too hot for my liking.

But like my post above said, lighting type is only part of your issue. Look at #2480 above

 

[redneckgearhead]

On my version 1.0 I used PC lights. They seemed to grow more of a turf style algae. My screen had spots that where very hard to clean off. Since switching to CFL's I get only HA and HA is way more efficient at removing nutrients, from what I have read.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Thread Statistics

Thread Statistics

I didn't realize until last week how fast this thread is growing. Here are a few stats for anyone curious:

In the Advanced Topics forum, this thread has more replies/posts (just shy of 2500) than any other thread.

The next closest is the "DSB in a bucket" thread which has one split and a cominbed total of 1682 posts, followed by the "solatubes" thread, which also has one split and 1207 total posts.

The thread is currently #3 in views since it ws started in February of this year. There are currently almost 92,000 views, or an average of 13,000 views per month (almost 5000 in the last 7 days)

#1 is the "solatubes" thread (both) at roughly 330,500, which was started in 2002, making for an average of 3060 views/month. Since the 1st split in 9/2007 it's had 155,000 views for 3200+ views/month.

#2 is the "DSB" thread (both) at roughly 320,400, and was started in 2005, making for an average of 4450 views/month. Since the 1st split in 7/2006 it's had 138,000 views for 2200+ views/month.

So in just 7 months, this thread has eclipsed all others in replies and has, worst case, almost 3x the viewing rate of the next closest thread. It got Thread of the Month within the first few months of starting and has kept on rolling along.

I would like to thank everyone who has participated in this thread by posting pictures, questions, answers, opinions, and information.

Ok, I'm done patting myself on the back.

 

[Rabidgoose]

Congrats and well done!

 

[redneckgearhead]

Thanks to you and srusso for all your time and effort! Love this thread!

 

[PowermanKW]

Horizontal scrubbers are not as effective and really only work well if you have a surge type of setup. Horizontal screens that are constantly submerged do not work well at all. Also you need 1.5W per square inch, minimum, and must have reflectors. You have 36W over 98 square inches which is 0.36 W/sq in.

Horizontal surge/dump scrubbers have a tendency to grow red turf algae, which is not as effective as vertical waterfall style scrubbers. This is why I don't recommend horizontal scrubbers - they're fraught with the problems of the past.

So... I have not put in the research I normally do. I saw this thread and want to read it. ATS do have my interest.

I do realize the optimal AT Sis vertical and seen the designs... Ihave wanted to look into horizontal for a variety of reasons. My idea is to make a trough... not so much shallow like the verticals per se... just a trough with some good water flow and then a long one. To do this is could serpintine across a tank... so you have a bin say 4-6" deep so it isn't dry, baffle it up to have a trough 6 inches wide and then multiple passes back and forth, and then dump it into a fuge tank.

What I have thought is that while it may not be optimal, that horizontal space is better utilized, use a T5 fixture, take up the top of a tank let pods grow... and as long as I am harvesting algae, then it is a nutrient export. I have never thought I had an original idea, and thought others might have done the same.... so then what is wrong with that setup? What are the pitfalls?

 

[redneckgearhead]

So... I have not put in the research I normally do. I saw this thread and want to read it. ATS do have my interest.

I do realize the optimal AT Sis vertical and seen the designs... Ihave wanted to look into horizontal for a variety of reasons. My idea is to make a trough... not so much shallow like the verticals per se... just a trough with some good water flow and then a long one. To do this is could serpintine across a tank... so you have a bin say 4-6" deep so it isn't dry, baffle it up to have a trough 6 inches wide and then multiple passes back and forth, and then dump it into a fuge tank.

What I have thought is that while it may not be optimal, that horizontal space is better utilized, use a T5 fixture, take up the top of a tank let pods grow... and as long as I am harvesting algae, then it is a nutrient export. I have never thought I had an original idea, and thought others might have done the same.... so then what is wrong with that setup? What are the pitfalls?

I don't see anything "wrong" with this set up. If you are only after pod production and a supplemental nutrient export this should work fine. BUT I would continue other means of nutrient export. I have seen on another forum a guy that has a 40 year old reef tank with just what you describe. Good luck and I hope you post pics and descriptions of your idea!

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

PowermanKW
Have you seen PaulB's trough in post #138?
srusso describes a bucket style dumper in #94, my understanding is that an air / water interface is needed for best efficiency.