Bacterial Aggregate Production System

[Brummie]

Hi folks. I'm currently running a very productive algae scrubber. I'm sure you know that algae exudate has different sugar content which may not be beneficial to reef communities in the long term. My aim is to grow as much bacteria as possible in the sump next to my scrubber, therefore making use of the algal exudate to grow aggregates of bacteria, and either skim it out or allow it to become food for higher organisms. Has anyone else gone down this route? Not even sure it's feasible as bacterial production would need to be substrate based, to prevent too much exudate getting to the display. I'm currently using activated carbon, and may continue to do so in the display, but not the sump. I was thinking of using a series of unlit scrubber screens for bacterial growth as these could be easily removed from the system for occassional cleaning.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Allmost]

you can use Zeoliths, or siporax. Or simply you can use the ceramic rings, usually used in freshwater. [or even simpler, sponges ! but those would collect detritus as well which is not wanted.] basically anything with high surface area [even LR]

have them in bags, in sump. and every couple of days shake them to release the bacteria, so it can feed the corals and the rest gets removed by skimmer.