Algae Scrubber sizing question

FishN00b83

FishN00b83

New member
I am in the middle of a 180 build and I'm a little confused with sizing the screen for an algae scrubber. I've been reading the very long sticky and I got to the sizing part, and it just doesn't make sense to me. If I feed an equivalent of 2 cubes of froze food a day I only need a screen size of 6x4 lit on both sides? That seems awfully small for 2 cubes a day no? Why would people have these huge 3 or 4 foot long screens? How much food are they actually feeding? Can someone clarify the sizing for me?
 
Not even sure, I just made some sort of hybrid algae scrubber than has 7 sheets of 10.5x13.5" screens.

We'll see how it works out... been in there for a few days and has some algae growing on it.

Have 0 phosphates and low nitrates, but some patches of GHA still pop up... we'll see...
 
I don't think I've seen anyone with a 'huge 3 or 4 foot screen'. Most of the bigger ones seem to be in the 12x12 range. I went with 10x12 for mine and it keeps nutrients under control for my 6-8 cube per day habit.
 
I just resized mine this weekend from the large 9" x 12" it was down to about 3.5" by 8". After 12 weeks my weekly growth wasn't nearly what it should have been when comparing to others which is when I found the new sizing guidelines.

You're correct on the sizing though, 10 square inches for every cube fed per day if lit on both sides or I believe double that if only lit on one side.
 
I began using ATS in 1998. They have been improved greatly over the past 20 years. I recently built a water fall scrubber with a 12 x 12 screen. I had to replace the Plexiglas cover and I used glass. When I did I reduced my screen width to 9". I run a fish breeding system and feed 5 times a day.

 
Windy2 said:
I began using ATS in 1998. They have been improved greatly over the past 20 years. I recently built a water fall scrubber with a 12 x 12 screen. I had to replace the Plexiglas cover and I used glass. When I did I reduced my screen width to 9". I run a fish breeding system and feed 5 times a day.

Click to expand...

Slick looking glass box man. Did you just buy the glass and cut to size and then drill? Or did you have it built by someone?
 
Windy2 said:
They have been improved greatly over the past 20 years.
Click to expand...

Indeed they have. I ran my first scrubber in about 1992 based of a dump bucket design detailed in a book by Walter Adey (Dynamic Ecosystem, or something like that). It worked OK, but was noisy, messy and took up a ton of space. Ran it for a decade or so, before tossing it in favor of a waterfall design. My most recent DiY waterfall model works FAR better than the old dump bucket.
 
honestly I'm a little skeptical about the size of this thing. I ran a fuge with my old tank and it did ok, but I still had some cyano on the rocks and some bubble algae. I'm hoping the algae scrubber is more efficient with exporting. I think a big problem with fuges is no one really has them sized correctly...it takes a big fuge to be able to keep up with a big tank. I'm hoping the algae scrubber can be smaller and be able to keep up with the nutrients...time will tell I guess.
 
ca1ore said:
Indeed they have. I ran my first scrubber in about 1992 based of a dump bucket design detailed in a book by Walter Adey (Dynamic Ecosystem, or something like that). It worked OK, but was noisy, messy and took up a ton of space. Ran it for a decade or so, before tossing it in favor of a waterfall design. My most recent DiY waterfall model works FAR better than the old dump bucket.
Click to expand...
I still have Adey's book. I built my first one as a flat screen and then used a wavemaker to raise and lower the water height. It was 24" x 24" and had two 250 watt standard light globes. I had a display and a basement coral growing operation and it handled it all.
 
ViktorVaughn said:
Slick looking glass box man. Did you just buy the glass and cut to size and then drill? Or did you have it built by someone?
Click to expand...

There is a glass co. in Washington State that will cut glass to your specifications and then ship it to you. The shipping is high, but I live within 80 miles of them and so picked it up. This is the second time I have used them. The first time I built a 24' x 24" x12" frag tank.
I'll bet you can find someone local to you for a source.
ON the frag tank, I cut the hole. One the ATS I had them cut the hole and the two slots at the top.
Gluing the pieces together is a snap if you have done it before. I can help if you decide to try one.
 
Windy2 said:
There is a glass co. in Washington State that will cut glass to your specifications and then ship it to you. The shipping is high, but I live within 80 miles of them and so picked it up. This is the second time I have used them. The first time I built a 24' x 24" x12" frag tank.
I'll bet you can find someone local to you for a source.
ON the frag tank, I cut the hole. One the ATS I had them cut the hole and the two slots at the top.
Gluing the pieces together is a snap if you have done it before. I can help if you decide to try one.
Click to expand...

Nice man thanks. I'm definitely going to build one soon, I hate my makeshift acrylic splash guard. How is the box attached to the scrubber?
 
Windy2 said:
I still have Adey's book. I built my first one as a flat screen and then used a wavemaker to raise and lower the water height. It was 24" x 24" and had two 250 watt standard light globes. I had a display and a basement coral growing operation and it handled it all.
Click to expand...

Nice! I've never been all that much of a photographer, so unfortunately have no photos of my old tanks. wish I did; bet there's plenty of stuff I've long forgotten.
 
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