...The 'yellow water' you mention also indicates to me that the systems you are referring to either use the dump-style red turf algae (which smells awful, by the way) or are not the modern type of scrubbers which utilize green hair algae....
I was reading back through the thread and saw this. No offense taken but I must defend my baby. I wouldn't want some one to avoid a "True" ATS ® for the wrong reasons. :bigeyes:
Dump Bucket Style Algal Turf Scrubbers come in many different designs but mine grows the same kind as yours. There is little or no smell.
The dump bucket adds the missing ingredient which is turbulence. That is why the pros use them. In the link that srusso posted Worgan Lidster, owner of Inland Aquatics said "œ"¦we've played with a lot of different scrubber designs. The dump bucket Algae Turf style Scrubber is by far the most efficient that we have ever worked with."
It as also the original 3-D scrubber. To make a point, I will make a hypothetical comparison. Please don't take me literally. [ It's very late so my math might be off but you will get the idea. Frankpayne32 can straighten me out if I get it wrong.] Lets say you that that 10" by 10", you illuminate both sides in a standard 2-D x 2 scrubber. Let's say that you get ½" of growth on each/both sides. That's (100" times ½") times 2 (sides) for 100 cubic inches, right? Now let's look at a one sided 10" by 10" dump bucket that is 3"deep. At harvest time it is 100" times 3" for 300 cubic inches.
The bucket tips, dumping most of the water out, then rights it's self. The remaining water abruptly reverses its self and rushes back across the algae. Then the bucket refills and the algae gets a change to stand straight up in the fresh salt water, once or twice per minute, before the cycle repeats itself, depending on how you set it.
This agitation simulates crashing wave action which is what algae has evolved to thrive in. Turbulence causes the "light flashing" on the algae that studies have shown can makes both algae and/or corals grow better, if they can get it. It also better insures that water makes contact with both sides of each individual strand. That goes for light too. That is why studies show that the efficiency of a scrubber with good turbulence can be 50% more effecient or more. That is also why you don't have to be quite so fastidious about harvesting every 7 days. It takes a real long time to clump in that environment.
The down sides of 3-D scrubbers are the difficulty of designing and producing them along with the sound. I posted other ways of getting turbulence in the thread that this sprang out of.
One side note: Adding a surge feature to a 2-D x 2 "œscrubber in a bucket" was tried and it didn't help much because the strands don't get agitated enough. The "œscrubber in a bucket" is the design that has probably led to scrubbers reaching critical mass. If you want to step up and try a true 3-D ATS then this style is worth doing research on.
