Algae Scrubber Basics

[srusso]

I am glad you decided to build an ATS! If you do it right you will never think about running another tank without one... IMHO

You can use any lighting type so long as it fits the needs of the scrubber. That said I investigated using T8 or T12 bulbs, my issue was finding the lights in the needed color and size for a good price... This left me back at CFLs whose cost is hard to match... at least in my area it is... others some report different prices for the same bulbs at their local HD are much higher.

IMHO your lighting is dictated by these factors...

Space for Equipment - Also dictates size/shape of screen but will be most greatest limiting factor in how your scrubber is built open/close design, Lighting that can fit, etc...


Size/Shape of Screen - The size and shape of your screen will dictate which lighting will be best for your scrubber. IE: given a 36" wide x 10" long scrubber (rated for a 360 Gallon tank) will be best covered by a two 36" T5 ballasts with three 27k bulbs in each.


Cost - T5 bulbs can get expensive... as can CFLs or LEDs. Aside from the two other factors, finding, buy and receiving your bulbs is an important consideration. B/c bulbs need to be replaced rather frequently in my opinion finding a source for your bulbs is just as important as the other two. The last thing you want to do is build a fantastic scrubber only to find out no store sells the bulbs you need for less then $25 each!! Then your left with a great scrubber that has hard to find and/or costly bulbs.


Coverage -
A single CLF bulb will light a screen area of about 7"x5" well with the center being the strongest point of light.

T5 bulb depending on its length (Will use a 24" as an example) A single 24" T5 will cover an area of about 22" x 3" VERY well. The lighting will be evenly spread in the area.


As for T8/T12 bulbs so long as your color is correct it will not matter. The coverage area may change a bit as T8 and T12s are wider. The limiting factor on these bulb types will be ease of finding them in the color needed, length and price.


I used CFL bulbs b/c its .97 cents for 4 bulbs at my local HD. b/c I can get them at my local home depot... so I am never paying shipping, I can get them at almost any hour of the day as the store is open till 10pm on week days and midnight on weekends!

In the end IMHO T5, CFL, LED or other all have their strengths and weaknesses.

 

[scott26]

Okay I got most of mine mocked up I still need to get some 4 way tees for the bottom to keep it together when I clean it.

I still need to rough up the screen and get another light in there but this was just a mock up to get measurements correct.

And so far I have spent about $30 on the whole set up.

Also my 4 pack of bulbs from Home Depot was $5.

 

[thefuz]

Wanted to run a quick sanity check on this layout before I start my cycle (finally). Srusso - I decided to go solo with the ATS after all!

Screen is about 11x15 and this is on a 90 gallon tank. Any thoughts? Are the lights the right distance? Flow seems good up top but there seem to be spots where the water isn't exactly moving consistently. Does this change over time once it's seeded?

Incidentally; I think I earned my junior plumber's merit badge with all these joints! Hofer Gurgle Buster FTW though!!

 

[TheFishMan65]

thefuz, no expert here, but from what I have read you will want to make your lights more parallel to the screen and I think you will need more support. When that get 2-3 lbs of algae growing I think it will sink.

scott26 - you got me thinking. I see a lot of these where people have legs that sit in the sump. Then seem to go through a lot of extra plumbing to run the thing. Could the water just be pumped up a leg (assuming the water is sits in is the water you want to use). Or did I miss something?

 

[srusso]

Okay I got most of mine mocked up I still need to get some 4 way tees for the bottom to keep it together when I clean it.

I still need to rough up the screen and get another light in there but this was just a mock up to get measurements correct.

And so far I have spent about $30 on the whole set up.

Also my 4 pack of bulbs from Home Depot was $5.

Nice simple build! Yep the tees will be needed to make your life easier.

Yeah, I am not sure why my local homedepot has them for so cheap, but I am not complaining! Every time I drive buy I buy another few 4 packs! I have enough bulbs to last me a few years now.. lol

How are you planning to do the lights?

 

[thefuz]

thefuz, no expert here, but from what I have read you will want to make your lights more parallel to the screen and I think you will need more support. When that get 2-3 lbs of algae growing I think it will sink.?

Ah, great point, FishMan. I'll look into that shortly. Right now I'm a little concerned about micro-bubbles in the DT. I'm looking into a different sump from someone local and I may reconfigure the ATS lengthwise along the sump vs. front/back. This will allow for more room on the lights as well, though it seems blindingly bright at the moment.

srusso - which HD? The one in Norwalk seems to have stopped that awesome sale on CFLs - of course; just as I went to buy 1 yrs worth!!

 

[srusso]

Wanted to run a quick sanity check on this layout before I start my cycle (finally). Srusso - I decided to go solo with the ATS after all!

Screen is about 11x15 and this is on a 90 gallon tank. Any thoughts? Are the lights the right distance? Flow seems good up top but there seem to be spots where the water isn't exactly moving consistently. Does this change over time once it's seeded?

Incidentally; I think I earned my junior plumber's merit badge with all these joints! Hofer Gurgle Buster FTW though!!

I have seen life in my sump that I don't think others have... and I believe it's b/c the tank has never had any other filter other then a my algae scrubber. Others may think my sump is a mess b/c of how much light spills into it from my ghetto built algae scrubber.

See if you can lift the scrubber a higher so you can get a better angle for your lights. If you cant lift your screen then I would say look into drop lights similar to mine, on the first page. Understand that CFLs work more like spotlights. The center point has the strongest PAR and it should be pointing directly at the screen. From the looks of your pictures it seems that your pointing them more at the PVC slot tube.

I see you have one reflector that seems much smaller then the others, could you get more of those? That may help you save some place.

 

[srusso]

Ah, great point, FishMan. I'll look into that shortly. Right now I'm a little concerned about micro-bubbles in the DT. I'm looking into a different sump from someone local and I may reconfigure the ATS lengthwise along the sump vs. front/back. This will allow for more room on the lights as well, though it seems blindingly bright at the moment.

srusso - which HD? The one in Norwalk seems to have stopped that awesome sale on CFLs - of course; just as I went to buy 1 yrs worth!!

Fairfield CT, the one off exit 23 on i95.

Yeah now that I am looking at it again. You will want to redesign the lights, as it will be a PITA to remove the clip lights every time you have to clean the screen.

I think people will find that building a "working" ATS is easy... however just throwing one together can lend itself to other problems... like hard to access parts, screens or fittings. This can effect your overall success with using an algae scrubber or at least your happiness with maintaining it.

 

[thefuz]

Cool - thx for the tips (and HD addy). I thought that CFL promotion was a tax break statewide, but there must be some limit on it.

Space is a little tight in the area which is why I think I should just reconfigure the thing now before I get critters in the tank.

 

[mrpopo]

I have not read through the fifty pages of posts on the subject, so sorry if this has been brought up before. Has anyone tried to build one of the turf scubbers contained in their overflow chamber of a drilled tank? You can set the water level at just about anywhere, and using just the wall of the overflow there is a good bit of area for the algea to grow. You can even make the overflow surge pretty easily, most folk's setup does it by accident anyway. It would just take adding some extra light over this area and some of the mesh material fitted on the interior walls of the chamber.

I have thought about this idea many times but never fully tried it. On my old setup the overflow would surge, filling up and draining down and before long "turf" algea would grow on the smooth plastic walls of the overflow never clogging the overflow though. I would clean a good amount off every couple of weeks. I never added any mesh but figured if I did this would be a basic turf scubber.

If this would work it solves a couple of the challenges that goes with the scubber; space and flow. Also that huge chamber in the corner of the tank becomes good for something. Somebody chime in with the pros and cons of this idea.

 

[scott26]

scott26 - you got me thinking. I see a lot of these where people have legs that sit in the sump. Then seem to go through a lot of extra plumbing to run the thing. Could the water just be pumped up a leg (assuming the water is sits in is the water you want to use). Or did I miss something?

I am not sure I understand what you are getting at the water has to run through the piping. Otherwise the PVC would trap air and float around. Also the scrubber will be fed via return pump.

Nice simple build! Yep the tees will be needed to make your life easier.

Yeah, I am not sure why my local homedepot has them for so cheap, but I am not complaining! Every time I drive buy I buy another few 4 packs! I have enough bulbs to last me a few years now.. lol

How are you planning to do the lights?

I will have two of the 8" lights one on each side I will have to add a mount to the underside of the stand for them to clamp onto though.

 

[TheFishMan65]

You have two legs going down into the sump. At the top of one of them is a T with a hose barb for the incoming water. What If you had designed it as follows:
- Replace the T with an elbow.
= Move the hose barb to one end of the support feet. (Or T off the vertical further down.
Seems like this would mean less flexible piping and might make the alignment easier.

 

[thefuz]

Yes, I can get more of the smaller reflectors (there are 2 large and 2 small). I just thought the larger reflectors would better diffuse the light. Getting the scrubber out isn't terrible either - that whole L-shaped arm comes out via true union to the left. I did think about the design just a little

 

[scott26]

I had to redo it since I had the supply tee at the top if I ever wanted to clean the screen by unscrewing the unions I would have to cut the supply hose off so I moved it below the union so now it is just unscrew and take to the sink.

 

[srusso]

I have not read through the fifty pages of posts on the subject, so sorry if this has been brought up before. Has anyone tried to build one of the turf scubbers contained in their overflow chamber of a drilled tank? You can set the water level at just about anywhere, and using just the wall of the overflow there is a good bit of area for the algea to grow. You can even make the overflow surge pretty easily, most folk's setup does it by accident anyway. It would just take adding some extra light over this area and some of the mesh material fitted on the interior walls of the chamber.

I have thought about this idea many times but never fully tried it. On my old setup the overflow would surge, filling up and draining down and before long "turf" algea would grow on the smooth plastic walls of the overflow never clogging the overflow though. I would clean a good amount off every couple of weeks. I never added any mesh but figured if I did this would be a basic turf scubber.

If this would work it solves a couple of the challenges that goes with the scubber; space and flow. Also that huge chamber in the corner of the tank becomes good for something. Somebody chime in with the pros and cons of this idea.

I have been designing an algae scrubber that is built-into the overflow box. However the basic principals must still be in place. You need a removable screen, dedicated lighting would have to be mounted to the back of the tank... etc but yes in theory an algae scrubber could be built into an overflow box.

 

[TheFishMan65]

scott - Great idea. Does it also make the area under the tank easier to manage?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have not read through the fifty pages of posts on the subject, so sorry if this has been brought up before. Has anyone tried to build one of the turf scubbers contained in their overflow chamber of a drilled tank? You can set the water level at just about anywhere, and using just the wall of the overflow there is a good bit of area for the algea to grow. You can even make the overflow surge pretty easily, most folk's setup does it by accident anyway. It would just take adding some extra light over this area and some of the mesh material fitted on the interior walls of the chamber.

I have thought about this idea many times but never fully tried it. On my old setup the overflow would surge, filling up and draining down and before long "turf" algea would grow on the smooth plastic walls of the overflow never clogging the overflow though. I would clean a good amount off every couple of weeks. I never added any mesh but figured if I did this would be a basic turf scubber.

If this would work it solves a couple of the challenges that goes with the scubber; space and flow. Also that huge chamber in the corner of the tank becomes good for something. Somebody chime in with the pros and cons of this idea.

What? You didn't read all the pages? Man! :spin2:

As Srusso said, yes it is possible to build one in an overflow. The 'surging' you're talking about it probably because your standpipe wasn't tuned properly, so it was filling up the overflow box and then flushing out. Not really what you want, but it's just a noise factor.

For an overflow scrubber to work, you would have to have the light vertical and strapped to the outside of the overflow, and it would have to be accessible (to change lamps every 3 months) and protected from water splashing during maintenance of the tank and scrubber. The screen would by definition be one-sided, which limits your scrubber size to the width and height of the overflow box.

In theory though, if you didn't have a need or desire for other filtration, you could build one in an overflow box and plug the holes, and just put your return pump in the overflow and go sumpless.

 

[scott26]

scott - Great idea. Does it also make the area under the tank easier to manage?

Yea it opens up that chamber for cleaning and what not when the screen is removed.

 

[Dave1NC]

Does anyone have any pics of above tank scrubbers? I currently have mine in the sump, but it has greatly reduced the flow back to the DT. I was thinking of incorporating my current returns directly to a scrubber. The returns are in the overflow boxes that come up from behind the DT. I was planning on using my existing screens.

 

[dogstar74]

Update 7 weeks of algae scrubber on a 10 gallon. I posted these photos in my build thread as well, so if you've seen them there as well, I'm sorry.

Before the ATS

7 weeks of running my ATS! Woo Hoo! Nearly completely algae free in the DT. I have purposefully avoided large water changes and purposefully avoided manual pruning to any great extent.