An acrylic algae turf scrubber.

[multicincta]

Holmstar, nice looking unit. Any chance I can buy one from you?

 

[holmstar]

Well, if I were to manufacture and sell them, I'd need to charge a fair bit for my labor in order to make it worth my while. I'm not sure you'd like the price.

 

[multicincta]

Yeah, I figured as much. But since I don't have the know how, nor the time, and "maybe" the money, might you entertain the idea with me?

 

[Salty Red]

I love all the turf scubbers I can find on here these days. I feel like there has definately been a major shift from everyone tearing their hair out trying to remove the algea to sharing ideas on how to move it and use it to our advantage...awsome.

 

[holmstar]

Yeah, I figured as much. But since I don't have the know how, nor the time, and "maybe" the money, might you entertain the idea with me?

There is someone out there that was making an effort to sell them, or at least was doing so this time last year. Google "Santa Monica 100 Acrylic Scrubber". If I were to make something for commercial sale, it would be very similar to SantaMonica's except use a t-5 retro instead of the Nova Extreme fixture. ...or maybe I'd offer an LED model in order to expand the market a bit. If you're really interested, PM me.

 

[jeremy-40]

Update???????

 

[holmstar]

I cleaned the screen on Tuesday. It had a coating of slimy brown algae that wasn't anything to write home about. It seems to have a bit more red turf fibers on it now though, so maybe this week will be a little better.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

red turf takes a long time to grow and grows best in a surge environment. The true red turf is kind of gelatinous and you don't want it, it's just what Adey got to grow and he figured it was the best, but it's just what grew the best in the environment he had. You want Green Hair Algae, because it grow much faster (and doesn't smell like ####)

 

[holmstar]

Yeah, but red turf would be better than brown slime, so I'm looking at it as moving in the right direction at least.

 

[holmstar]

If at first you don't succeed...

If at first you don't succeed...

Ok, so it's been about a month and I've never gotten anything growing other than brownish slimy algae. No surprise for some of you, I'd imagine. So I've decided to take a mulligan on this one and I'm moving on to something better...

This specifically is an ATS I built for another member on the forums, but I made a second one just like it for myself:

The screen area is about 23"x8" so total area of about 184 sq inches per side.

I'm going to use LEDs to light it:
24 red CREE XR-C: part number XRCRED-L1-0000-00M01 (12 on each side)
12 blue CREE XR-E: part number XREBLU-L1-0000-00K01 (6 on each side)

Driven by:
1 2100mA BuckBlock (three strings of 8 red LEDs in parallel)
1 1400mA BuckBlock (two strings of 6 blue LEDs in parallel)

Powered by a 24volt 150watt power supply.

Overkill? ...perhaps, but the BuckBlocks are dimmable, so I can always turn the light down a bit. Also, the cost of this setup is only about $50 more than a four bulb T5 retro, and uses less watts.

Flow will be provided by a mag 7.

The currently uncovered sides will be backed with mirror finished acrylic to improve efficiency and reduce the amount of light escaping. (LEDs mounted on the inside of the mirrored acrylic, heat sink on the outside)

Now I just have to wait for my order to arrive...

 

[kcress]

About where I'm headed.

I'm not following your LED mirror'd scheme well. Hopefully you can provide some more pictures when you get there.

 

[wgood33]

My ATS was setup in Aug 2010. It took about 2 months for a thick turf to arrive, but I turned off my skimmer from day one. Well anyway if you don't get good growth it may be lighting, low-flow or not enough algae food in the water column from running a skimmer.

I found out how critical it is to perform weekly screen cleanings, if you delay the inner levels of turf that will be not getting light start producing nasties = cyno and hair algae in the display. Took a few months to recover from that one. :spin2:

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Looks good! I went back through this thread really quick but couldn't see if you mentioned your flow rate. I seem to remember that it was pretty low. What are you going to run this one at?

 

[holmstar]

I'm using a mag 7 which will have to work against about 1.5' of head pressure, so something around 600gph.

 

[BigRick]

Is Santa Monica still making them?

 

[holmstar]

My order has been in for a while and I finally have at least the blue LEDs wired up and tested:

Boy are they bright! :eek1: This photo was taken with the garage lights on, but the blue is so intense that the camera can't handle it very well.

Can't wait to see what it looks like with the reds.

 

[wgood33]

Thanks for the update, following along here. Bill

 

[saintperez]

Anyone know where I can get a premade waterfall Algae Turff Scrubber? Was gonna DIY but just don't have the time.

 

[Rybren]

Try a PM to Mr Turbo, I suspect that he'd be able to lead you in the right direction.

 

[iliriano6]

Tagging alone.