Algae Scrubber Basics

[Floyd R Turbo]

I suppose so, but I would avoid dosing any nitrate, there's just no need to.

I know the Brightwell Potassion-P (powdered/granulated) is good stuff and generally doesn't add anything bad. Just Potassium Chloride and Potassium Sulfate

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/potassionpt.php

 

[Brummie]

Algae Scrubber Basics

I wonder though, how much P is replaced through feedings (flakes, pellets, frozen, etc)?

http://web.archive.org/web/20010720071031/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/data/foods.asp

 

[DavidinGA]

http://web.archive.org/web/20010720071031/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/data/foods.asp

Holy crap our foods dump 1000 times the levels of some minor elements found in nsw! If anything I would guess most tanks need water changes to bring a lot of those levels back down to "normal".

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Holy crap our foods dump 1000 times the levels of some minor elements found in nsw! If anything I would guess most tanks need water changes to bring a lot of those levels back down to "normal".

Or just an ats to suck it up

 

[DavidinGA]

Or just an ats to suck it up

Where's the link to what an ATS takes up?

 

[SantaMonica]

Holy crap our foods dump 1000 times the levels of some minor elements found in nsw

Yep

Might also be interested to know that all food in the ocean, including all organic traces, originally come from algae.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Where's the link to what an ATS takes up?

http://www.oikotechnics.org/papers/heavy metal removal from industrial wastewaters using an ATS.pdf

 

[boxfishpooalot]

"Heavy Metals
It has been known for a half century that algal cell walls adsorb heavy metals, and it is a characteristic of ATS phytoremediation, that heavy metals are removed from treated waters and sequestered into the algal biomass. This is an added value of ATS water cleaning, especially in waters with an industrial or urban component.
Toxic Organics
Combined with solar ultraviolet, ATS systems with high oxygen supersaturation break down entrained hydrocarbons. There is an extensive general research literature on this process, and a single ATS research study in the late 1990’s demonstrated that when combined with artificial ultraviolet, ATS systems have considerable capability of breaking down a variety of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Additional research is necessary in this area, as a single study, even with a considerable laboratory support, cannot provide the basis for systems engineering; however, it is likely that if ATS is carried out at very large scale to produce bioenergy, it will significantly reduce toxic hydrocarbons in aquatic environments and ultimately the ocean."

http://www.physicsegypt.org/epc08/epc823.pdf

 

[DavidinGA]

Thanks

 

[mwb32]

L2 up and running now for a couple of days no lights just getting the flow down. what a nice piece of equipment . Lights on tomorrow and we start the process. will update the board on this adventure.....again the quality has been nothing but impressive to my guests over the last Days. One is an engineer with Northrop and it took him 10 minutes to make it past the tank to the pool....He had never seen an ATS....With LED no less......

 

[wildman926]

L2 up and running now for a couple of days no lights just getting the flow down. what a nice piece of equipment . Lights on tomorrow and we start the process. will update the board on this adventure.....again the quality has been nothing but impressive to my guests over the last Days. One is an engineer with Northrop and it took him 10 minutes to make it past the tank to the pool....He had never seen an ATS....With LED no less......

I absolutely love mine. They have turned around my tanks in very short order.

On my 150g -

On my 90g -

 

[zhewitt04]

Hey guys I have left the saltwater hobby due to marriage and my new wife's student loans! Yippy Skippy. I am going to do freshwater instead. I want to implement a algae scrubber in freshwater. I have a couple of questions that I hope Floyd or whoever can help me with.
First of all, do the same dimensional rules apply for freshwater? I will be starting a new build and room under the tank is not a issue since my tank is in the wall and I have plenty of room in the fish room.
Second, I want to go LED so I can cut out buying cfls what are my cheap options and do the wattage rules apply to LED. I see some grow lights on ebay they are like 16 watt is that actual? Do I need as much power for freshwater algae as saltwater algae?
That is all I can think of right now.
Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Freshwater scrubbers tend to grow algae that is much more fine like human hair - long and thin. Usually it is a bit weaker also, which means that it can detach a lot easier under it's own weight. Also some of the feedback I've received is that once it gets going, you can throw a ton of light at it and you won't end up burning it or photosaturating it.

Let me see if I can get someone who runs a few FW scrubbers to jump on here, or at least get a reply

 

[zhewitt04]

Freshwater scrubbers tend to grow algae that is much more fine like human hair - long and thin. Usually it is a bit weaker also, which means that it can detach a lot easier under it's own weight. Also some of the feedback I've received is that once it gets going, you can throw a ton of light at it and you won't end up burning it or photosaturating it.

Let me see if I can get someone who runs a few FW scrubbers to jump on here, or at least get a reply

Thanks for the quick response and help! Greatly appreciated.

 

[salty joe]

I'm building a scrubber with 3W LEDs. Problem is, I'm not clear on forward V or forward current.

The 660nm 3W LED has a forward V of 2.5-3V. The budget driver linked can be 24V. Does that mean I could run strings 8 or 9 of these LEDs in series?

The LED has a forward current of 700mA. How do I make sure I don't exceed 700mA?

Any insight/help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dimmable-LE...pt=UK_Light_Fittings&var=&hash=item5aeefc59c9

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You want constant current drivers, not constant voltage. Meanwell LPC-35-700 is a good start. You just connect in series and it drives all at 700ma, with a max power dissipation of 35w.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You CAN do constant voltage drivers, but it's more complicated. There are plenty of constant current drivers to choose from

 

[SantaMonica]

Welcome back from marriage. I remember your original waterfall that used my early designs; seems about 6 years or so ago

FW is basically the same; just be able to deal with the very long strands. Use about half the LED watts that would be needed for CFL.

 

[Raul-7]

I think plants do a better job in FW. Especially emersed and floating plants. Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes are commonly used in wasterwater treatment and there are many journals out there on their efficiency at NO3 and PO4 removal.

Emersed plants like Pothos or Spathiphyllum will also work.

I'm not sure FW scrubbers are as effective.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I know one guy that has 3 of them on all FW, he has to run them pretty hard to get results compared to SW. Very high lighting, long photoperiod, frequent cleaning, but they do the job.