Algae Scrubber Basics

Yes, a few people have tried that with limited success. Pretty much the rule of thumb is that if it doesn't have a heat sink, don't use it. Those are low, low power LEDs, it doesn't list a wattage on their site that I could easily find, but it's probably 14-24W for 225 LED, which means 0.1w or less (probably 0.05W).

People who have used it have either switched to CFLs or not posted many pics. The only successful pics I have seen were from the first few weeks, and it did grow green on a large screen, however the power is inadequate for high filtration. You end up with an oversized screen (10" or 11" on each side, so 100-120 sq in, or 8-10 cubes per day if lit right) that can only handle about 2 cubes of food a day, so why not make one sized right and lit properly is most people's conclusion.
 
The e-shine 50W arrays of 1W LEDs are no longer being made. They are only doing 3W now and will only do 1W bars for orders of 30 fixtures or more. So it's all DIY now.
 
Hi Floyd R Turbo,

I know you've mentioned this before but the thread is long now.

I'd like to know how long it takes for your total water volume to pass over your ATS. How many gallons are in your total system (including sump) and how fast is the water traveling over your ATS? Your algae yield is amazing :)
 
Depends on size of screen and flow rate. I don't worry about calculating such a thing but it is a simple calculation. Also remember it's not like I'm starting with the water on one side and pumping the whole volume to another, it's a continual mixing process.

I think I run a Mag5 at probably close to 500 GPH of flow, maybe 450 (so it's under flow actually) and about 125g of system water, or something close to that, so do the math.
 
mtrcyclefish said:
I'm going to install an ATS in my system. I want to do a double screen so that I can just remove one every 5 days to clean without disturbing the other. I'm unsure which way I should go with this. Should it be A: a 1/8" slit with 2 screens back to back, B: a wider slit with 2 screens back to back, or C: two separate 1/8" slits with a small gap between them each with 1 screen? I'm using 1 1/2" pipe connected to my returns, so option C wouldn't be difficult. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks
Click to expand...

While Option c would work best it is not optimal. I tried it and found that if I ran both screens on one pump when I cleaned one screen all the flow would be diverted to that screen (path of least resistance) and growth would slow down on the other screen until the newly cleaned screen grew enough algae to slow the flow down again. While I still have two screens I clean them both at the same time now.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
I know that algae will suck up Alk but I can't recall why, there is a mechanism for it though. Can't think of why Mag would be dropping for you though. I have zero problem keeping mag up, I maybe dose once every 2 months. Alk however, I put 7-9 fl oz of BRS Alk in a 5g top off bucket and that goes in 1.33-1.5 GPD, so roughly 2.5-3 fl oz of Alk daily just to keep it at 8.0 on a 144
Click to expand...
Ok thanks for the reply, I can't seem to get my alkalinity up past 4 which I only got on one test and most of the time it is a 3 I am using a seachem test and have read that low mag will cause low alk. I was dosing kalk trying to get my alk up but it isn't budging. I have been reading up on mixing my kalk with vinegar and am going to try that and I am going to take a sample to my LFS tonight to get a back up test done. I need to check my calcium level tonight.

I noticed on my bottle of Mg that dosing Kalk can cause your Mg to precip out.

On a side note after I started dosing Kalk my hard coral's growth took off it was an amazing difference.

Oh and on a side note my fresh SW test's at a 6 on alk.
 
So you're cleaning all of the algae off each time you clean the screens? I thought the idea was to only take half of it away, leaving the other half to continue to scrub the tank?
 
redneckgearhead said:
Ok thanks for the reply, I can't seem to get my alkalinity up past 4 which I only got on one test and most of the time it is a 3 I am using a seachem test and have read that low mag will cause low alk. I was dosing kalk trying to get my alk up but it isn't budging. I have been reading up on mixing my kalk with vinegar and am going to try that and I am going to take a sample to my LFS tonight to get a back up test done. I need to check my calcium level tonight.

I noticed on my bottle of Mg that dosing Kalk can cause your Mg to precip out.

On a side note after I started dosing Kalk my hard coral's growth took off it was an amazing difference.

Oh and on a side note my fresh SW test's at a 6 on alk.
Click to expand...

Everything I've read on Kalk say you do not want to use it to raise alk or cal levels. you can only use it to maintain levels. I can't recall why this is, as it doesn't necessarily make logical sense, but just don't do it. Use BRS Alk or something like that to raise your Alk to the desired level (slowly) and then institute a consistent Kalkwasser dosing regimen to maintain it, and make adjustments as necessary with an Alk supplement.

As for vinegar, one thing you need to do it mix the kalk powder with the vinegar first, dissolve it completely, then mix in the RODI. Don't add the vinegar to the RODI and then mix in the kalk powder. You want the kalk to use the carbon from the vinegar completely.

Also AFAIK dissolving the kalk in vinegar will not raise it's Alk raising ability. It will only increase the calcium "power" of kalkwasser. That's mainly why people dissolve kalk powder in vinegar.

I am familiar with the Mg and kalk issue but can't recall off the top of my head what it is. Regardless, you need to get your levels to where they need to be before dosing kalkwasser.
 
redneckgearhead said:
While Option c would work best it is not optimal. I tried it and found that if I ran both screens on one pump when I cleaned one screen all the flow would be diverted to that screen (path of least resistance) and growth would slow down on the other screen until the newly cleaned screen grew enough algae to slow the flow down again. While I still have two screens I clean them both at the same time now.
Click to expand...

Scott, thanks for sharing this. Makes sense and had not thought a lot about that. My screen is rather wide ATM and it would make cleaning much easier if it were split in two. I'm probably going to do weekly cleaning tonight/in morning and might go head and cut screen in half. I think I'm going to half 2-3 times the harvest as last week:p
 
I see a very negligible N spike after cleaning. Maybe 0.1 or 0.2 for one day. Corals need some N and P. I've even heard some people say that they maintain their tanks with 10ppm N for certain corals. Keeping them at 0.000 all the time is not necessarily what you want. Therefore unless you are seeing a large waste spike right after cleaning that doesn't go down within a day, and/or (most importantly) you are seeing problems in the tank such as corals not opening up or nuisance algae appearing, then don't clean half the screen every 3-4 days. That's my 2c anyways.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
Everything I've read on Kalk say you do not want to use it to raise alk or cal levels. you can only use it to maintain levels. I can't recall why this is, as it doesn't necessarily make logical sense, but just don't do it. Use BRS Alk or something like that to raise your Alk to the desired level (slowly) and then institute a consistent Kalkwasser dosing regimen to maintain it, and make adjustments as necessary with an Alk supplement.

As for vinegar, one thing you need to do it mix the kalk powder with the vinegar first, dissolve it completely, then mix in the RODI. Don't add the vinegar to the RODI and then mix in the kalk powder. You want the kalk to use the carbon from the vinegar completely.

Also AFAIK dissolving the kalk in vinegar will not raise it's Alk raising ability. It will only increase the calcium "power" of kalkwasser. That's mainly why people dissolve kalk powder in vinegar.

I am familiar with the Mg and kalk issue but can't recall off the top of my head what it is. Regardless, you need to get your levels to where they need to be before dosing kalkwasser.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info Floyd!
 
redneckgearhead said:
While Option c would work best it is not optimal. I tried it and found that if I ran both screens on one pump when I cleaned one screen all the flow would be diverted to that screen (path of least resistance) and growth would slow down on the other screen until the newly cleaned screen grew enough algae to slow the flow down again. While I still have two screens I clean them both at the same time now.
Click to expand...
Confused! So it's good with 2 or 1 screen?
Beside: I've read some page back mentioned how to feed the tank depend on the screen size, correct? Or it depends on your fish load?
 
one or two screens it doesn't matter really. But there is really no advantage to having two. You must clean them both at the same time or else you get what I described in my early post.
 
Just for clarity, I am discussing one screen cut in half so that you can clean both sides of one half of the screen on an alternating basis. You should never take 2 screen and sandwich them together. The algae in the middle of the 2 screens will not grow or will die because of lack of light. Single thickness screen only.
 
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