Algae Scrubber Basics

[Floyd R Turbo]

well, according to the feeding guideline, 8x8 = 64, 64/12 = 5.3 cubes/day so that's 5x oversized. You can have a screen that is oversized but you just need to be aware of that and compensate, in this case, if your nutrients are in check but you have tank algae, you could photosaturate the screen if you run the lights for 9 hrs/day.

If your N and P are low, I would start off with more like 4 or 6 hours per day in 2 hour chunks with 30-60 minutes in between (with the 54W LED bulb).

 

[WhiteShark1]

well, according to the feeding guideline, 8x8 = 64, 64/12 = 5.3 cubes/day so that's 5x oversized. You can have a screen that is oversized but you just need to be aware of that and compensate, in this case, if your nutrients are in check but you have tank algae, you could photosaturate the screen if you run the lights for 9 hrs/day.

If your N and P are low, I would start off with more like 4 or 6 hours per day in 2 hour chunks with 30-60 minutes in between (with the 54W LED bulb).

Yeah, last time I checked all my levels were 0 (but still had algae problems).

Maybe I'll do 5 on 45 off 5 on 14 off and see how that goes.

With my feeding regiment I figured getting a 2x2 screen would be kind of ridiculous...lol

 

[2ccs]

Yes They are big and don't have the best shape. There is also the splashing sound. With another design you can simply make up for efficiency per square inch by increasing the square inches.

This is a re-post from another thread on RC. I have held off on posting this for a long time. I didn't want to get in the way of the general thrust of information but some people will find it interesting.

PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO BUILD ONE OF THESE FROM MY PLANS!

Some fine points of the design were changed after the CAD work was completed, during construction.

THESE PLANS ARE FOR REFERENCE ONLY!
You would have to have fabrication knowlege, skills and the proper equipment.

These are some of the ATS’s that Dr. Adey suggested that worked best because of the agitation and turbulence that they produce. Good turbulence increases effectiveness by 50% and greatly reduces clumping which can cause yellowing at the root and die off. Most were about 4 by 8 feet in size and had 1000 watt metal halides

This is my first version. It worked very well but I moved on to the version 2 below.

This is a 3-D PDF of version one. It is NOT to scale but you can rotate it around to see how I laid it out.

Note: Open these in a session of Abode Reader for full features. Click on the link and it will open in your web browser but you will not be able to rotate the model. "Save As" it to your Desk Top or somewhere you can find it. If you already have Adobe Reader then you can open it right away. If you don't have it, go to the Adobe web site and down load it for free. Be sure to look at the other pages that are attached for more information(in the left dark grey margin). Turning the background color to gray will make it easier to see. There is a quickly drawing in version two but you can also go to >Tools>Analysis>Measure to get sizes.


http://asaherring.com/reef/hardware/DumpBucketTriangle.pdf



This is a 3-D PDF of version 2.

http://asaherring.com/reef/hardware/DumpBucket.pdf

By the way, my Avatar is a rendering of the splash from my dump bucket when it was mounted right on top of my 180 gallon tank.

Hi. Really find your dump bucket concepts interesting. IYO, is there a minimum size that one has to be built to be effective? Once balanced and working, does the weight of the algae mat throw off the balance?

I am new to the form, so excuse me if i am somehow out of order - not sure how best to inquire about a post well in the past.

thanks ...John

 

[kegogut]

So I cleaned the screen on the 12th and cleaned it again today.

Heres what it looked like.


And heres there amount I harvested.


As you can see Im getting only brown at the moment. Granted its only been 3 weeks but I'm wondering if I should be seeing some green growth.

I'm currently running my CFLs 18/6 on/off

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Did you squeeze it really hard to get all the moisture out? Sometime when you do that, it lightens up a bit. To me that looks like is has some level of consistency, so it's definitely not slime or diatoms/dinos type of growth. I would say it is probably extremely dark green, which is typically a sign of very high nutrients.

The flipside is that you are not getting bare spots on your screen, which means that your light is not too intense - so you can move them a little bit closer if that's possible, and I might even consider adding 2 hours to the photoperiod for now.

 

[SantaMonica]

Dark growth needs stronger/more light, just like a dark room does.

 

[kegogut]

Did you squeeze it really hard to get all the moisture out? Sometime when you do that, it lightens up a bit. To me that looks like is has some level of consistency, so it's definitely not slime or diatoms/dinos type of growth. I would say it is probably extremely dark green, which is typically a sign of very high nutrients.

The flipside is that you are not getting bare spots on your screen, which means that your light is not too intense - so you can move them a little bit closer if that's possible, and I might even consider adding 2 hours to the photoperiod for now.

Thanks Floyd. My No3 is a consistent 35 atm,my Po4 is 0-0.25

I'll increase my photoperiod since theres not really a way to move my lights closer. The reflectors are already up against the splash guard.

 

[ohioreef71]

My scubber 2 weeks later

My scubber 2 weeks later

This is my scrubber after 2 weeks. I am finally getting a few clumps of green hair algae but mostly brown everywhere else. Should I wait till the hair algae gets more dense and spreads to the rest of the screen or scrape now? I'm using a 23 cfl 2700k on each side about 4" from screen and screen is 7" wide 10" tall maxi-jet 1200 for flow. Running lights 18/6 schedule. I have already seen my nitrates go from 40 to about 10. Also is it bad for about an inch or so of the screen to be submerged in water? I do this for salt creep/splashing/bubbles.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

This is my scrubber after 2 weeks. I am finally getting a few clumps of green hair algae but mostly brown everywhere else. Should I wait till the hair algae gets more dense and spreads to the rest of the screen or scrape now? I'm using a 23 cfl 2700k on each side about 4" from screen and screen is 7" wide 10" tall maxi-jet 1200 for flow. Running lights 18/6 schedule. I have already seen my nitrates go from 40 to about 10. Also is it bad for about an inch or so of the screen to be submerged in water? I do this for salt creep/splashing/bubbles.

Submerging the screen is recommended for your type of setup so no problem there

Are your lights pulled back for the pic? They look farther than 4" away so I'm guessing yes.

the MJ1200 has horrible head loss characteristics so for a 7" screen you would want about 250 GPH of flow ideally, but the MJ1200 only puts out about 300 at zero head, probably 150-175 at best is what you are getting. And that's not horrible, the fact is that it's working for you. Just be aware that your screen's overall filtration capacity is lower because of the low flow, and you might be prone to some over-lighting because flow and lighting kind of go hand-in-hand. If you have too little flow and not enough light, you get yellow growth.

But so far, it looks really good. That kind of growth in 2 weeks is promising so at this point I wouldn't change much, if you have a bigger pump handy you might try that but it's not critical at this point. The maturing stage is all about getting a base of growth and as long as you have decent flow and decent light, you should get that (and you are)

Do take the screen out and swipe the palm of your hand across it and run it under tap water (room temp, low flow) and that's all for a cleaning at this point. Then let it grow for at least 10 days if not 14.

 

[ohioreef71]

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply turbo. I figured I was was pushing the limits with my mj1200 but I had it laying around. I am getting a pretty thick even wall of water on my screen though. I guess I'll see what happens. Yes I did pull the lights back for the pic. Now I have a problem with snails finding their way up the screen. Little buggers have left a path of clean screen where they've been.

 

[Hawg Pharm]

You guys are so scientific about it. I just built one and tossed it in. The reflector size is a joke but I just needed something to hold the lights in place. I get a lot of light in the sump but the snails are loving it. One side is shorter than the other because I thought I wouldn't have enough room. The short side also has the higher flow rate. I should have gone bigger. At this point, I'm in my 3rd week of use. I only had the stringy black algae like Ohioreef71 for the first two weeks. Now I'm starting to get some pretty green globs. I cleaned it about a week ago and pulled a large strip off of the left side about three days ago. So far it works great. I'm glad I've read the recent posts so I'll know what to do if my nutrient levels ever bottom out. Thanks for all the info, especially Floyd. You guys are what inspired me to try this, even if it is a redneck version of what you have. Speaking of redneck, I'm using four different kinds of lights here, from a high end LED grow light to a regular flood light and a few in between. A little hillbilly science experiment.

<a href="http://s115.photobucket.com/user/kncald/media/003_zpsdl92vkqp.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n307/kncald/003_zpsdl92vkqp.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 003_zpsdl92vkqp.jpg"/></a>

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

That looks great for 3 weeks

 

[SantaMonica]

One good feature of that 2-bar setup is you can easily turn one off once nutrients have lowered and you are getting less-thick growth.

 

[kegogut]

So its been another week since I cleaned my screen. Im still getting the dark algae like so.



I added another 23w CFL to one side. I'll give it a week before I pass judgement and add one to the other side or not. I'm also going to give it another week before I clean the screen.

 

[SantaMonica]

Yes a good example of needing stronger light, relative to the nutrients.

 

[kegogut]

Yes a good example of needing stronger light, relative to the nutrients.

Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[DaveRaz]

Installing mine tonight. Great thread!

 

[dn100]

Hi Floyd , fantastic thread

Apologies if this question was answered already :

The black growth that occurs on screens that are not receiving adequate amounts of light - has this non turf algae been identified? Or any idea what it would be?

Thanks in advance

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I'm sure someone would be able to answer it but I can't recall seeing an answer to that question.

There are a couple of different "black" algae growth types however.

One is a very very very dark green growth, if you are able to scrape it off and it has any "hair" type of quality to it, that is likely something that is similar to GHA, but just very nutrient-dense. If you squeeze it out really hard and get most of the water out, you would probably see a more greenish color

The other type is kind of oily-black, and does not really have any hair-type texture/quality to it. It is almost like a coating that flakes off, and usually you have to scrub it off with a toothbrush or a grout & tile brush. This type of growth will not fill in the holes and has almost no thickness to it, so your screen will look like you dipped it in something black. I don't know what type of growth this is either.

Sorry I'm not a lot of help. I'm sure someone will chime in though.

FWIW turf algae is a specific type or algae, and most "modern" scrubbers don't actually grow that, the surge/dump horizontal scrubbers are the ones that are made to more specifically grow turf algae. Hence why we/I call them Algae Scrubbers and not Algal Turf Scrubbers or Turf Scrubbers...not growing turf.

 

[herring_fish]

Turf is a wide category that includes the long stuff that you prefer. The short turf that you are referring to may not look like it but it is the fastest growing and most efficient at taking up nutrients but most people, including me, prefer to grow the longer stuff because it is easier to clean and export. The speed of growth is an adaptation to predation so the short stuff has to grow faster.

Why split a hair to have the absolute most efficient output per square inch of lighted screen area. With my ATS, I can just grab a hand full or two of the long stuff or give it a quick scrape and I’m back in business.