Algae Scrubber Basics

[jason2459]

OK Yoda

 

[hkgar]

Is my Algae scrubber working

Is my Algae scrubber working

as it should and I am expecting too much. I have been using it since May and for a period of time I was testing 0 nitrates and 0 po4 and no algae! :inlove:

Now I am getting clumps of algae growing in my tank and nitrates are at 2 and po4 tested yesterday at .02 and has been .03 when I started up GFO til it went to zero, I shut down GFO until yesterday and it is running again.

Here is my scrubber growth after 10 days. Seems good to me?

This side is lit by a 5000k led bulb



This side is lit by red and blue leds
45W 225SMD(65 blue 165 red) Small piece of scotch tape over the blue leds.


I am using the different lights as a test.

Am I wrong to think that I should not be getting algae growth in the DT?

 

[jason2459]

A tip for anyone here make sure your lights are on... Went over a week not realizing the lights weren't lighting up. Wasn't good but its been a week since they've been back on and pulled the screen for its first full scrape.

Great looking growth now with the LEDs on. Imagine that.

Front

Back

Front

Back

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

as it should and I am expecting too much. I have been using it since May and for a period of time I was testing 0 nitrates and 0 po4 and no algae! :inlove:

Now I am getting clumps of algae growing in my tank and nitrates are at 2 and po4 tested yesterday at .02 and has been .03 when I started up GFO til it went to zero, I shut down GFO until yesterday and it is running again.

Here is my scrubber growth after 10 days. Seems good to me?

I am using the different lights as a test.

Am I wrong to think that I should not be getting algae growth in the DT?

Try not to change things in order to force the scrubber to grow. It should grow without tweaking.

It's my current (developing) theory that when you add a scrubber to a tank, the tank "set point" shifts a bit. This is probably not specific to a scrubber, such a shift might occur with any change, subtle or brutal. Anyways, once you make a change you should just leave everything else alone and only tweak things on the scrubber like flow and lighting.

But, what's done is done. Ease the GFO back in gently, and let the scrubber grow. Right now based on your pics I would say it's doing well. The LED side looks better, the CFL side looks like it's too much light because of the red slimy growth (also could be wrong spectrum - you want 2700-3000K CFLs)

 

[hkgar]

Hey Floyd

Thanks for your response and comments. The flow is what it is as it is fed directly from the overflow into the sump. The line to the sump is cut for the screen and then it flows on past. If that makes sense.

I am considering teeing off the return line and using a gate valve to provide control over the flow. Too be honest, I have no idea what the current flow rate as because of logistics I cannot measure it.

I am very paranoid about DT algae because of my battle with it for 6 months. After ultimately conquering it I set up the scrubber. Can I expect that I will eventually see algae in the tank recede and die off?

My screen is 9 x 6 and I feed 1 or sometimes 2 cubes 3 gram frozen homemade food once per day and auto feed a pinch of flake 2 x's per day and hang a piece of Nori 2x2 inches

Thanks for the help you provide us. :beer:

 

[SantaMonica]

Forgetting to turn the lights on is always fun. I just did that, because the tightly-enclosed boxes have only a single small hole of light out of the top, so it not much to see to remind you that the lights are still off.

 

[jason2459]

Forgetting to turn the lights on is always fun. I just did that, because the tightly-enclosed boxes have only a single small hole of light out of the top, so it not much to see to remind you that the lights are still off.

My problem was my outlet the lights were plugged into is starting to go bad. Once I noticed the lights weren't on while doing another project I had to wiggle the plug around for them to turn on. They are now plugged into a different power strip.

I do a spot check twice a day and the led's go on after my nightly check usually. But my morning spot check should have caught it but I didn't even think about looking for the red glow from the ATS. It is now on my mental check list of things to look at every morning.

After who knows how long the LEDs were off (at least a week) the algae was turning.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Hey Floyd

Thanks for your response and comments. The flow is what it is as it is fed directly from the overflow into the sump. The line to the sump is cut for the screen and then it flows on past. If that makes sense.

I am considering teeing off the return line and using a gate valve to provide control over the flow. Too be honest, I have no idea what the current flow rate as because of logistics I cannot measure it.

I am very paranoid about DT algae because of my battle with it for 6 months. After ultimately conquering it I set up the scrubber. Can I expect that I will eventually see algae in the tank recede and die off?

My screen is 9 x 6 and I feed 1 or sometimes 2 cubes 3 gram frozen homemade food once per day and auto feed a pinch of flake 2 x's per day and hang a piece of Nori 2x2 inches

Thanks for the help you provide us. :beer:

To maximize the scrubber power, you need to tweak a few things IMO.

You will just want to make sure that you have good unobstructed flow to the scrubber. Since you have a post-slot dump pipe, you generally don't have to worry about "squirting" because your screen is not going to be under forced pressure. The downside is that when algae starts growing into the slot/screen junction, a greater % of water just bypasses the screen (i.e. your screen flow decreases). So you will want some form of light blocking for the top 1/2" or so of the screen below the slot so that you have consistent flow throughout the growth period.

The velcro ties are OK as long as you don't pull them too tight. This can cause the slot to pinch closed in the middle, reducing flow. This can actually happen without cranking those down tight, because PVC will relax after you cut it and pinch closed on it's own. This is why I like the rotatable rings instead. Take a coupler (same pipe size) and cut a ring off, a little thinner than 1/4". This should rotate through one "square" cut out of the screen. Cut 1/4 of the ring out with a wire cutter and then sand the cut parts with a sanding sponger of sandpaper to make it easier to use.

The velcro ties if you keep using them, could probably be a bit thinner (narrower). Velcro is pretty strong.

You may also consider slightly widening the slot so that the gravity-flow of your setup allows more of the flow to go down the screen. be very careful how much you widen it though, it only takes a bit of widening to result in a lot more flow. Check the edges and then the center for any pinching and take that out first before you make an overall widening of the slot.

I haven't really made this above recommendation before but it makes sense that if you have a low-pressure scrubber (like one with an open drain pipe after the slot portion) that you can widen this slot a bit more in order to allow more of the overflow water to go to the screen rather than bypassing it.

 

[AZRippster]

This has likely been addressed, but I'm having a hard time finding it in a previous post.

1. How long should the initial light cycle be when breaking in the ATS?

2. Initially is there channeling with the knitting mesh? I'm guessing so and in time when the algae starts getting a foothold it may fill in.'

3. What is the "typical' break in period?

4. Once the ATS starts producing good algae growth, how long should the light cycle be scaled back to?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

1) depends on light source, if LED and no dimming, I would say 8-9 hours/day. If dimming, go down to 30-40% and run 14 or longer. If CFL, and high intensity, probably 9-12 hr/day, if lower intensity, 18 hours/day.

2) yes, channeling or arcing will go away, but you may want to check your slot to make sure that it didn't "relax" and pinch closed in the middle after you cut it.

3) depends on many factors, but 5-8 weeks is normal. By 4 weeks you should have some green showing up. It's not really fully mature until you need to scrape it, and growth stays in the holes pretty well.

4) One you have solid and consistent growth, you don't want to scale the light back - you want to increase it. New screens easily experience photosaturation because there is no algae to adsorb the incident light. So you start out with low/moderate intensity and length so get the screen started up, and then once you have a base of growth, you can up the intensity and photoperiod to get more production.

 

[dcrowley3]

I am new to the site, but it is nice to see someone talking about algae scrubbers. My tank is only 8 months old, but about 4 months ago I was struggling with algae and doing Internet search stumbled upon an article about algae scrubbing. Sounded pretty darn good so I built a DIY scrubber put it in the sump and have been loving the results. I did learn even more after reading this thread.

I have been getting very good growth, my tank looks great. I rarely ever have any algae and all my params are at 0.

So, last week I removed the last of my remaining filtration devices and I am now only running an algae scrubber. NO filter socks, pads, bio balls, skimmer or anything else. ATS only!!!! It makes tank maintenance so much easier, once a week scrubber cleaning, 2 part dosing, and feed the tank.

I wish this was more mainstream because I think it could help alot of people.

So if you are looking into this, read this thread and go for it. Good luck.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's great! Its always a good idea to keep doing PWCs if you are 2 part dosing. Actually it's a good idea regardless, but you can really bring it down to a minimal amount, like 10% every 2 weeks, maybe less...depends on how heavily you are dosing to keep up with Alk and Cal.

Also you can use the extra $$ to use better salt. Right now I'm starting to make the change over to Bio-Sea Marine and ditching Reef Crystals.

 

[jason2459]

dcrowley3, would like to see pictures of the scrubber setup.

 

[dcrowley3]

My scrubber is just a basic design using a cheap ebay adjustable pump, some clear tubing, 3/4" pvc pipe, union to remove for cleaning, and clear plexiglass for the frame. On the bottom I cut notches to sit on top of my sump. I feed the ATS from the first chamber of the sump and the ATS dumps into the 2nd chamber where I have sand bed and macro algae.

I use 2 cheap Lowes clip on lights with (2) 42 watt CFL bulbs. I run 18 hrs on, 6 hrs off opposite of my DT lights

 

[mushumatt]

So I've just started looking into scrubbers. Some people are saying they are using it instead of a skimmer? Is this true?

 

[dcrowley3]

Here is more

Well that is mine, I'm sure there is better ways but this was my first one and maybe eventually I will redesign and add better features. They definitely do not need to be fancy to be effective.

 

[dcrowley3]

Oops sorry the top picture is upside down not sure how that happened.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

So I've just started looking into scrubbers. Some people are saying they are using it instead of a skimmer? Is this true?

Skimmers and scrubber do different things. There are arguments on both sides. Do what is best for your tank and based on what you keep. My opinion is that if you do both, you can scale them both back in size. So if you were to use say a "200" skimmer OR a 4 cube/day scrubber, instead do a "150" skimmer and a 2 or 3 cube/day scrubber. If that makes sense.

You should patent that anti-gravity sump :lolspin:

Seriously though your reflectors are way too small. The lamp should not protrude out from the end thar far, all of your light is going sideways. You want to get the 10" dome reflectors, that are bowl shaped rather than cone shaped. Better yet, find a way to turn the lamp sideways and use a curved reflector behind it, kind of in the same fashion that MH reflectors are shaped. You can even mimic or hack up a MH reflector if you want to.

 

[dcrowley3]

Floyd, thanks for the tip. I will work on better deflectors. I never even realized that the light would go out the sides instead of straight ahead.

 

[mushumatt]

Floyd- I completely understand, I was just wondering. I am trying to research scrubbers very quickly. As I'm in the middle of my 40 br build, and I would love to incorporate one into my tank.