Algae Scrubber Basics

[rysher]

way to go, but pics of before and after is the best evidence.

i put my scrubber 3 weeks this coming monday 04.14.2011, i have nothing yet.
however my tank is cycling on its 6th week.lol.
and i'm seeing some cyano on my DT, hopefully the ATS will remove it.

 

[srusso]

WOW is all I can say! I have had my scrubber running since the 25th of Feb. I posted pics of the algae farm I had going on. I have cleaned my scrubber twice and almost all of the algae is gone from my display tank. I thought it would take much longer. I still have a few patches but the bulk is gone. I will post some pics if I get a chance tomorrow. I am going to build scrubbers for the rest of my tanks starting tomorrow.:beer:

That's great news! Please do a "before and after" full tank shot post! How are your tests looking? Also some pictures of your scrubber would be great. We don't like to over sell how fast they work...but if you build it right the results are amazingly quick.

 

[srusso]

WOW is all I can say! I have had my scrubber running since the 25th of Feb. I posted pics of the algae farm I had going on. I have cleaned my scrubber twice and almost all of the algae is gone from my display tank. I thought it would take much longer. I still have a few patches but the bulk is gone. I will post some pics if I get a chance tomorrow. I am going to build scrubbers for the rest of my tanks starting tomorrow.:beer:

That's great news! Please do a "before and after" full tank shot post! How are your tests looking? Also some pictures of your scrubber would be great. We don't like to over sell how fast they work...but if you build it right the results are amazingly quick.

 

[acts4me]

Pictures Of Before

Pictures Of Before

 

[acts4me]

I will post pictures of today after my lights come on which will be around 5:00 p.m. To me it is amazing. I will also post test results and the pictures of the ats installed. I have pictures around post #323. The ATS is the single best addition to my tank I have done as far as equipment goes.

 

[acts4me]

In the 5th pic down I want you all to notice my clove polyps. They were covered in algae and dino's. When I post pics today you will see absolutely no algae on them at all. I have done nothing except add the ATS.

 

[BluScrnOdeth]

Acts4me

How easy is your system to remove for cleaning? If you want an example of an easy remove solution you can check out my pics 1-2 pages back. Unless you are ok with cutting and replacing zip ties every week. To me that got annoying.

 

[acts4me]

Acts4me

How easy is your system to remove for cleaning? If you want an example of an easy remove solution you can check out my pics 1-2 pages back. Unless you are ok with cutting and replacing zip ties every week. To me that got annoying.

I have never cut my zip ties I just clean the screen itself. I will check out your pics.

 

[acts4me]

way to go, but pics of before and after is the best evidence.

i put my scrubber 3 weeks this coming monday 04.14.2011, i have nothing yet.
however my tank is cycling on its 6th week.lol.
and i'm seeing some cyano on my DT, hopefully the ATS will remove it.

Rysher the before pics are up and the after pics will be up tonight!

 

[acts4me]

That's great news! Please do a "before and after" full tank shot post! How are your tests looking? Also some pictures of your scrubber would be great. We don't like to over sell how fast they work...but if you build it right the results are amazingly quick.

srusso I have the pics of my scrubber on post 323 I believe mine is the one you asked about shooting the light thru the plastic. It does not seem to make a diference on growth, of course I have not tried it the other way yet so I do not have any comparision. Everything seems great so far.

 

[afgun]

I am really interested in this design; what type of bulbs are you using and what reflectors? Are they NO, HO or ODNO? How far away from the screen is each bulb? How wide is the total unit?

Thanks!

--andrew

Floyd, perhaps you missed this post of mine a little while ago... can you tell me about the scrubber setup at your client's? Given how I've filled my stand with equipment, I'm limited to 18" or so of width and height if I want to add an ATS. So the picture you posted intrigued me quite a bit. Thanks!

--andrew

 

[vmsugdinis]

Please watch this inspiring video I watched that was the nail in the coffin for me when I was on the fence about building a scrubber.

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This is a great video! I hadn't seen this one before. :beer:

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

for the people that are using t5 set ups- are you using HO bulbs or NO bulbs. I would think there is a difference in price but just curious if anybody is using something other than a fixture that is specifically for an aquarium.

You want T5HO. I suppose you could go NO if you had an oversized screen and had the lights really close, but I would just stick with HO, there only $4 for the 24W 24" ones at www.aghydroponics.com

Floyd, perhaps you missed this post of mine a little while ago... can you tell me about the scrubber setup at your client's? Given how I've filled my stand with equipment, I'm limited to 18" or so of width and height if I want to add an ATS. So the picture you posted intrigued me quite a bit. Thanks!

--andrew

This one uses 24" T5HO lamps so if you only have 18" of width, you would have to go with CFLs. If you go back to the first couple pages on this thread, you will find a couple posts describing the above system.

 

[phillyfishguy]

I wonder if you could make a waterfall out of portland cement and sand. Have one of your overflows goto the waterfall and the other go to your skimmer then to the sump all gravity feed. . I think with my set-up with external skimmer and it will be in my fish room in the basement maybe I could get it to work. I am pretty handy with cement. doesn't algea love to stick to cement? I am always fishing and always see algea sticking to falls and jetty's

 

[cdalmost]

I wonder if you could make a waterfall out of portland cement and sand. Have one of your overflows goto the waterfall and the other go to your skimmer then to the sump all gravity feed. . I think with my set-up with external skimmer and it will be in my fish room in the basement maybe I could get it to work. I am pretty handy with cement. doesn't algea love to stick to cement? I am always fishing and always see algea sticking to falls and jetty's

A waterfall is definitely a reasonable idea; anything with strong light and vigorous waterflow will do. But you would still want a removable screen because scraping the algae off in place will lead to yellowing of the tank water. I suppose you could implement some sort of system to allow you rinse the trough with water that would not end up back in the tank, but a removable screen would probably be easier.

 

[phillyfishguy]

I was thinking

I was thinking

I was thinking about making a cement water fall that you could remove. I would make it out of screen and layer it with cement.would have some base to hold it on. I could turn the ball valve off and remove it scrape it and put it back. Just worried about going right into my sump or to another tank then into sump. all gravity feed by the way. I want to use cement but it will be rough. I just thought that algea loves to stick to cement . I could also only use one light also.

 

[acts4me]

Ok I am going to try and do side by side pictures;

Before

After

Before

After

I think the photos speak for themselves. I know all the algae is not gone yet but it is dissappearing fast as far as I am concerned.

 

[phillyfishguy]

how long

how long

How long has it been since the change. Are you using any other type of filtration?

 

[rysher]

nice before and after pics.
are you feeding the same as before?

 

[acts4me]

How long has it been since the change. Are you using any other type of filtration?

Just the ATS and my skimmer.