Ats

[EricHugo]

Shane:

Inland speaks miles for what can be accomplished with flow that look abyssmally small in comparison to most tanks. I still don't think its healthy in many ways - boundary layers, etc...the O2 provided by the turfs on RDP minimizes the really detrimental effects, but hey, if it works...

Pods can be a real pain on the turf screen - frequent scraping, even if it doesn;t need it ( once per week) along with a freshwater rinse controls them without issue, though.

 

[Mark]

Mark,

What specifically have you noted between your skimmed tank that you didn't see when running the ATS on your tank?

Shane

Well, the best way I can describe it is that the tank has this new healthy glow to it. The sandbed is teeming with more life, which I have no idea whether I can attribute that to the removal of the skimmer. The neatest part is feeding. At times, I have literally dumped in more food than I would normally feel comfortable. Yet, no change in the tank whatsoever. Not even a slight increase in algae on the glass. The ATS simply takes care of it. One thing I haven't noticed is an increase in pods. But then, the tank was virtually void of pods before the ATS was installed. I did, however, add some pod/worm rich rock to the tank, from a smaller reef I tore down. So I am curious to see how they will proliferate. I'm also testing to see how well this system caters to delicate live food munchers. I added a small Jann's pipefish. I am supplementing with frozen and live enriched brine, as well as mysid. I do this because the pipefish has to compete with a firefish, blenny, and goby. The only other inhabitants are a peppermint shrimp, a pistol shrimp(hangs with the goby), some snails and a hermit. I'll take some pics this week.

I switched off one of the powerheads. Now I only have the surge and a maxijet 900(which is directed at the surface). I did this for several reasons. One, I think the pipefish appreciates the calmer flow. Two, I want to see first hand how the ATS performs so well despite low flow. I'm leaving the mj 900 because I think some surface agitation is a good thing.

 

[LiquidShaneo]

When you get the pics up, let us know. I'd love to see how it's functioning for you.

Shane
(aka 'liquid')

 

[piercho]

Still trying to sop up you guy's experience:

I was only aware of the algaeturfscrubber.com ATS product. Then I saw this site:
http://www.aquaticengineers.com
I have no idea what their prices are. But separating the ATS from the surge struck me as a potentially problem-solving idea.

Any feedback on aquatic engineers? What about the slow rotating wheel to periodically submerged the screen? It seems this method might be less vulnerable to variations in the turf density (weight), assuming the turf grows across all the screens evenly.

 

[LiquidShaneo]

I saw a unit sitting on an empty tank at Inland Aquatic that was mfg by Aquatic Engineers but it wasn't even in service. I take that back...they did have it in service but the tank was empty of other than water to show how the unit worked. Looked interesting and somehow AE was able to get around Adey's patents w/ that thing. Dunno how it compares to a dump bucket tho....

Do a search on the General Discussion forum for Aquatic Engineers as this topic has been covered a couple times on that forum. I think Staceon was going to visit them the last I saw on one of the threads. I wish I had known that they were right around Indy as I drove right past them last weekend and I woulda stopped had I known about them...

Shane (aka 'liquid')

 

[caevan]

Fred as promised

It is also on my site atwww.greatsagehabibi.com/ats.php
The dimensions are in metric
The equivalent inches are:
Length = 19"
Width = 10"
Deep end = 4" high
Shallow end = 0.4" high
The rod is placed 7" in from the deep end, I do not think it's vertical position is important though I placed it half way up.
A moveable piece of Acrylic is place 4" from the deep end. This creates an area which fills with water first then flows into the rest of the scrubber. When the scrubber tips it empties, though enough water remains in the partioned of are to allow the bucket to tip back into place.
Since the piece of acrylic is not fixed, it requires enough algae to be growing on the mat to prevent all the water seeping under the partition when it tips. This results is insufficient water to cause the bucket to tip back.
When I started the scrubber I left the partition in place and let it run in the tipped position. Once enough algae was growing it started all by itself. Once it is running harvesting does not effect it. I hold the piece of acrylic inplace with 2 plastic clothes pegs which makes it easy to adjust one starting up.
If I was to do it again I would change a few things, though I have used it for 8 years and has been very reliable.
The main question you asked was the positioning of the mounting bar or rod. From memory once the bucket was built, through BFI (brute force and ignorance) I determined the point at which the weight was evenly distributed. Through sheer luck this has turned out to be the right spot.
I attached the rods to the sides of the bucket with Loctite 480 impact resistant glue, which luckily has not caused me a problem. In hindsight I should have built a mechanism that sat under the bucket. The rods sit in a Warex baring, both the rod and the baring have shown minimal ware over the 8 years.
the bucket is housed in a 24"x12"x20" glass tank, which also doubles as my sump. This way I lose out on the return surge into my tank, but at the time space contraints prevented me from placing the scrubber above the tank.

 

[LiquidShaneo]

caevan,

Any pics of your DIY ATS under your tank? I'd love to see some if you have them. BTW...your tank looks good.

In regards to using a 150 watt MV above your ATS unit: do you feel that using the 150 watt MV is better than the dual 55 watt PC's that Inland Aquatics' ATS units came standard with? What was your reason behind using the MV lights instead of PC's?

Shane (aka 'liquid')

 

[caevan]

I actually started with a 100w MH lamp. Mainly at the time it was cheaper an easier to source the ballast and bulb and reflector. When I moved house 6years ago I switch to a 150w bulb mainly because I misplaced the 100w gear and had a spare 150w lying around, so to get it going I used that and over the years I forgot to change it back. I didn't think it would matter as Dr. Adey gave the impression that a high light environment was condusive to algae growth though a 150w lamp most probably is overkill.
Last year the reflector I was using was getting to rusty, so I had to find something to replace it. In the end after much searching I had to settle on a 175w fitting. Power compacts, have only now become more common over here, though I would still have had to make my own fitting, something I may consider in the future.
The MH bulbs I use are rated at 4000K which make them a lot cheaper to buy, I was also told by Chris Limcaco at Aquatic Engineers they have a better spectrum for alagae growth.

 

[Fredfish]

caevan;

Thanks for the drawing.

I went to your site, very nice! That's an awesome pump site you have a link to.

I will probably try to mount the rod to the underside of the dump bucket.

I'm getting all excited about getting this up and running.

Fred.

 

[Mark]

as promised, here's a picture of the 38 gallon ATS reef:

 

[Mark]

I wanted to share this one as well :

 

[LiquidShaneo]

So how much are you feeding now compared to before, Mark? The tank looks good.

Shane

 

[Mark]

Thanks. It's still settling in, and some of the corals are new to the tank, as I tore down the reef in my office. I feed it whenever I think of it. So far, no ill effects. Usually, overfeeding results in an algae bloom. In this case, it's in the scrubber. IMO, the turf algae respond very quickly to nutrient spikes. Caulerpa never caught up as quickly as I'd like.

 

[caevan]

I finally got my act together and took a few photos of my ATS

 

[dragon0121]

Whoooaaa! That has to be the ugliest tank I've ever seen!!!! I love it! I've often felt that the caulerpa growing in my refugium doesn't respond to extra nutrients in the tank, hence cyano bouts. I would love to have something that looked like your tank to pull turf algea out of. Now if I only had the room.

Only reefers would find the above tanks attractive! LOL!

 

[JasonD]

I'm a fan of the flow through aquaricare unit. I wouldn't set up a large tank without the unit. Bascially what it is is a flowthrough box with little deflectors on it to keep the water from just flowing straight through.

I'm still using a lifereef vs3-24 skimmer. I like the aquaricare unit because you can install it anywhere in your system. Mine is right above the sump. Mark at aquaricare is good to deal with if you can get ahold of him.

Would I use this system without a skimmer? No. But I like it because it zero's out my Nitrates phosphates ect.

Jason

 

[LiquidShaneo]

Jason,

Do you have any pics of the insides of that unit yet?

Shane (aka 'liquid')

 

[piercho]

Doing a little watts/in2 math, I figure at the most I need 75-100W HID lamp for an ATS with a 20"X20" algae mat with the bulb at ~10" from the mat. Does this sound adequit to those of you who have had success with this.

I have surmised from the preceding posts that >5K bulbs aren't required or desired for the mat. But how "low" can you go? 4000K? 3000? What is optimal for turf algae photosynthesis?

Thanks in advance. And thanks especially to Cavean who's pictures and drawings have been worth a thread-page of words.

 

[NaCl]

with just a refugium, the stuff took off great guns until it
experienced what seemed to have been nitrogen limitation.
my guess is that the DSB and the refugium caused the Macros
to basically stagnate growth wise.

i worry that an ATS would experience the same thing?

Something i wonder about also is that Cavean mentions
a Tunze skimmer in his processing of nutrients.

While i'm enamoured with the idea of being skimmerless-
and am skimmerless, it really hasn't worked for me in the
long term-10 months.

 

[caevan]

I should update my site, about a year ago I removed the Tunze skimmer, if anything I have noticed an overall improvement in the tank with it's removal.
One of the keys to the success of an ATS is harvesting of the turf. In my case I use micro algae and the mat is harvested every fortnight.
Dr. Adey point out in his book it is the new growth that is most efficient at nutrient removal