algea scrubber

[widmer]

I'm guessing

http://www.amazon.com/32-Watt-Halog...=sr_1_15?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1290044159&sr=1-15 & http://www.amazon.com/32-Watt-Halog...?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1290044321&sr=1-20 , which look the same to me.

The one on top has half the lumens, the second one is larger than normal, which may make poor use of the reflector you put it in, the fourth one is too weak.

Hopefully you're going to purchase from a local place like Home Depot, since they should have what you're looking for and you won't have to pay shipping.

 

[herring_fish]

18 years ago, I used a 300 watt halogen lamp and it worked quite will. I certainly don't suggest that you use one now. I did it because I had no money and I thought that I was just going to run an experiment so I bought an out door flood lamp.

The first thing that I noticed was that the temperature in the main tank dropped. Yes, it went lower. You can see a drawing of the design that I used in an earlier post, about three pages back, call Turbulence. It is the one in the upper left hand corner. I put the scrubber in a 30 gallon sump. The VERY hot halogen lamp caused evaporation which lowered the water temperature. I had to add about a gallon of make up water every day but it was cool.

The algae grew very well. Algae will grow on almost any light. It's not particular. There are so many varieties that there probably are several that will grow in what ever light that you have. You know that without good filtration, algae can be a problem in any tank, no matter what lights you use.

After my experiment, I like the scrubber so much that I designed and build the one that I use today, only back then I saved up for VHOs. Now I have a nice fixture with four 54 watt compact fluorescents but I got it because it was the size and shape that I needed.

I can't offer an opinion on the best lighting because I don't know much about it but most anything will work. Of course some work better than others. I just try to balance price, lumens and life span. If you have the bucks, go for it but if you don't, just make sure that you get enough lumens to do the job right. Don't under shoot.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I got these responses on AS

After 3 months of use I started to notice some small pachas of HA growing on the rocks. I swapped out the bulbs and It was soon gone. I would replace them every three months.

3 months.

If you look at the lumen output curves of any florescent bulb, they all have a sharp drop at 3 months. You can't see it, because the eye can't detect lumen changes very well (which is why they use light meters for pro photo and video shoots.)

Pumps are next; with higher pH, they clog with calcium more often. The flow will slowly get less, and you'll not notice.

so it makes no difference what lamp style you are using. 3 months is the rule to follow. Going longer is asking for a weakened screen and blaming the ATS for not working right. I've seen threads before where people dropped them or added extra filtration because the "scrubber could not handle the bio-load over the long term" and this was the direct cause. Screen efficiency apparently becomes fractional at the 9 month point.

 

[chrissu]

Algae Turf Scrubbers

Algae Turf Scrubbers

I've been running this ATS for close to a year with great success in my 92. Pics are posted below for anyone interested. Yes, it works very well. It works so well that I removed one of the two bulbs from each side light for a month just to see if I could get any detectible nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia. The rate of algae growth slowed down with the reduced lighting to about half the normal but even with heavy feeding I could never get any readings other than zero for all three tests after a month. I then put the bulbs back in as I am satisfied with the results. It's nice having a rock solid algae based filtration system that is at least twice as good as you need to do the job. Go green!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Looks like an SM 100, right?

 

[chrissu]

Yes, it is a Santa Monica 100 but I improved the design with a little DIY work. First, I created a 2 inch pool of water for the algae to bathe in within the ATS by inserting a piece of PVC into the bulkhead where the water drains out the bottom of the chamber. The algae started growing like mad with that one change. Next, I added a second 1" drain and this time the PVC is 2.5" high so this second drain is mainly a backup in case the first one gets clogged with algae (it has). With these two simple mods, the SM 100 runs like it's on 'roids. I recommend the bathe technique if you have a design that accomodates it (lots of intense light shining close to the screen and a chamber where water can accumulate around the screen). I shared my mods with SM and he has since tried this himself. He even followed up my making a video to show the great results by bathing the algae in deep water. Here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8xlRCxc1k4

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah, I'm in the process of modifying my design in a similar fashion. Some setups don't accommodate the enclosed box design (low headroom above sump/below tank), which makes it more difficult, but I came up with a 2-piece design that allows you to have a box where the screen is house and a frame for holding the lights, so the pipe can be disconnected and the algae box can be slid out the side, leaving the lights in place.

I will have to make note of the safety overflow now. Thanks for the tip. So far, in the first one I have 2 1" drains and the base water level doesn't seem to rise more than 1-1/2", but that's only 1" below the front cover bottom joint. On the next tank (which has no headroom, and must have a removable front cover) I am going to extend the bottom chamber another inch or two and make the screen longer so it will have more 'give'.

 

[kcress]

chrissu; Are you saying you let the scrubber fill with water? So the Turf is fully submerged?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

yes, you get 3-dimensional growth that way. Mad 3D growth. I don't have the SM cleaning video handy right now but on his it's 75% full of water at 2 weeks (he was experimenting with time between cleanings and max growth potential)

That's what I'm shooting for too.

I think there was a post asking about FW scrubbers but it's gone. Yes same principle except need to add Phosphate in most cases. Not good for planted tanks though, since the algae sucks out all the nutrients.

 

[kcress]

Wow! Most interesting.

 

[widmer]

But wouldn't algae immediately cover whatever peice of acrylic/glass that the light is shining through?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

As the algae grows, it 'holds' the water in the chamber. Example: Look at the water level at the bottom of the screen in this pic from a few days after the last cleaning I did:

Now look at it today:

The water in the bottom area is almost to the top. By the way, this is the greenest and thickest screen by far that I've had. I need to clean it early, can't wait until tomorrow AM. This is causing a problem to surface sooner than expected. I am in the process of re-designing to accommodate for allowing the water level to rise.

 

[Flanders]

I've been following along but I'm pretty stumped by the water level thing. I'm not sure what you mean, or why you would want the entire screen submerged. I thought the whole point of this design was high flow and air exchange?

 

[chrissu]

chrissu; Are you saying you let the scrubber fill with water? So the Turf is fully submerged?

kcress, On my Santa Monica 100 ATS, i have it modified it so that the bottom 2" area is always submerged in a bath of water. The two most importantant rules are still followed with this mod. 1-High intense light up close, 2-lots of water flow (I still have this even in the submerged area).

Check out the video here and you'll get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8xlRCxc1k4

 

[chrissu]

I've been following along but I'm pretty stumped by the water level thing. I'm not sure what you mean, or why you would want the entire screen submerged. I thought the whole point of this design was high flow and air exchange?

I used to think that air exchange was important but it is not. Algae doesn't need or consume oxygen, instead it consumes ammonia and in exchange it creates oxygen (photosynthesis in action - like a tree).

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I used to think that air exchange was important but it is not. Algae doesn't need or consume oxygen, instead it consumes ammonia and in exchange it creates oxygen (photosynthesis in action - like a tree).

Ammonia only provides a source of nitrogen - the algae still need a carbon source. The most typical carbon source is carbonic acid from dissolved CO2.

 

[chrissu]

Ammonia only provides a source of nitrogen - the algae still need a carbon source. The most typical carbon source is carbonic acid from dissolved CO2.

Yes, I agree and like to keep things simple as the ammonia loss is at the heart of the success of an ATS system.

Luckily, there are a couple processes that also result in the loss or transformation of ammonia. The most important process is the loss of ammonia through the uptake by algae and other plants. Plants use the nitrogen as a nutrient for growth. Photosynthesis acts like a sponge for ammonia uptake so overall plant or algae growth in the ponds can help
use up ammonia.

http://www.ysi.com/media/pdfs/A585-Understanding-Ammonia-in-Aquaculture-Ponds.pdf

 

[kcress]

I've been following along but I'm pretty stumped by the water level thing. I'm not sure what you mean, or why you would want the entire screen submerged. I thought the whole point of this design was high flow and air exchange?

The screen starts to cover up then builds out until it hits the front window. At that point it grows up the glass. The idea is that the light makes it thru the front algae to continue the growth behind. The air contact thing has been questionable from day one. The algae works with the gasses dissolved in the water. This movie shows how it builds up and across the screens whan you go with the submerged method.

chrissu; Thanks for the info and that link. It led me to this one.

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[juns98]

Your ATS is too small. You dont need a skimmer if your ATS is large enough for the volume of your tank and the number of livestock in it.
Dont overfeed the system. And you dont need frequent water changes (10% a month will suffice.

 

[kcress]

It's always been SOP to rinse in fresh water to kill the pods.. In these flooded ATS (FATS) is this no longer a concern?