Algal scrubber (ATS) users, please look here.

[WmTasker]

I have been looking/reading all over the web about ATS. I am thinking about just using an ATS on my next reef with no skimmer. My question is, does anyone have a reef with just an ATS on it? Can you post pros/cons of your ATS systems. Can you also post pics.

If you have an ATS with a skimmer, can u post pics of it also?

Thans

 

[mscarpena]

Funny I am thinking of doing the same thing. I just did a bunch of research today on it. So are for it and some are not. I am very interested in hearing "real world" experiences as well.

 

[ChadTheSpike]

if you havent checked out algaescrubbers.net, I would recommend doing so, there are a lot of pics over there to sift through.

I have already made the decision that I am going to shift to an ATS. Once my seagrass tank is done for a bit (two more weeks), I will start working on one.

 

[shrimphead]

i've been thinking of using algae scrubber too, they take alot of stuff out of the water like nitrates phosphates ect but you've got to think of what they can't remove like toxins and contaminants. your tank will probably seem like it's doing well for a while but when those contaminants start to build up you might start running into problems and even possibly have a tank crash so running a skimmer for a little bit each day along side the algae scrubber may be a better option or maybe even better yet, carbon and or poly filtering.
you can grow different types of algae on the scrubber too.
The type of algae depends on lighting intensity, the spectrum of light, flow and air exposure. i hear the brown algae is supper efficient, its quite a tough dense algae as opposed to the hair algae which you'll have to scrub off the top of your brown algae.
i think some people just grow the hair algae on their scrubbers but it's not as effective.

by the way i haven't ever owned or used one so don't take my word as gospel but i have don't quite a bit of reading on them because i'm thinking of setting one up.

theres a whole forum website dedicated to them, let me know if you want me to post the link to it.

 

[WmTasker]

Funny I am thinking of doing the same thing. I just did a bunch of research today on it. So are for it and some are not. I am very interested in hearing "real world" experiences as well.

Its nice to see Im not the only one thinking of making one. I have been reading every piece on information I can find for the last month.

if you havent checked out algaescrubbers.net, I would recommend doing so, there are a lot of pics over there to sift through.

I have already made the decision that I am going to shift to an ATS. Once my seagrass tank is done for a bit (two more weeks), I will start working on one.

Most of my reading has been from there. What is a seagrass tank? Hopefully not a dumb question. Any pics?

i've been thinking of using algae scrubber too, they take alot of stuff out of the water like nitrates phosphates ect but you've got to think of what they can't remove like toxins and contaminants. your tank will probably seem like it's doing well for a while but when those contaminants start to build up you might start running into problems and even possibly have a tank crash so running a skimmer for a little bit each day along side the algae scrubber may be a better option or maybe even better yet, carbon and or poly filtering.
you can grow different types of algae on the scrubber too.
The type of algae depends on lighting intensity, the spectrum of light, flow and air exposure. i hear the brown algae is supper efficient, its quite a tough dense algae as opposed to the hair algae which you'll have to scrub off the top of your brown algae.
i think some people just grow the hair algae on their scrubbers but it's not as effective.

by the way i haven't ever owned or used one so don't take my word as gospel but i have don't quite a bit of reading on them because i'm thinking of setting one up.

theres a whole forum website dedicated to them, let me know if you want me to post the link to it.

I was thinking of having a carbon filter and use water changes to help remove other toxin and contaminants. I don't know how effective a skimmer would be if you only ran it a few hours a day. I would think that once it would start to get a good skimmer foam going, it would be time to turn it off. My biggest concern is not toxins, but what happens if my ATS dies off. Then I have no filter. I have thought about doing a filter with a refugium, skimmer and ATS. This might just be overkill.


I guess the bottom line is that its scary to invest all this cash into a reef and onlly have a ATS as a filter. Since I have always had a fuge/skimmer filter, I have no problem throwing cash into a reef with that setup. Just want something new. Plus, if the ATS works as good as my reading has stated, then who wouldn't want a reed completely free of Phosphates and Nitrates.

 

[ChadTheSpike]

No problem, Im glad you found algaescrubbers.net, its a great site that I pulled a lot of information from before I went into design mode and still reference a great deal.

My seagrass tank is part of my sump and pretty much brand new to the system (I added sand on Wednesday). Basically it is a lagoon type tank with very little rock (I have 6 pounds for a 50 gallon tank) and a deep sand bed for growing true marine vascular plants. I'm basically using it as a second refugium with a different biotope

 

[WmTasker]

No problem, Im glad you found algaescrubbers.net, its a great site that I pulled a lot of information from before I went into design mode and still reference a great deal.

My seagrass tank is part of my sump and pretty much brand new to the system (I added sand on Wednesday). Basically it is a lagoon type tank with very little rock (I have 6 pounds for a 50 gallon tank) and a deep sand bed for growing true marine vascular plants. I'm basically using it as a second refugium with a different biotope

Are you going to grow mangroves? I always heard they were great absorbers of nitrates and phosphates if you can get them growing.

 

[shrimphead]

No problem, Im glad you found algaescrubbers.net, its a great site that I pulled a lot of information from before I went into design mode and still reference a great deal.

My seagrass tank is part of my sump and pretty much brand new to the system (I added sand on Wednesday). Basically it is a lagoon type tank with very little rock (I have 6 pounds for a 50 gallon tank) and a deep sand bed for growing true marine vascular plants. I'm basically using it as a second refugium with a different biotope

sounds awsome have you got any pic on here of your setup?

 

[Alex T.]

One of my first books on reefkeeping (Mike Paletta's "Ultimate Reef Aquariums") had an algae turf scrubber reef. Mostly some softees. It also appeared that the livestock was sparse as to not overwhelm the filter. You may want to skim through it at Borders.

 

[shrimphead]

sorry for being a bit stupid but what exactly did you mean by "It also appeared that the livestock was sparse as to not overwhelm the filter"

 

[ziyaadb]

heres a fully stocked skimmerless tank

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic96938-25-1.aspx

 

[WmTasker]

heres a fully stocked skimmerless tank

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic96938-25-1.aspx

that is a sweet tank. Especially since he turned the skimmer off over a year ago. It would be nice to only have a ATS.

 

[I Love Corals]

Re: Algal scrubber (ATS) users, please look here.

I am skimmerless on a 75 with a 100g rubbermaid tub for a sump. I ran an ats on it but it would get clogged frequently. If you are going to run one do it seperate from a drain, on it's own pump. Also make sure your drip sheet covers as much surface area as the glass on your tank. It will keep your scraping down.
Water changes of 10% weekly are also a big help.

 

[Jstdv8]

One of the more respected LFS's in my state has a 120 and a 150 both skimmerless for over 8 months, no scrubber either. Lots of fish, lots of softie corals in each.
He also has a 500 g and 3 more 150+ tanks that do have skimmers. They all have sump/fuges. I personally think he does it just to show you don't have to have everything that's considered mainstream.
The tanks that don't have skimmers have alot of macro algae in the sump which is essentially like the ATS, just not as powerful.

 

[gowingsgo]

I have been running a ATS for about 8 months now but set mine up with a skimmer. I built my sump with 5 separate chambers. (1 intake from main tank) (2 ATS) (3 skimmer) (4 fuge with live rock and sand so if I need to I can also put stuff in my sump) (5 return to main tank) I set mine up to remove algae from my display tank( and that is exactly what it is doing). But I have noticed that my skim-mate is much darker and that I do not have to clean it as much (about once every week not every other day). also my nitrates have never been undetectable (more like 5+ ppm) they have been 0 for the last 6 months now. Could I take my skimmer off line maybe but I most likely will not I like knowing that I have backup if something fails. also my skimmer is a CL125 and I have more then 160 gallons in my hole setup so my skimmer has always been way undersized. (most people would use a skimmer twice that size for this many gallons) I did just take down my turf scrubber last week so I could redesign it. I was getting a lot of splashing in the sump area and a lot of salt creep. I hope to have the new design built and in place soon. I will say how amazed I am now that its not running on how much I have to clean my glass. With turf scrubber once every 4 days some times longer with out the scrubber I have had to clean the glass every day. The other thing I have noticed is the temp in the tank went up two degrees with out the turf scrubber. From 78 to 80 just by taking the scrubber off line. I love my ATS and don't think I would run a tank without one. Once I find a way to keep the splashing down I will be very happy.
Photos are from when I first set this up so turf is not as thick as it is now.

 

[techreef]

Be careful w/ ATS's. When reading about them, it's really important to know ALL of the other variables in each specific instance of an ATS being used. They are not as bulletproof or plug-and-play as a skimmer is, mostly because they depend on a biological growth to take up nitrates and phosphates, not mechanical filtering. (ie If you plug in a skimmer, you know you get X filtering potential. If you install an ATS, there's lots of variables affecting your filtering potential.) If you have an algae growing on your ATS that's less than stellar at soaking up nitrates/phosphates, your ATS won't work as well as another ATS that has the really nice turf algae growing on it.

I've had my 90G tank running skimmerless for about 16 months now. I turned to it simply because in my apartment building, I was limited as to how much electrical power I could pull through the existing wiring, and I was looking to reduce my energy consumption so I could stop tripping my circuit breakers every day. Taking my skimmer offline was a painful but necessary step in that effort to reduce my electrical draw on the circuit feeding all my tank stuff. My ATS grows primarily hair algae, and it is not particularly stellar at nutrient export. I still have HA and cyano in my tank, but with two kids under 2 years old, I just don't have time to give my tank the TLC it deserves, so I'm living with it right now. I think my system would work better if I had real turf algae growing on my filter screen and not HA.

You will also have some members of RC flame you for even considering ATS's as a viable filtering option. The flamers may have a valid point; all I'm saying is that proof that ATS's are a reliable filtering technique over the long-term is hard to come by. Many hobbyists view them suspiciously, especially when you start saying that you're taking your skimmer offline and will rely only on an ATS.

Good luck. I think if one can get them working well, it would be a fantastic filtering technique, and a great green approach to the hobby.

 

[WmTasker]

I was thinking about making an all in one filter with refugium (1st chamber), ATS then skimmer/return pump area. I don't know what type of filter I will finally end up with. This is why I am trying to get all my information collected so I can make a good choice at what to do. This is a pic of what I am planning on making right now.

 

[lewk]

I'm running a very simple scrubber on my 65 gallon. I've been using it since day one on the tank and my nitrates and phosphates have been at zero for several months now. I set everything up according to algaescrubber.net and it's working great so far. I'm in the planning stages for a 135, and plan on using a scrubber there as well. I'm going to try an LED scrubber on that tank so I can use less energy and not have to change bulbs nearly as much. I also would put something around the screen itself to prevent any kind of splashing. I've had algae grow in thick clumps which can lead to some spraying. Another negative is it does add a trickling sound to the tank. Very similar to those desktop fountain things. But I don't even notice it any more. I can snap some photos if you want to see the setup, it's just some CFLs, PVC and a plastic canvas. I also still run a skimmer.

 

[ChadTheSpike]

Are you going to grow mangroves? I always heard they were great absorbers of nitrates and phosphates if you can get them growing.

No mangroves for me This setup will be under my sump so with the limited height, I didnt think mangroves would be a good idea...

Shrimphead: I think I have one, but its REALLY cloudy (taken a few hours after I put the sand in...), I dont have grass in there yet, Im just maturing the sand a bit (banking some nutrients) before I add it (it will probably be late March-early April before the grass is is planted.

 

[hottuna]

I use a horizontal ATS on my fish only 125...my fish are quite healthy and eat like pigs..
several damaged fish I got from other hobbyists - I threw in the tank and they healed up like new...