Algae Scrubber Basics

patbob said:
Just got done reading this thread from the beginning. Phew!

Thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread (especially srusso & FloydRTurbo). I've learned a lot from everybody else's successes, but also their troubles, struggles and failures.

I found this thread while researching possible filtration methods for a non-reef project I have in mind -- a small 2 gallon, very lightly loaded temperate tank for local fauna. I'm planning on some sort of algae filtration, and will post more details when I have a better idea of what design I want to use.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the scrubber club!
Thank you for taking the time to read the whole thing, we have put a lot of effort into this thread. It will be great to have you post your results here, thank you for your future contributions to the thread!
 
That would be correct. Atleast that would be for the minimum flow rate. Mine's running at about that ratio of inches to flow rate and is doing well.
 
crn005 said:
That would be correct. Atleast that would be for the minimum flow rate. Mine's running at about that ratio of inches to flow rate and is doing well.
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Thanks.
That makes the "$15 to $25" cost a little off. The cheapest pump I could find at that rate is about $100. Add the cost of the minimum of 4 light fixtures and bulbs, and I am almost at $200. I'm not sure I can swallow that expense.
 
I had to google vorpal and got a bunch of pictures of goth people and knives so call it what you want but yes, not using a hole saw anymore.

Hole saws grab and rip the screen and it takes forever compared to this technique. End result if the same so don't feel bad.
 
thinking about a small turf scrubber. I found my tank paramters were best when there was a nice turf algea layer on my bare bottom. it looked like hell but no algea grew anywhere else and the water was pristine....

Is anyone using a hardware store 3000K or 5600K LED spot light? seems like way less hassle than builing a reflector for a CF bulb. I am a neat and tidy kinda guy.....

cheers and thanks
 
awesome thread. i read......most of it.hehe its alot of reading and my adhd keeps me from reading it all.
i have a tank setup different from most. i am a clown breeder and i have a total of 200g. i have 16 pairs of clowns and i feed them frozen and pellet food 6 times a day or more. so i feed a ton and they poop a ton.
i got a nice skimmer thats SRO-5000xt. but the skimmer cant get it all and i want to keep the water a little more cleaner. i was gonna try the bio ball route but i maybe want to try an ats.
i got 16 pairs of clowns in my system and i would not know what size of an ats i would need. i seen somewhere someone made one out of a vinyl gutter. i dont want to do the 3D one. i got some room to work with and i can make something of a good size. my sump is a 75g tank. my hammerhead pump is large enough to make a seperate ats tank or system.
anyone have a good idea what i could do?
 
took out skimmer added ATS

took out skimmer added ATS

my tank has made big improvements .. thanks to this thread
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YS7pKnLSxps" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
rishma said:
thinking about a small turf scrubber. I found my tank paramters were best when there was a nice turf algea layer on my bare bottom. it looked like hell but no algea grew anywhere else and the water was pristine....

Is anyone using a hardware store 3000K or 5600K LED spot light? seems like way less hassle than builing a reflector for a CF bulb. I am a neat and tidy kinda guy.....

cheers and thanks
Click to expand...

LEDs need to be "grow" lights. ~660nm red and ~440nm blue

"LED spotlights" sold in hardware stores are not suitable for algae scrubbers, I am not saying it wont grow something... just not what we are looking for...



Chlorophyll.jpg
 
Whip316 said:
awesome thread. i read......most of it.hehe its alot of reading and my adhd keeps me from reading it all.
i have a tank setup different from most. i am a clown breeder and i have a total of 200g. i have 16 pairs of clowns and i feed them frozen and pellet food 6 times a day or more. so i feed a ton and they poop a ton.
i got a nice skimmer thats SRO-5000xt. but the skimmer cant get it all and i want to keep the water a little more cleaner. i was gonna try the bio ball route but i maybe want to try an ats.
i got 16 pairs of clowns in my system and i would not know what size of an ats i would need. i seen somewhere someone made one out of a vinyl gutter. i dont want to do the 3D one. i got some room to work with and i can make something of a good size. my sump is a 75g tank. my hammerhead pump is large enough to make a seperate ats tank or system.
anyone have a good idea what i could do?
Click to expand...

Scrubber sizing is based on feed requirements, so its now based on how much you feed your 16 clowns, great to hear a breeder is ready to give an algae scrubber a try, the information your looking for is found in the "Latest Summary - Post #3251 - #3264" of this thread.

The vinyl gutter design is known as a trough style scrubber, basically x4 less effective then the waterfall design.

Use LEDs if you can, they don't need to be changed very 3 months like the CFLs among other benefits...

Lastly please post your scrubber and post your results here, thank you and happy scrubbing!
 
breakdanc3 said:
my tank has made big improvements .. thanks to this thread
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YS7pKnLSxps" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Click to expand...

Do you have before and after photos? Can you describe what it has done to your tank?

From the looks of your video, your scrubber could still use some tweaking, can you cut circular holes into the side of the bucket to allow the lights to point directly at the scrubber screen?
 
My acropora was brown with no polyp extention.
Birds nest dieing/receding and growing hair algae
My torch coral continued to dwindle away. (its all gone now. had it for two years)
zoanthids were a tan/ brown sorta color.
Mushrooms stayed shriveled and never reproduced.
Green star polyps stopped opening up when they got covered in cyano and lost fluorescence
Sand and rocks covered in cyano and hair algae

method? every 2 week 10g water change(60g system) 100g rated eshops skimmer. reverse lighting refugium in sump. with cheato and caulerpa both didn't grown and became a mess of hair algae. feeding with 1 cube a day from a petsmart marine blend frozen food. no carbon. I began vodka dosing one capful everyday to see if it had an impact. After 4 weeks nothing noticeable, things continued to get worse.

I believe it was a mixture of underfeeding, Horrible Nutrient export. Over skimming, and buildup of nitrate or/and phosphate from a bad RO filter in top off water. (i haven't changed it in two years)

New Method: No skimmer. A ceramic biomedia chamber in its place. Bucket style algae turf scrubber clean every 4-7 days on average. Added Carbon filled sock in baffle. I used erythromycin in a effort to rid of cyano instantly. This combination of changes has had awesome results.

Result?
Acro has polyp extention and is now bright Green!
Birdsnest is growing quickly and now has polyp extention again. even growing over dead skeleton and hair algae!
Zoanthids now Teal/blue and Green
Mushrooms now twice their size.
Greenstar polyps came out again and had to regained its green fluorescent color.
Sand is clean cyano free. Hair algae slowly going away. I did remove most by hand in display.

My algae screen is still not green. It's brown. I was told Green is the best.

Fish seemed fine in both systems. maybe more lively now.

I would like to think that what i had in the past was terrible nutrient export, Removal of any Good FOod, and allowed the N and P to build with top off from bad RO filter. Though without any sort of water testing i don't know. All i know is i love my tank and corals. they're much happier
 
okay, thanks rsusso. I guess I'll just go with a cfl. If I like the results I'll have you guys advise me on which eshine unit to get.
 
breakdanc3 said:
My acropora was brown with no polyp extention.
Birds nest dieing/receding and growing hair algae
My torch coral continued to dwindle away. (its all gone now. had it for two years)
zoanthids were a tan/ brown sorta color.
Mushrooms stayed shriveled and never reproduced.
Green star polyps stopped opening up when they got covered in cyano and lost fluorescence
Sand and rocks covered in cyano and hair algae

method? every 2 week 10g water change(60g system) 100g rated eshops skimmer. reverse lighting refugium in sump. with cheato and caulerpa both didn't grown and became a mess of hair algae. feeding with 1 cube a day from a petsmart marine blend frozen food. no carbon. I began vodka dosing one capful everyday to see if it had an impact. After 4 weeks nothing noticeable, things continued to get worse.

I believe it was a mixture of underfeeding, Horrible Nutrient export. Over skimming, and buildup of nitrate or/and phosphate from a bad RO filter in top off water. (i haven't changed it in two years)

New Method: No skimmer. A ceramic biomedia chamber in its place. Bucket style algae turf scrubber clean every 4-7 days on average. Added Carbon filled sock in baffle. I used erythromycin in a effort to rid of cyano instantly. This combination of changes has had awesome results.

Result?
Acro has polyp extention and is now bright Green!
Birdsnest is growing quickly and now has polyp extention again. even growing over dead skeleton and hair algae!
Zoanthids now Teal/blue and Green
Mushrooms now twice their size.
Greenstar polyps came out again and had to regained its green fluorescent color.
Sand is clean cyano free. Hair algae slowly going away. I did remove most by hand in display.

My algae screen is still not green. It's brown. I was told Green is the best.

Fish seemed fine in both systems. maybe more lively now.

I would like to think that what i had in the past was terrible nutrient export, Removal of any Good FOod, and allowed the N and P to build with top off from bad RO filter. Though without any sort of water testing i don't know. All i know is i love my tank and corals. they're much happier
Click to expand...

Great write up, thank you for that! Dark growth is normal for a recovering tank. The more often you clean, the faster green growth should start. Cleaning every three days will help a lot, its a PITA but worth it. How old is the scrubber?
 
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