I'm always looking for little DIY projects, and lately I've been reading up on algal turf "scrubbers," which are essentially a form of biological filter composed of nothing more than a heavily lighted, non-submerged screen medium to culture algae in a sort of thick "turf," subject it to wet/dry cycles, and by removing some regularly, export lots of nutrients and even heavy metals, supposedly much more efficiently and quickly than standard macro algae methods can.
Some people have even claimed that the method is superior to using skimmers because it eats ammonia, phosphates, and nitrates at a rate high enough that the extra DOC doesn't matter... and all this without removing food or phyto from the system. I'm pretty skeptical of this, as well as of the claims that it won't smell.
For those that aren't familiar with them, they are actually a pretty old concept, and there was much controversy over their use even back in the 90s, both because some of the basic designs were patented (meaning that LFSs and manufacturers shied away from using them), and because people can get pretty worked up about different approaches and philosophies on how to set up a tank (I believe the Berlin method was just starting to become big right around this time).
People that have been in the hobby for awhile probably know all of this already, or can correct me if I'm mistaken (I've just read about them on the net and in old bbs archives).
Anyway, what I'm considering doing is simply building and playing around with the simplest, non-moving parts version of a scrubber (most high-end versions use a dump bucket or see-saw design to wet the screen and then let it dry out some), which simply involves pumping water down or over a vertical screen, plus light, and perhaps some moving air.
It's an extremely cheap project, though I haven't decided on a design which would allow me to hook into my main system if I wanted (getting pretty cramped down in the stand with a sump and 6gal RDSB hanging out there already).
But anyway, I'd be interested if anyone here has experience with or knowledge about this method of filtration, or even DIY tips as I play around with this stuff (my main engineering problem is draining the filter back into my system... given that the container that holds the screen will not fill with water, and hence cannot overflow into my sump unless the entire container is above the sump water level).
Some people have even claimed that the method is superior to using skimmers because it eats ammonia, phosphates, and nitrates at a rate high enough that the extra DOC doesn't matter... and all this without removing food or phyto from the system. I'm pretty skeptical of this, as well as of the claims that it won't smell.
For those that aren't familiar with them, they are actually a pretty old concept, and there was much controversy over their use even back in the 90s, both because some of the basic designs were patented (meaning that LFSs and manufacturers shied away from using them), and because people can get pretty worked up about different approaches and philosophies on how to set up a tank (I believe the Berlin method was just starting to become big right around this time).
People that have been in the hobby for awhile probably know all of this already, or can correct me if I'm mistaken (I've just read about them on the net and in old bbs archives).
Anyway, what I'm considering doing is simply building and playing around with the simplest, non-moving parts version of a scrubber (most high-end versions use a dump bucket or see-saw design to wet the screen and then let it dry out some), which simply involves pumping water down or over a vertical screen, plus light, and perhaps some moving air.
It's an extremely cheap project, though I haven't decided on a design which would allow me to hook into my main system if I wanted (getting pretty cramped down in the stand with a sump and 6gal RDSB hanging out there already).
But anyway, I'd be interested if anyone here has experience with or knowledge about this method of filtration, or even DIY tips as I play around with this stuff (my main engineering problem is draining the filter back into my system... given that the container that holds the screen will not fill with water, and hence cannot overflow into my sump unless the entire container is above the sump water level).
