Algae Scrubber Group buy?

scolley

scolley

ARKSC Founding Member
Premium Member
Folks,

Having a phosphate or nitrate problem? This is your chance to get that under control!

Santa Monica has recently released an ATS that I want. Here's a link. As you all know, my opinion is that all the talk about ATS's eliminating the need for water changes and stuff is hokum. However, I KNOW that they are awesome tools to drive down your phosphates and nitrates. Anyone that has dabbled in planted tanks should know that too. Anyway...

This thing eliminates the need for all the extra plumbing typically needed for an ATS, which is great. Eliminates all the salt creep and humidity they generally create. It comes with its own light - sized appropriately for the scrubber. You just need to have enough room to float it in your sump (6" x 8"), a high flow air pump (0.2 CFM or 5.7 LPM), and a controller or timer to turn the light on and off.

Price is roughly $300 plus shipping. But if more people jump in they get cheaper - from $285 each for two, down to $250 for five or more.

Anyone interested, please post here. Will happily PM about it, but will not place an order if you have not posted your willingness to jump in here, and provided funds up front.

Pick up will be at my house in Westport.

Thanks! One way or the other, I'm ordering SOON. :)
 
LOL! Yes, good catch Georgi!

I saw that. But those are his underwater upflow variety. I am no fan of those because the light shines through the sump glass, causing an algae buildup on the glass that has to be cleaned periodically. It works, but the purist in me will not accept that compromise. ;)
 
This is kinda interesting however I would actually look to replace the air lines with some kind of low flow, or cycled, water pump. Air pumps always tend to vibrate and make noise no matter what you do. I would imagine a cheap aqualifter or something would do similarly without the noise. Will read more and let you know but I am intrigued.
 
dudemeister said:
I would imagine a cheap aqualifter or something would do similarly without the noise.
Click to expand...
That will won't work. Same with water pump. Got to be a semi-powerful air pump.

dudemeister said:
Air pumps always tend to vibrate and make noise no matter what you do.
Click to expand...
That is a good point though. He's selling these too, claiming they are quiet. I would not know.

For myself, I got tired of noisy, underpowered air pumps years ago. Bought one of these inexpensive, professional grade pumps and have never looked back. I've got extra air in spades, and dead silent too. Zero maintenance in quite a few years of continuous operation.

But if you don't have something similar - or are willing to buy one - it does change the equation. I just happen to have that covered. :)
 
It's all about the air bubbles. The requisite water movement is created by the bubbles.
 
My waterfall ATS is not driven by my overflow, but is fed by a branch off my return. Dudemeiser, I know you were planning on an overflow fed ATS at some point in time. So this is advantageous for me because it simplifies (greatly) my sump plumbing AND it allows me to dial back the power for my return pump ($). You could argue that the requisite air pump puts $ back into the equation - and that would be true. However, air pumps a MUCH more efficient electrically than water pumps. But if you have - or are planning - an overflow driven waterfall ATS, then this benefit does not apply from the electrical efficiency standpoint. Though the plumbing simplicity benefit might.

I only have two reservations about this product... though I AM still getting one.

First - the warranty is only 60 days. He does sell replacement parts of both pieces (float box and LED lid), but I would hope that would not be needed. And I'm DIY handy, so in the unlikely event something does go wrong, I can likely fix it.

Second - since the unit floats on the water, and the LEDs are on the unit, SOME amount of heat must be transferred to the water. I'm assuming more than the heat that gets trapped in my stand now by my ATS LEDs (mounted in the stand). However I've got nine 3 watt LEDs. This has fewer - four 3 watt LEDs. From my estimates the actual algae grow surface of the matt will be about the same as what I have now, to it's apples to apples algae for me, with less than 1/2 the heat. The question of where that heat is going (vs. where it's going now for me) is an outstanding question. IMO for people with larger tanks (mines only a 33), this should be far less of an issue.
 
On second thought, I think my second reservation was not well thought out, and is actually a non-issue. That's only a total of 12 watts in those LEDs. Much of that will be lost to entropy as that electrical energy is converted to light, and then again when the light is absorbed and converted to heat. And there is a heat sink on top of the lights and heat rises. So what's unknown is how much of that 12 watts winds up as heat, and then how much of that heat is not lost to the air above the heatsink, and warms the sump instead.

Frankly a 12 watt heater would not make any discernible difference on a tank of any reasonable size. And the heat generated by this will be a lot less than that.

IMO the LED heat will prove to be a non-issue. Personally with me turning back the flow of my return pump (which currently provides water to my existing ATS), my tank should actually get a tiny bit cooler.
 
OK. Nobody's biting...

Going to order in 30 minutes if I don't get clear interest from someone that wants to jump in.
 
Ordered. Offer over. Will post results in my build thread next week.

Thanks for looking. :)
 
Yup. Sorry. Like I said, I'd be buying SOON. Sorry I couldn't wait longer.

Will post pics and results!
 
So quick! I was going to join you but got too lazy to go to basement to measure the free space in sump last night.

Well, anxious to see how it works out for you.
 
Sorry! I was anxious. But will report on how it works out! A bit expensive for what they are IMO, but it's exactly what I need.
 
It looks totally intriguing. I'd love to get away from my waterfall design but I'm actually quite pleased with the results now that I have the LED on it. I'd wager it's priced so high b/c you're basically paying for his experimentation. If the market will bear it, why not? This does seem a lot more simple than any other design I've seen; especially the giant unit with T5's he's had on offer for quite a while. Honestly I haven't kept up with his work but very glad to see his engineering efforts continue in this way.

His all-red LED array does make me think I might want to swap out some of the whites I have in mine. I'm also curious what the tank size range a single module might cover.

Good luck, Steve!!
 
Yeah... the price is very high. That is until you consider that it's not mass produced, and he's got to make a few shekels to make it worth his time. So then it is - as you say - what the market will bear.

If it works well, and is productive, it will be well worth it to me to get more room in my sump, and to get rid of all that splashing. :)

As far as the all red issue, I'll withhold judgment until I see how it produces. It IS what is being recommended now by the major posters in the big ATS threads here. But I have not been too quick to follow their lead as they are the same exact people that told me that I should not build an LED light for an ATS, because all prior LED efforts had failed. Well it worked like gangebusters for me (I knew it would), and have not been too quick to deviate from a proven thing. It's hard to argue with "It works."
 
Cant wait to read about the results...maybe a 2nd GB in order for us slow folks after Steve's review!
 
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