Algae Scrubber Basics

I just added my algae scrubber to my 40 gallon frag tank because I was having some nutrient issues in that tank. I seeded the screen with some GHA from the frag tank in hopes that it would speed things up a bit. I am 2 days in and I think the results are promising.

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Day 1

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Day 2



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I just added my algae scrubber to my 40 gallon frag tank because I was having some nutrient issues in that tank. I seeded the screen with some GHA from the frag tank in hopes that it would speed things up a bit. I am 2 days in and I think the results are promising.

edff3174cef52e8a93bb0775b1ebf2dc.jpg

Day 1

21858e6614860ddb623fe8693caf61be.jpg

Day 2



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Im just curious on open ATS designs isnt the water evaporation terrible?
 
IME even royal blue has enough intensity to overpower a new screen, CW would be worse I would think.

I prefer going the other direction with the supplemental spectrum to violet, but you generally can't get that in a stock fixture because violets are more expensive and less reliable (for the cheap chips). Plus these fixtures are generally made for plant growth, which is just fine with blue or even cool white.

Also these are low power LED = no heat sink - not very intense. This fixture probably pulls 5w if that.
 
I want mine to look like that. My screen is too big for my feedings now though. How long are you running lights Chris, also how big is your screen?

Corey

Hey Corey sorry for the delay, didn't see this right away. I'm running lights from 5:00 PM to 11:00 AM. The screen size is the standard "2 cube" size (mine is a commercial unit so I'm not sure the exact sq inches).

Hope that helps
 
No that is white light. Seach instead for 20 watt LED grow light. There are not as many listed for India but there are still several.
 
i have been running ats for about 8 weeks good growth all water perams in line. problem is starting to get some red slime in tank .was going to try some chemi clean . not sure what do do with ats while dosing chemiclean leave running as usual,leave flow turn off lights to or just take it off line for couple of days please help
 
My tank capacity is 150 gallons, so I need 150 square inches

Use the feeding guideline instead, below.

The lights might work, depending on the size of your screen. Those light need to be far away though, because they are focused.

starting to get some red slime in tank

Normal because the competing layers of algae are going away. The cyano will eventually start to go away too.

Feeding guideline:

Scrubbers are sized according to feeding. Nutrients "in" (feeding) must equal nutrients "out" (scrubber growth), no matter how many gallons or liters you have. So...

An example VERTICAL upflow or waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real florescent watts (not equivalent watts) of light, or half that for LEDs, for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts (6 watts LED) are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If the watts are divided on each side of the screen, it is a 2-sided screen. This should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:

1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen), or
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen), or
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen), or
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen), or
10 square inches (60 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen), or
5 square inches (30 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen), or
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen), or
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)

Flow or air bubbles is always 24 hours; water flow is at least 35 gph per inch of width of screen [60 lph per cm], EVEN IF one sided or horizontal.

FLOATING SURFACE SCRUBBERS WITH STRINGS: Screen size is the size of the box (Length X Width), and is 2-sided because the strings grow in 3D.

Clean algae:

Every 7 to 14 days, or
When it's black, or
When it fills up, or
When algae lets go, or
When nutrients start to rise
 
i have been running ats for about 8 weeks good growth all water perams in line. problem is starting to get some red slime in tank .was going to try some chemi clean . not sure what do do with ats while dosing chemiclean leave running as usual,leave flow turn off lights to or just take it off line for couple of days please help

I am also seeing a lot of cyano growth as the GHA in my DT keeps slowly receding. Thinking of just letting it run its course over the next month or so. If its still persisting in a month or two I will use some chemiclean to see if I can help it move on.
 
Wildwilly, I recently douched my tank with chemclean with no discernible change in ATS functioning. I just changed my ATS configuration and screen. My screen was only 12 days in use at application time. I closely watched the vertical maturity of the screen during the week of dosing chemclean and noted no decrease in the screen's maturation, I.e., the coloration continued down the screen without interruption. My personal, one time experience and my tank has only two clowns, softies and zoas.
 
with no discernible change in ATS functioning. I just changed my ATS configuration and screen. My screen was only 12 days in use at application time. I closely watched the vertical maturity of the screen during the week of dosing chemclean and noted no decrease in the screen's maturation, I.e., the coloration continued down the screen without interruption. My personal, one time experience and my tank has only two clowns, softies and zoas.

Wildwilly, I recently douched my tank with chemclean
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lol

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fish die of overeating

They don't die of overeating, they die of under-filtering. The tanks don't export/absorb ammonia fast enough. If they had lots of algal growth, they could handle the ammonia like reefs and lakes do.

12 * 12 square inches screen, both sides lighted

You are feeding 144 cubes a day? Or do you just want a big surface to point the lights to?

30 watt light with 5 watt consumption

This means it is less than a 5 watt light. Probably 2.5 real watts. Way, way too small.

Neewer E27 12W
This one is better, is probably 8 real watts, good for one side of a 16 square inch screen.

24 Watt E27 LED Grow Light
Much better, is probably 18 real watts, good for one side of a 36 square inch screen. I'd get two of these.

As for cyano, remember that it's a normal stage of algae reducing in your tank. As algal films start reducing on your rocks etc, the cyano can compete for a while. Then it goes away.
 
Here is the start of mine and just a quick question. Does it NEED to have a drain in the bottom? Or can it just have a side drain?

 
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