Algae Scrubber Basics

[neptunestender]

Ok, after some reseach, (and some help from an RC moderator in the noob forums named Dave) I have come up with a stocking plan. BTW thank you for the post Diva, how much does this list mirror your own stocking of your 75? Plan as follows.

1 Mated pair of one of the following
Amphiprion Ocellaris, or Percula

1 Cryptocentrus Cinctus, posibly mated pair. With Alpheus Bellulus (Yellow Watchman Gobie, with Tiger Pistol Shrimp)

1 Nemateleotris Magnifica (Flame Firefish)

3 Chromis Veridis, or Cyanea (Green Chromis, or Blue Reef Chromis),
Or 3-5 Apogon Lepticanthus (Threadfin Cardinalfish)

1 Ecsenius Gravieri (Red Sea Mimic Blenny)

1 Wetmorella Nigropinnata (Sharpnosed Possum

1 Cirrhilabrus Rubrisquamis (Maldive Velvet Fairy Wrasse)

1 Echidna Catenata (Chainlink Moray Eel)

Also 1 mated pair of Pterapogon Kauderni (Banggai Cardinalfish) in the 29 gal Display Fuge with turtle grass and CUC.

Inverts to be included
Pachyclavularia Viridis (Green Star Polyp)
Zoathus*
Euphyllia Ancora (Hammer Coral)
Euphyllia Divisa (Frogspawn Coral)
Euphyllia Glabrescens (Torch Coral)
Sabellastarte (Featherduster Worm)
Ophioderma Cf. Appressum (Marbled Serpent Star)
Thor Amboinensus (Sexy Shrimp)

Along with this stocking plan I intend to dose phyto, rotifers and pods. My main fpod for the system will be home made frozen cubes. (made with a recipie like the ones found in forums here.)

Now with a better understanding of what I plan to stock, can any guesstimates be made a to my ATS sizing? Just need a ball park so I can start the R&D phase. I do plan to make the ATS or multiples in such a way that I can easly add or subtract surface area depending on preformance and turtle grass health. Basicly build a couple small ATSs that can be brought online with just the instalation of the screen and the turn of a valve handle. Would this work in principle?

Another consideration is the main DTs overflow will be split between the sump and DF so hopefully the fuge water will mainain enough trace of P04 and N03 to maintaine healthy turtlegrass growth.

Ok shoot me down :uzi:
Thanks again for all of your help.
You are an altruistic soul to help a fellow hobbiest.
Ed

 

[Devaji108]

Ed,
I am still stocking my system but I have the fallowing:
royal gramma
tail spot blenny
flame angle
pair of clowns
will be adding ether a kole or yellow tang
diamond gobie
purple fire fish
and maybe a yellow long nose butterfly

anyway back to ATS...I think it a good idea that your build different size screen but are you gutting alot of PVC or leaving that part the same ane taking of the end?

from what I here ATS and macro's can be a challenge. have you spent much time in the marco threads? if not I would suggest it there are some nice tank there.

as far as giving you a screen size that is kinda tricky as you will not be adding all fish at once + you want turtle grass. but I think maybe 1.5-2 cubes size???
maybe some of the other will chime in.

 

[neptunestender]

Sounds like a pretty nice variety in your tank I too am looking at the kole tang,its about the only tang rated for a 75. Thanks for the heads up on the macro forum had not thought of that.

As far asthe ATS goes I think I would build 3 small units each with 2 screens so I would only clean half about every 5 days or so. All three units would be in a line (or on one pipe), with a valve between each individual scrubber. I would run all three continuiously but the last one would be choked down as would number two this way they would still grow some algae and if I open them up full throttle there hopefully would not be as much cycle or start up time. (just a theory as I am no pro.) These units would be fed from the sump with an inline gate valve befor the first unit so the overal flow could be matched to the ammount of scrubbing screen length, the remaining flow would supply my surge buckets.

 

[TheHoove]

My dead simple, break the rules scrubber.

My dead simple, break the rules scrubber.

So About a year ago I built a scrubber following the original guidelines, more of less. It was slightly under light. And never got great growth. Shortly After I built a new stand, changed my 20 long sump out for a standard 30g tank. None of my scrubber stuff worked, and I didint have the pieces on hand to put it back together. So It got tossed aside. Lately Ive been getting a bit of hair algae again. So I looked over what I had left to build and easy dirt cheap scrubber. I still Had a whole new screen, half a box of CFLs, and the 2 drop lights currently over my chaeto, a bunch of egg crate, lots of zip ties, a couple PVC fittings, and lots of clear lexan and acrylic sheet. So I built this:

I took and cut a screen to the size I wanted. Took and cut a piece of acrylic the same size. Roughed the screen up good. Zip tied the screen to the acrylic so the water would not just fall through the screen but flow across it. I zip tied together a basic frame from eggcrate to set it on, about an inch above waterline in my sump. Modified my overflow to fall right in the center of the screen, about 1/2" off the surface. Set from old pieces of acrylic over it for spray, swapped the 6500k bulbs out of my lights and replaced with 2700k ones I had, and set the lights over it. Its easy to clean. Turn the return pump off, move a light, pick it up and wash it off in the sink.
The screen is about 10x14, so 140sqin, for a tank I feed one cube a day, and a couple times a week, a second cube of coral food or raw clams for lps. Flow is low for the screen size, at 280gph dirty. And light is probably low, at 50w, 6" away, through wet acrylic. It may not work well, but its a fun experiment, and not replacing any filtration yet. This is first cleaning, 2 weeks:

As far as im concerned, any algae that grows on it, is not growing in my tank.

 

[crn005]

That's a really neat design, TheHoove!

 

[TX..r33f]

So About a year ago I built a scrubber following the original guidelines, more of less. It was slightly under light. And never got great growth. Shortly After I built a new stand, changed my 20 long sump out for a standard 30g tank. None of my scrubber stuff worked, and I didint have the pieces on hand to put it back together. So It got tossed aside. Lately Ive been getting a bit of hair algae again. So I looked over what I had left to build and easy dirt cheap scrubber. I still Had a whole new screen, half a box of CFLs, and the 2 drop lights currently over my chaeto, a bunch of egg crate, lots of zip ties, a couple PVC fittings, and lots of clear lexan and acrylic sheet. So I built this:

I took and cut a screen to the size I wanted. Took and cut a piece of acrylic the same size. Roughed the screen up good. Zip tied the screen to the acrylic so the water would not just fall through the screen but flow across it. I zip tied together a basic frame from eggcrate to set it on, about an inch above waterline in my sump. Modified my overflow to fall right in the center of the screen, about 1/2" off the surface. Set from old pieces of acrylic over it for spray, swapped the 6500k bulbs out of my lights and replaced with 2700k ones I had, and set the lights over it. Its easy to clean. Turn the return pump off, move a light, pick it up and wash it off in the sink.
The screen is about 10x14, so 140sqin, for a tank I feed one cube a day, and a couple times a week, a second cube of coral food or raw clams for lps. Flow is low for the screen size, at 280gph dirty. And light is probably low, at 50w, 6" away, through wet acrylic. It may not work well, but its a fun experiment, and not replacing any filtration yet. This is first cleaning, 2 weeks:

As far as im concerned, any algae that grows on it, is not growing in my tank.

i like this one i am going to try to do the same. can i sak what screen do u use for the water to go onto and aglea forms on?

 

[crn005]

I just got my HOB nano ATS set up. I wanted to see what you guys think. I was originally going to build a lip to extend under the PC lighting I have but decided to throw on a 2700K light and give it more of a fighting chance to work. The 2700K light bulb is only 9.5w but it's an LED bulb. This worried me because I know that LED's are a little different. However, the bulb has a very cool temperature and looks like it is producing 2700K lighting. Do you think this should be a problem? Also, I was running some GFO in my reactor but I turned it off to guarantee more nutrients for the ATS. Do you think that's the right call? I use RO water here but the water supply in Seoul is pretty dirty so my RO unit produces water with about a .1-.2 PO4 reading. So, I always have plenty of nutrients to go around.

Any advice on what you think I should change is greatly appreciated!

 

[crn005]

Dang it! I messed up the picture links. Here they are:

http://imgur.com/a/dEmQU

Oh and is the 18 hours on/6 hours off a set in stone kind of thing? It produces a lot of light pollution and apartments Seoul aren't exactly large. I'd like to sleep at some point.... :-(

 

[Devaji108]

^ I really like them guys thanks for the pics and plz keep us posted on progress. I would love to see FTS so we can document the progress of that style of ATS.

TX. I wonder if you will get some growth in the egg create ? or do you un zip it and wash it off when cleaning?

hope fully i'll have mine up and running soon....

 

[TheHoove]

i like this one i am going to try to do the same. can i sak what screen do u use for the water to go onto and aglea forms on?

The screen is thw standard plastic canvas referenced in this thread. Zip tied to 1/4in thick acrylic. My disclaimer is dont copy my design without much research. My design gos much against the proven working design described in this thread. If you have a major algae problem to address, or are expecting great growth, stay with the proven design. If you just want to experiment and arnt scared of failure, fo ahead and try it.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

So About a year ago I built a scrubber following the original guidelines, more of less. It was slightly under light. And never got great growth. Shortly After I built a new stand, changed my 20 long sump out for a standard 30g tank. None of my scrubber stuff worked, and I didint have the pieces on hand to put it back together. So It got tossed aside. Lately Ive been getting a bit of hair algae again. So I looked over what I had left to build and easy dirt cheap scrubber. I still Had a whole new screen, half a box of CFLs, and the 2 drop lights currently over my chaeto, a bunch of egg crate, lots of zip ties, a couple PVC fittings, and lots of clear lexan and acrylic sheet. So I built this:

I took and cut a screen to the size I wanted. Took and cut a piece of acrylic the same size. Roughed the screen up good. Zip tied the screen to the acrylic so the water would not just fall through the screen but flow across it. I zip tied together a basic frame from eggcrate to set it on, about an inch above waterline in my sump. Modified my overflow to fall right in the center of the screen, about 1/2" off the surface. Set from old pieces of acrylic over it for spray, swapped the 6500k bulbs out of my lights and replaced with 2700k ones I had, and set the lights over it. Its easy to clean. Turn the return pump off, move a light, pick it up and wash it off in the sink.
The screen is about 10x14, so 140sqin, for a tank I feed one cube a day, and a couple times a week, a second cube of coral food or raw clams for lps. Flow is low for the screen size, at 280gph dirty. And light is probably low, at 50w, 6" away, through wet acrylic. It may not work well, but its a fun experiment, and not replacing any filtration yet. This is first cleaning, 2 weeks:

As far as im concerned, any algae that grows on it, is not growing in my tank.

That's a pretty cool setup.

Just a couple comments about your disillusionment with the previous scrubber, it was probably based on tank size not feeding so that would explain a lot. 12 sq in per cube of food per day with 12W split between each side is the new rule, in a nutshell. 2x size for single sided, 4x the size for horizontal (and 1.5-2x the light).

Applying the new guidelines to yours, 140 sq in horizontal is would be good for about 3 cubes/day (140/4 = 35, 35/12 = 3) and you would want about 50-70W of light directly over it. So I'd say well done, pretty well designed, and you're right, whatever algae grows on the screen means less that grows in the tank.

Now, if you could just make it rotate like spin-art. Talk about laminar flow.

 

[TheHoove]

That's a pretty cool setup.

Just a couple comments about your disillusionment with the previous scrubber, it was probably based on tank size not feeding so that would explain a lot. 12 sq in per cube of food per day with 12W split between each side is the new rule, in a nutshell. 2x size for single sided, 4x the size for horizontal (and 1.5-2x the light).

Applying the new guidelines to yours, 140 sq in horizontal is would be good for about 3 cubes/day (140/4 = 35, 35/12 = 3) and you would want about 50-70W of light directly over it. So I'd say well done, pretty well designed, and you're right, whatever algae grows on the screen means less that grows in the tank.

Now, if you could just make it rotate like spin-art. Talk about laminar flow.

I agree. It started based on tank size. Then downsized. It was a 7x10 lit both sides. 26w per side. Lights about 4in away. So effectily same screen area and total amount of light. But i think the light is more concenteated now. I ran that scrubber about 2 months and never saw thw growth is got in the first 2 with this one. But i think i helped seed it, by droping hair algae down the overflow. I got new screen size. But for lighting based on what you said, it would be 1w per sqin (12 inch of screen, 12w light per cube per side) plus 1.5w for horizontal. I woukd think its under lit. And flow is real strong right in the middle, tapering off twarss the outside. I can see so far in growth that the hair algae lighta the srong flow around the center. But right or wrong, its a fun experiment, and dead simple design.

 

[srusso]

Spin-art... Interesting... Now that's an idea!! The Spinning Algae Scrubber! Haha nice one Bud! Lol

 

[dryworm]

you could easily convert your wet/dry system to an ats using hooves design

 

[crn005]

^ I really like them guys thanks for the pics and plz keep us posted on progress. I would love to see FTS so we can document the progress of that style of ATS.

Yeah I'm going to be taking plenty of pics every couple of days. If the system works, or doesn't work, then there's no reason not to pass along the info.

And please find a way to make that ATS spin. You know, for science!

 

[TheHoove]

Spin-art... Interesting... Now that's an idea!! The Spinning Algae Scrubber! Haha nice one Bud! Lol

And please find a way to make that ATS spin. You know, for science!

You know, If i have time, im halfway tempted to try it. Just for fun. As if I dont have enough salt creep as it is! It would be very simple. Make it round, some sort of plastic axle, angle the return flow so it hits off center, use the water force to spin it. ITs really not a bad idea at all. Right now, the best flow is localized to the center. If it spun, I could get more screen exposed to higher flow. Even if it spun slow....Hmmmm.....time to dig around the shop....

 

[wireefman]

i have been doing some "skimming" of this thread and i have decided an ats is the route i am going to go. i am setting up a softy dominated 70 gal cube. i am looking to add a couple small 3-5 schools of fish.. blue chromis and a cardnal fish of some species.. i plan on brodcast feeding my tank a few times a week as i have always had great growth with softies and lps using this method. i plan on plumbing the ats straight from my overflow and i guess i have a few questions in regards to doing this... i may have missed any discussion on this, like ive stated i kinda have skimmed, and jumped around on this thread..

1. is there a particular desired waterflow for a ATS? I was hoping to run 500 gph through the sump.. i could tee my return in the sump area and have some water go into the lr section of the sump and try to control the ammount going over the ats

2. how does running an ATS from the moment its filled affect cycling times? should i plan on a little extra time for cycling.. not that matters if it takes another week or 2, im just currious of past results.

once again im sorry if these questions have been awnsered in previous posts...

 

[Devaji108]

^ the desired flow rate is 35 GPH per inch of screen. so for the ATS I am building i am using the fallowing:
I have 400 GPH running from my over flow. ( did the test to see)
was going to do a 2 cube per day ATS @ 5x5 but that would be a bit much flow over 5" so I am going with a 8X5.

I would also like to know about cycling a tank with ATS running from start up....

 

[srusso]

I have done this twice now and in each tank it almost makes the cycle undetectable. Both tanks started with dry rock only and had live added after the cycle. It will shorten it also...

 

[SeanT]

Can a screen be too big?