Algae Scrubber Basics

[SantaMonica]

I thought yellowing algae was more an indication of the scrubbers illumination period being too long for a given level of nutrients in the water

It's too little iron etc, in proportion to how many nutrients there are. Photosaturation is a moving target, based on nutrients available.

 

[Pandagobyguy]

This is the link to that article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

This is a video of Dana Riddle's presentation at MACNA concerning the same https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...=fBktpJ3umAs&usg=AOvVaw1Lg1DF3riPGr7MwqhSQpTH

Thanks!

 

[bpnages25]

Clear Water scrubber

Clear Water scrubber

I have been running scrubber now for about 5 weeks. Currently dealing with high phosphates around .16. Is the growth/maturity below normal? I lightly scrape every 7-10 days and lights are on 12 hours.

 

[SantaMonica]

Needs more light.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I have been running scrubber now for about 5 weeks. Currently dealing with high phosphates around .16. Is the growth/maturity below normal?

What's the red/ blue ratio of those light fixtures ???

 

[bpnages25]

Needs more light.

As in longer photoperiod? How many hours should I bump it up by?

What's your opinion on 6 hour time cycle (6 on 6 off)

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have not idea how Santa Monica is coming to that conclusion.

Your screen is only 5 weeks old, the growth you have in that time period seems pretty decent. I would just rub & rinse and leave whatever growth stays attached alone, except for the top edge where the screen goes into the slot pipe - there, you want to scrub it to keep it clear of any growth.

Don't over-clean, especially when you are in the maturing phase. That light appears strong enough to penetrate through the growth at the thickness you have in the picture, so there's really no reason to remove that. You only really need to scrape when the growth starts to get thick enough to block, and based on those pics, you're not very close to that.

 

[LeJeune981]

I would like some opinions and any helpful knowledge about my diy upflow ats..
I'm using a standard size full sheet of the plastic canvas..roughed up with a hole saw...
14 inch bubble stone bar..
Lights are 2 par38 red led lights 90 watt each according to the box..
Will this lights work?
I've had it up and running about 3 days now .

I've shoved some hair algae and cheato down into it to seed it I guess.. seemed like a good idea..

Anyways any tips or concerns are welcome
Thank you

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I would like some opinions and any helpful knowledge about my diy upflow ats..
I'm using a standard size full sheet of the plastic canvas..roughed up with a hole saw...
14 inch bubble stone bar..
Lights are 2 par38 red led lights 90 watt each according to the box..
Will this lights work?
I've had it up and running about 3 days now .

I've shoved some hair algae and cheato down into it to seed it I guess.. seemed like a good

The lights should work, but they won't illuminate the screen fully with an even & useful intensity, so growth won't be even.
The exact spectrum of red is not on the box but they are not 90W. They are 15 watts each. That's a total of 30W on one side of the screen, as you have set it up. A full mesh sheet is bout 130 square inches, so at 0.25 to 0.5 watts per square in of screen of 660nm, you need a total wattage of 32W to 65W.

 

[LeJeune981]

The lights should work, but they won't illuminate the screen fully with an even & useful intensity, so growth won't be even.
The exact spectrum of red is not on the box but they are not 90W. They are 15 watts each. That's a total of 30W on one side of the screen, as you have set it up. A full mesh sheet is bout 130 square inches, so at 0.25 to 0.5 watts per square in of screen of 660nm, you need a total wattage of 32W to 65W.

So.. I should get 2 more of those lights.. and set it up with 4 of them?

That should give me full coverage and in the 60 watt range

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[Floyd R Turbo]

My gut says those lights are meant for architectural lighting, i.e. accent lighting. They probably aren't true growth-spectrum lights, more likely they are just white LEDs with a red cover. Might work ok but you'd honestly be better off with the plain white ones, the red filter just cuts down on intensity.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

My gut says those lights are meant for architectural lighting, i.e. accent lighting. They probably aren't true growth-spectrum lights, more likely they are just white LEDs with a red cover. Might work ok but you'd honestly be better off with the plain white ones, the red filter just cuts down on intensity.

Your "gut" instinct is 100% correct. Looking at LeJeune981's second image>>> the reflection of the lights on the sump glass<<< shows the lights are white with red diffusers.

Merry Christmas everyone

 

[Pandagobyguy]

I assume this question has been answered somewhere in the 10,000 comments but, im lazy so ill ask.
Anyone have a good link to a drop-in scrubber DIY build? It seems difficult to light it underwater... Is there an easy way to do it?

 

[LeJeune981]

My gut says those lights are meant for architectural lighting, i.e. accent lighting. They probably aren't true growth-spectrum lights, more likely they are just white LEDs with a red cover. Might work ok but you'd honestly be better off with the plain white ones, the red filter just cuts down on intensity.

Yeah.. I think they are white with red reflectors.. should I just break the reflectors off?
Or just get new lights?

They don't carry CFL lights in my area any longer... just the "new improved" led light bulbs

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[SantaMonica]

white with red reflectors

The worst. White is better. There is almost no energy remaining after white is filtered for red. Must be red from the beginning.

drop-in scrubber DIY build

Just like an enclosed waterfall, a drop-in is just an enclosed bubble upflow. The hard part of an enclosed waterfall is building the box; the hard part of a drop-in is sealing the LEDs for underwater usage.

There is no diy guide that I know of; just dip the LEDs (clean well in isopropyl alcohol first) in Devcon 2-ton epoxy and let cure, and repeat 2 more times for a nice thick coating. For algae attachment, you can use a roughed up screen, or epoxied gravel, or a lot of strings. For bubbles, an airline with slits works well, or and open-ended tube works great too.

Build a simple one first, see how it grows, then build a real one.

 

[SantaMonica]

Weekend holiday growth photos

 

[lapoza]

Hello All,

I am just getting back into salt water reef keeping, wasn't really in it that long back in 2000 when I gave it a go in the first place. But, I bought a building last year that had a 265 gallon tank owned by Inland aquatics here in Terre Haute. I moved the tank to my office last month and started it going. The tank was pretty magnificent back when it was running from what I have heard, the building sat empty for 3 years until we bought it so all the water had evaporated out.

Anyhow the tank came with an old dump style turf scrubber, and I was able to get a seed screen from Inland aquatics before they closed. Algae is growing pretty well in the last three weeks and starting to spread onto the main screen. My complaint if you would call it that, is the dumping sound, right behind my back, gets a little old all day long when I'm stuck in the office. Also, because I started it back up without spending enough time relearning I filled the first 150 gallons with tap water so I'm having the diatom breakout right now. The dump style is dropping a ton of small bubbles with each and every drop which are getting caught in the diatoms. Even without the diatoms though it is a lot of bubbles, the water is full of them which makes it look hazy instead of nice and clear like I would like.

Another issue is the on top of the tank ATS block a good portion of area which hinders my LED light placement from giving a nice even spread, Where the scrubber is I have to put the LED's low and to the front of the tank in that area.

So I have had two thoughts, one would be to move the ATS to the underneath of the tank and somehow configure it to dump into a sump, the second idea would be to build a vertical scrubber and once it is running discontinue the overhead dump scrubber. Ive tried searching through all 396 pages of this post to find some sort of opinion of comparing the two styles and which is more effective but can't find anything as of yet. I have an open weekend and Strong sense of DIY wanting to build something or do something to get rid of the bubbles at least. With the long term goal to not have a scrubber overhead so I can have wide open access for lighting.

So with all of that stated I am just curious on the long time veterans here if I am going to make a change, which would you recommend, keeping and moving the dump ATS or building a vertical style

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Start here: http://algaescrubber.zohosites.com/

Tap water with top of tank dump bucket Inland Aquatics ATS...I can understand every problem you just described.

The first thing to look at is that you likely don't need that huge of a screen, the old conversion thought process was for every "unit area" (which is right now for a vertical screen, 12 sq in of screen lit on both sides per cube of food fed per day) you would need:

2x that area for a vertical scrubber lit only on one side (and you wouldn't be able to let it grow as long)

4x that area for a horizontal scrubber

So if you fed 1 cube/day, that's 12 sq in for vertical double-sided, 24 sq in for vertical single-sided, 48 sq in for horizontal

One could argue that the horizontal number is specific to a Adey-style dump bucket and that a static horizontal scrubber could be 8x. The one you are using is actually pretty expensive and about as good as you're going to get for a dump bucket scrubber. But, IMO, it's a throwback. The vertical scrubbers are better on many levels.

I would put it in a sump at minimum though

 

[ali1]

Made my scrubber to a total size 19x11 with the LEDs on each side.

Harvesting every week:

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Made my scrubber to a total size 19x11 with the LEDs on each side.

Harvesting every week:

Nice growth.