Algae Scrubber Basics

[MorganAtlanta]

Thin layer of sand... about an inch. My big challenge is finding someplace I can put a 75-100 gallon tank for two months to hold all the fish I move out, along with required filtration, and I loose all my automation. I can fit the corals (all softies), inverts, rock and such in a 30 or 40 gallon, and filtration and automation isn't as big an issue.

 

[jason2459]

Thin layer of sand... about an inch. My big challenge is finding someplace I can put a 75-100 gallon tank for two months to hold all the fish I move out, along with required filtration, and I loose all my automation. I can fit the corals (all softies), inverts, rock and such in a 30 or 40 gallon, and filtration and automation isn't as big an issue.

It's amazing what can live in 1" of sand across the entire tank and what ever else in the tank. I can't speak for what will happen to the ATS in hypo and trust Floyd R Turbo's recommendation in that regard.

Do what you have to do but it's not suggested to treat in any method your main display tank. Why some people don't do anything at all. Some have success doing nothing and many fail miserably not properly setting up a QT.

 

[SantaMonica]

Scrubber should continue just fine. If anything, FW grows easier.

 

[MorganAtlanta]

I should note that, in addition to the 125 main display, I have separate 40B and 20H displays that I'll disconnect from the main system and keep at 1.025. I assume that the life in those will reseed anything I'd loose in the main display pretty quickly, and I will move a substantial portion of the live rock out.

 

[Devaji108]

At 700mA, I wouldn't plan on those LEDs lasting very long without a heatsink (that aluminum plate really isn't going to do the job since it is all closed up). I'd be planning on running them in the 200-300mA range at the most.

I do have a 300 ma driver but SM recommended I go higher and more LEDs for 2 to 4. he makes, sale and have quite alot of experience w/ ATS and has ben very helpful, so if he says the heat will leave from the back of the case I bet it would.

i also have a 4"x5" H.S i could use instead as well. however even placed really close there would be lots of light spillage.

 

[jason2459]

Scrubber should continue just fine. If anything, FW grows easier.

How does a saltwater based algae grow better in freshwater?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

to my knowledge, algae that grows in saltwater doesn't grow in FW. I believe that it's similar to fish in that if you take something that is used to a certain salinity level and expose it to freshwater, it experiences a type of shock and dies.

 

[jason2459]

Copy paste from my tank journal. Second cleaning tonight:

Round 2 Day 19 just before second cleaning

Front side just pulled out

Back side just pulled out

Quick finger rub and nails on thicker part to even it out a bit and a quick tap rinse.

Front side after quick cleaning

Back side after quick cleaning

Round 3 day 0

Haven't changed anything. Flow is still cut back, blue lights diffused with scotch tape, and lights on over night starting at 11:30 for 9 hours.

 

[SantaMonica]

I did not mean the same algae from SW to FW

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Algae Scrubber Basics

I was replying to Jason's post

Edit: ok now I see. I misread Jason's question about your post.

I don't know that FW algae grows better. It seems to start faster but from what I've seen you have to "drive" it harder in order to get the effectiveness out of it.

It's almost like Nitrates rise so much faster in FW that you get a different growth type. I've just started to see something strikingly similar to this in a high-volume, high nitrate SW system. The growth is good, but dark green, dense, and very fine. Having to drive the LEDs long and high intensity, any less and the algae lets go relatively quickly.

 

[jason2459]

Some nice growth the past 8 days along with some brown stuff.

Pulled out the screen to do a quick wipe to get rid of the brown slime stuff. When I pulled it out I was actually quite surprised of the weight.


Front side

Back side

Even the false bottom had some brown stuff growing on it along with some hair algae which surprised me. I cleaned it completely off.

After wiping and rinsing both sides:

Definitely thicker and thinner in spots but I'm very happy with the progress so far. Thanks for all the help Floyd R Turbo!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Holy cats!! That took off big time!

 

[jason2459]

It's exceeded my expectations so far.

Lights are now 12hours on over the night hours. Scotch tape is still over the blue leds and flow cut back.

 

[SteveZZR]

Planning to use a single sided scrubber for a waterfall style scrubber.
Flow over it seems good, 375L system and 3800lph return pump (approx.)
Planning to use a 10w led spot light. Is this sufficient? I'm not sure on led equivalency regarding watts per gallon and such.

Also, does this need to be 4" away or can it be further as it's a more intense light? I obviously don't want this below the level water comes to with
Return pump off

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You can probably make that setup work, but it's not ideal for a few reasons, mainly, being single-sided. Light will get blocked sooner as you get growth, so you will just have to clean more often in order to prevent detachment. This also means you can't let the scrubber get past a certain point in the growth stage where it starts to grow very fast. To offset this, generally you need to make the screen larger (2x of the equivalent double-sided waterfall)

What is that screen material? It doesn't look like plastic canvas. You will also need to rough it up well, especially for a single sided scrubber.

As far as the lighting goes, an LED floodlight will be pretty tightly focused, so you can place this further away and be OK to an extent, but it wont cover the whole screen. You will probably want several of them. I can't tell the dims of the width of the screen but my guess is that you would need about 3 10W floods.

 

[AZRippster]

What size router bit is everyone using for the waterfall PVC mat bar?

Thanks!

 

[kegogut]

What size router bit is everyone using for the waterfall PVC mat bar?

Thanks!

I used 1/8"

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

1/8" is it.

 

[AZRippster]

Thanks all, appreciate the input. And Floyd, I'm assuming you meant, "1/8" it is." As in a statement versus a question? Just being sure...

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

No, I meant 1/8" is it. As in, it's the one you want to use. Either way it's a statement. I think. Isn't it?

I suppose ending it with "is it" could be a question, in England. Imagine my post with a strong Monty Python like accent. "ooooooohh, one-eighth inch is it?" Now put a dead parrot in my hand "Hellloooooooooo Polly!!"

"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time"

"Fetchez la vache!"

Sorry. a bit tired, and hungry.