ATS really?

[hkgar]

Ok I have bad algae and am desperate. see my thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23607599#post23607599

I am thing about an algae scrubber, but have a question

Why will the algae decide to no longer grow on my rock, in my over flows, on my sand, in the sump and o the power heads, but only on the algae scrubber?

 

[cabinetman123]

Because if a scrubber is designed right the conditions will be better there then anywhere else for the algae to grow. And if it's sized right it will consume all the food- nitrates and phosphates and algae in other spots will starve.

 

[hkgar]

Because if a scrubber is designed right the conditions will be better there then anywhere else for the algae to grow. And if it's sized right it will consume all the food- nitrates and phosphates and algae in other spots will starve.

Ok, so I asked why will algae be happier (grow better) on an algae scrubber and you said because it will be happier? Am i missing something? If algae is growing from PO4 leaching from the rock, how does it go passed the algae on the rocks and go feed the algae on the scrubber? Why are the conditions better?

My current po4 is .05 and nitrates are 2, but I am loaded with algae.

 

[jgalen0025]

Ok, so I asked why will algae be happier (grow better) on an algae scrubber and you said because it will be happier? Am i missing something? If algae is growing from PO4 leaching from the rock, how does it go passed the algae on the rocks and go feed the algae on the scrubber? Why are the conditions better?

My current po4 is .05 and nitrates are 2, but I am loaded with algae.

No.
He said, "the conditions will be better there then anywhere else for the algae to grow." Conditions being lighting, flow rate ect ect

It leaches into the water column, it doesnt hang out in any one area. The only way algae would grow on a certain surface in an aquarium compared to any other (other than an algae scrubber) would be if detritus was building up in a dead spot

 

[slief]

Ok I have bad algae and am desperate. see my thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23607599#post23607599

I am thing about an algae scrubber, but have a question

Why will the algae decide to no longer grow on my rock, in my over flows, on my sand, in the sump and o the power heads, but only on the algae scrubber?

To expand on what Cabinetman and Jgalen said, the reason that a properly setup scrubber can out compete the algae in the display is because the lighting on a properly setup scrubber is better suited spectrum wise for algae growth than our display lights. Couple this with the fact that the lighting is in closer proximity to the growing surface. This makes the light more efficient for algae growth and when coupled with proper flow rates, can accelerate the algae growth in the scrubber to the point that algae in the tank can longer compete for the nutrients.

 

[cabinetman123]

Well said guys.

 

[hkgar]

To expand on what Cabinetman and Jgalen said, the reason that a properly setup scrubber can out compete the algae in the display is because the lighting on a properly setup scrubber is better suited spectrum wise for algae growth than our display lights. Couple this with the fact that the lighting is in closer proximity to the growing surface. This makes the light more efficient for algae growth and when coupled with proper flow rates, can accelerate the algae growth in the scrubber to the point that algae in the tank can longer compete for the nutrients.

.
OK, seems to make sense to me. Thanks guys. I will give more thought to a scrubber.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Keep in mind that 50 ppb phosphate is in the range that a lot of us would like to maintain for a reef tank, but while anything measured in parts per billion may seem very low indeed, algae doesn't require much phosphate to grow.

 

[ca1ore]

Because if a scrubber is designed right the conditions will be better there then anywhere else for the algae to grow. And if it's sized right it will consume all the food- nitrates and phosphates and algae in other spots will starve.

I like the way you phrased that! So, if I have an ATS, and still get pest algae in the display its because I didn't 'design' or 'size' it right :lol:. The OP asks an EXCELLENT question; one I have pondered many times (and offered it in print here on RC). I don't believe an ATS, or any form of nutrient export, can reduce levels of nitrates and phosphates so that pest alage is starved out. I'd argue that there are always nutrients available, because they are continually being created.

I use an ATS, have on and off for years and now swear by it, and it grows a ton of algae. None grows in my display except those spots that get light and the herbivores cannot reach. Hmmmn.

I don't think there is any question that a properly implemented ATS optimizes the growth of algae, and that it helps to reduce nutrients in the tank, but part of that 'optimization' is in preventing access to herbivores. If you have runaway nutrients, pest algae will 'outcompete' just about any CUC you might employ. By using an ATS you can keep nutrient levels low enough that even as algae attempts to grow in the display it is eaten.

 

[herring_fish]

You might be right. Perhaps the growth of algae on the rock, slows to the point that any predation will get rid of it.

Another way to look at it…. Light intensity falls off at an expediential rate in water. In my scrubber, the banks of relatively cheap lights are about 3 inches from the screen. In a display tank, the rock is seldom within a foot of the lights and is often much deeper. So in an algae scrubber you have high flow rates which algae like and an abundance of light. This is why it will grow like a weed on a screen and not in the display tank.

As stated earlier, nutrients do not stay local. They go into the water column as it circulates around the tank and will be taken up where the conditions are best. The algae in the tank just can’t compete with the algae in the scrubber.

 

[mgraf]

I have seen green hair allgae turn white and blow off rocks, never to return. Not sure if that is the same thing, but I hole heartedly believe a scrubber on one of my past setups out competed the green hair, but there may be other Algae that can occur.