Algae Scrubber Basics

I don't use any mechanical filtration, but I don't mind a little bits and pieces in the water. I use carbon to keep the water clear.
If u wana save good stuff like plankton etc. Go for seachem purigen. Carbon kills plankton. I use purigen in all my tanks, and carbon is used at 1/4th the qty recomended, jus to remove toxic stuff if any produced by corals as we keep mix reef.
 
If u wana save good stuff like plankton etc. Go for seachem purigen. Carbon kills plankton. I use purigen in all my tanks, and carbon is used at 1/4th the qty recomended, jus to remove toxic stuff if any produced by corals as we keep mix reef.

How does carbon kill plankton?
 
Why would carbon kill plankton?
Iv read in few forums that carbon removes trace elements and plankton. Well i myself use it, but only 1/4th the recomended. As purigen works better for keeping water crystal clear and works for 6mnths to a year. Atleast thats my experience with purigen. I have 8 tanks and all have purigen..[emoji4]
 
I can see plankton getting trapped in the media bag as it passes through due to size but to kill it? unlikely. maybe pull your sock when you feed plankton.
 
Guys. I'm posting this in different places where I think someone might be able to help... I have "black algae" in my tank. My ATS has lots of different varieties, but none of this "black algae". I'm exporting heavily, but this stuff is still growing in the tank itself.

My fish won't eat it. My urchins will, but they're lumbering destruction machines.

Take a look - see if you can ID it?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24516421#post24516421
 
^

Ok guys, I think I would go with a couple of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30W-50W-80W...hash=item5d6280995b:m:mxV1rKIQ7hh11Hq6DJPphHg

50 watts led lights for my 10 * 10 scrubber. These seem to be in my budget and also shipping is quite reasonable. Any thoughts?

These look slightly better, at least there is a heat sink and they are almost 1W each, but again that is the whole marketing thing. They claim the lamp with 78 chips is 50W...that's 0.64W each, but they are SMD and it looks like a metal-core board with heat sinking, hmmm...

Back to you screen size, 10 x 10 is 100 sq in, are you feeding 8 cubes/day?

The coverage might be an issue, this is where there is a disparity between light form factor and screen form factor. Most floodlight-style lamps are good for a limited area, usually something like 6x6 is about the limit for effective coverage because of lenses and such, this lamp doesn't have that so it might be better, but you are still likely to get a round distribution on a square screen, so you will probably have less growth around the corners.

Overall these are probably better than the other ones you've posted links to, but I would probably anticipate that they aren't quite as good as an ideal fixture. The other unknown is the power rating of 50W, and is it actually 50W max draw. I would guess no.

Either way, if you don't feed 8 cubes/day then your screen will be oversized, but capacity-limited by the lighting (if the lighting is lower than advertised) so this might be fine.

For instance, if the lights are half of what they say, but you only feed 4 cubes/day, then you're fine.

If you feed heavy (8 cubes/day or a very large tank) then these lights very well may not cut it. But then, just get a few more, 2 on each side.

The other unknown is the intensity factor, lower-power SMD LEDs vs 3W chips. The 3W chips will have more punch, the SMDs are less focused light sources by nature.
 
It does not really affect the scrubber, but some people like to make use of the slight pH increase that the photosynthesis provides.
Yep, and I didn't even notice the increase until my ATS went offline. My pH dropped around .1 pH. Doesn't sound like much but we are trying to keep put pH in a fairly narrow range compared to the entire pH scale. It can make a difference too if you're normally on the lowest end of the scale. With the ATS running my lows at night were 8.0x. With out the ATS running my pH now dips to 7.9x at night.
 
It does not really affect the scrubber, but some people like to make use of the slight pH increase that the photosynthesis provides.
Yep, and I didn't even notice the increase until my ATS went offline. My pH dropped around .1 pH. Doesn't sound like much but we are trying to keep put pH in a fairly narrow range compared to the entire pH scale. It can make a difference too if you're normally on the lowest end of the scale. With the ATS running my lows at night were 8.0x. With out the ATS running my pH now dips to 7.9x at night.
 
Thanks for your answers
I have been running the ATS for 13 days and the screen only shows brown
please look at photo.
is it time to clean it??
how hard should I be on the screen?
13 days ATS.jpg

PO4 went from 0.10 to 0 and NO3 from 5 to 2.5ppm.
I introduced coral to this tank 1 week ago and I do not know if this change in PO4 and NO3 is due to ATS ( since there is not much algae in screen) or the coral absorving some of this nutrients?

please tell me what you think
 
An algae scrubber can actually drop the nutrients pretty fast, I've seen similar numbers before.

Usually a screen will go through several phases. You are in the beginning phase of the brown covering, that can be easily rinsed away under low-pressure, room temperature tap water. Don't scrub it, maybe swipe your palm across it. But if you're using the mortar screen, don't even do that - it causes the mortar to detach, so just a water rinse will remove plenty of the brown growth.

That first brown coating, if left alone, can slow the attachment of GHA a little bit. Probably not much, but you want to remove the "competition" and give the GHA a better chance
 
Sweet, sense I just saved me the trouble of asking. My non-mortar screen is about a week behind his and is looking similar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
An algae scrubber can actually drop the nutrients pretty fast, I've seen similar numbers before.

Usually a screen will go through several phases. You are in the beginning phase of the brown covering, that can be easily rinsed away under low-pressure, room temperature tap water. Don't scrub it, maybe swipe your palm across it. But if you're using the mortar screen, don't even do that - it causes the mortar to detach, so just a water rinse will remove plenty of the brown growth.

That first brown coating, if left alone, can slow the attachment of GHA a little bit. Probably not much, but you want to remove the "competition" and give the GHA a better chance

Thanks for your answer,
will an ATS do something to control diatom algae?

my tank is 2 months old, but it was until 7 days ago that I introduced coral in tank. System is 600g and the rock I used was dry and clean from mine.

I have seen al algae bloom from one day to the other, but it not GHA (PO4= 0,NO3 = 2.5ppm). It looks like rust in the rocks. I clean the glass in the morning and at night you already see that the same algae has covered glass again. I think it may be diatoms but I am not 100% sure.

should I do any change in ATS skedule or intensity?

I have the leds at 50% intensity and 12 hours on.
please let me know what you think
 
These look slightly better, at least there is a heat sink and they are almost 1W each, but again that is the whole marketing thing. They claim the lamp with 78 chips is 50W...that's 0.64W each, but they are SMD and it looks like a metal-core board with heat sinking, hmmm...

Back to you screen size, 10 x 10 is 100 sq in, are you feeding 8 cubes/day?

The coverage might be an issue, this is where there is a disparity between light form factor and screen form factor. Most floodlight-style lamps are good for a limited area, usually something like 6x6 is about the limit for effective coverage because of lenses and such, this lamp doesn't have that so it might be better, but you are still likely to get a round distribution on a square screen, so you will probably have less growth around the corners.

Overall these are probably better than the other ones you've posted links to, but I would probably anticipate that they aren't quite as good as an ideal fixture. The other unknown is the power rating of 50W, and is it actually 50W max draw. I would guess no.

Either way, if you don't feed 8 cubes/day then your screen will be oversized, but capacity-limited by the lighting (if the lighting is lower than advertised) so this might be fine.

For instance, if the lights are half of what they say, but you only feed 4 cubes/day, then you're fine.

If you feed heavy (8 cubes/day or a very large tank) then these lights very well may not cut it. But then, just get a few more, 2 on each side.

The other unknown is the intensity factor, lower-power SMD LEDs vs 3W chips. The 3W chips will have more punch, the SMDs are less focused light sources by nature.

Can you just build him what he needs and ship it to him? I know you need to keep up with orders but the poor guy is going to end up buying junk.
 
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