Waterfall Turf Algea Filter: CHEAP and EASY to build

[SantaMonica]

Today I thought I'd show what's up with my screen. I'm back to using just my main original bucket (that started with pre-grown screen), since the 2nd bucket that I used for the build thread is on loan to the lfs. I'll be posting progress pics of that soon. But for my tank/screen, N and P are zero of course. I check every day unless I forget. The main development has been true green turf, i.e, not green hair or slime. Now, hair and slime are always there (they grow right over everything else), but I started noticing that after regular cleanings there were still some green remaining. I thought I was just rushing and missing it, but it got to be too much green. So on the next cleaning I used the camera, and when cleaning I found for the first time true green turf. I also let it grow more than I normally would, so the pics would show more:

Here is the screen just before cleaning, looking down into the bucket (both sides looked about the same).

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/ScreenBeforeCleaning08-27-08.jpg


Here is the screen pulled out (still not cleaned):

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/ScreenBeforeCleaningRemoved08-27-08.jpg


Here is the screen after a regular cleaning (scrubbing) with fingernails and toothbrush. Note that tons of green remains:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/ScreenAfterCleaning08-27-08.jpg


Here is the screen after scraping with a razor blade:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/ScreenAfterScraping08-27-08.jpg


Note how most of the green turf is on the top half of the screen, near the lights. The flow is the same; only the light is stronger near the top (the very top is only one inch from the lights). It had been exactly on one month since I'd used a razor before this. It took that long for the real turf to grow (both red/brown and green). Real turf takes so long because it is very tightly packed and strong, with very little water. It looks like the green turf grows a bit faster than the red/brown, however, and is not quite as strong; it grows longer too. However I still could not scrub it off with my fingernails or a toothbrush, no matter how hard I tried. Only the razor could get it off. Took about 5 minutes; not bad for a month of growing.

Anyways, intrigued by this green turf, I went down to the beach with a camera so I could search for what I've been wanting for a while: Pics of how real turf lives. Sure enough I found it on the pylings of the pier at Paradise Cove (just north of Malibu):

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/TurfBeach.jpg

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/TurfBeachCloseup.jpg


It's exacty what was on my screen. The white specs you see are sand. In order to get the second (closup) pic, I had to pinch the turf very hard and pull it out... like pulling out plant roots; then I held it up for the pic. Note also that it's low tide, which means that the turf holds its color and stays alive for many hours in direct sunlight with no water. Further down the beach I found the same turf on rocks that were 100 feet away from the water.

So, like I said before, real turf is used to living out of the water, and that's why I say that to simulate this (as Aday's machine does) you need some type of on-off-on pulsed flow, and the easiest way I could think to do this was a wavemaker timer (although, as I'll post soon, other folks are coming up with ingenious ways too.)

And again, the importance of light is clearly apparent with this green turf, since it grew no more that 6" away from the lights at the top. And lastly, it does look like some of the red/brown is being replaced by the green, which makes sense since the original red/brown came from IA with their different nutrients and lighting.

 

[SantaMonica]

What does everyone think about this?...

I'm going to have this built, so I can get all my filtering off of my sink/counter, and into my stand. It will set on the sump, and be fed either by the overflow, or by a pump. There will be a drain hose going from the drain hole down to the waterline so it drains quietly. The sides where the lights are attached will be clear, but all other sides will be mirror acrylic (with the mirror facing inwards). This will get more light onto the screen. Also, the part of the clear side panels that are not covered by the light will be painted or covered with something to keep light from getting out. This should keep most of the light inside so it does not light up the whole room or stand. This lighting setup will have over three times the power (8000 lumens) compared to my demo bucket (2500 lumens), and all the light will be 1.5" from the screen. Here are the lights:

http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewItem-idProduct-CU01124-&tab-4.html

The lights are 1.5" thick each, which will add 3" to the depth, making the total depth 6"

 

[matt & pam]

Hope the space under your tank isn't too confined. the less convenient it is to reach the screen the more likely the interval between cleanings will lengthen. I would be very concerned about the sides becoming covered with growth. On my ecowheel, with light directly overhead, the amount of algae growth is pretty robust on the sides of the acyrlic at the waterline. I predict you'll eventually have more algae on the sides than you will on the screen. If there are any submerged sections I would also think you would end up with coraline algae covering the bottom sections.

I would suggest lighting from above, even if it means less light.

Also, I would dump the screen and switch to a piece of 1/4" pvc sheet that will last forever. You can take some sandpaper if you want to rough up the surface to give the algae a better foot but it's really not necessary based on my experience. In fact, if you put the light above, you could use perhaps 3 sheets instead of one if you can figure how to distribute water evenly over all the sheets and not block lighting too much.

 

[SantaMonica]

Good points. Will consider them on the next version (I just ordered this one)

 

[SantaMonica]

Reader Hits Zero!

'Gone Postal' who is on the RS site, becomes the first homebuilt screen user to reach zero nitrate. No pics from him yet, but he says, "My trates hit 0 for the first time in the 5 months that my tank has been up. The lowest i had ever gotten them to was 5. I built my setup [9 days ago]. I have some growth, but nothing too spectacular. The screen is completely covered in brown, but it seems as if it's just surface algae - not really hair algae, etc like I'd originally expected. Comes off really easy. If I just wipe my finger across, the screen is clear again."

And here's a second person below, with the build-of-the-day. He says "I am currently running this system, and I'm hoping to reduce my nitrates from a steady 20 down to zero. Here's my set up on the 2nd week. (water is supplied from the output of my UV filter)". Note that he drilled his pipe, instead of cutting a slot in it; he said he did not have a rotary cutting tool, and thus he had to make it only one-sided:

 

[jglackin]

Santa Monica,

I have not read through all of the posts, so forgive me if this has already been stated, but I noticed that you said that you are scraping your screen once a month? This is not often enough. The turf algae can easily be overrun by less desirable and efficient macro algae if you let it go longer than a week. Additionally, you have to go through and kill the pods in the scrubber on a weekly basis or they will eat all of the turf algae. They will largely leave the macro alone and eat the turf. This adds to the problem of the macro overgrowing the turf.

I ran my scrubber for about a year, scraping it down about once a month, and saw very little benefit for my tank, other than massive pod growth. Once I started scraping it down every week or two weeks, my nitrates and phosphates have dropped dramatically. Also, what I found, after this all was pointed out to me, was that I had no turf algae left. I was growing lots of macro, but no turf. Now, I have little or no macro and only turf. I scrape the screen down with a sharp knife each time to where there is virtually no visible algae left on the screen. I do the scrape at every water change, which can be weekly or bi-weekly, depending on my mood. When I pull the screens out, I fill the scrubber with RO water while I scrape the screens, in order to kill the pods that eat the turf. I then empty the RO, replace the screens, and fire it back up.

p.s. The red and brown algae is macro. Green is good. Turf algae grows in long strands and is stringy. The macro grows in a mat and bubbles.

 

[SantaMonica]

JG, correct, it was covered a few times previously, agreeing with what you covered. I break it down into weekly "cleanings" which just scrub loose stuff off the screen under tap water, and monthly "scrapings" with a razor blade under tap water. My red/brown, however, is stiff astroturf-like turf. And for green, I've now had three types: Green slime (washes right off), green hair (scrubs right off), and now green turf (only comes off with razor.)

Can you post pics of your scrubber?

 

[jglackin]

Yeah, the red/brown grows in a mat, like astroturf. Do what you can to get rid of it.

I never use tap water on my screens. I am afraid that chlorine or something else in the tap water may kill off algae. When you scrape the screens, you are leaving only very small amounts of "seed" algae to grow back. Tap water may kill off some/much of the seed and hinder growing a healthy culture. I use RO in the scrubber and SW for the screens. Maybe not necessary, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

 

[Rngrdave]

I took an idea from the trashcan design and modified it a little. I added a surge device on the outside and I must say it works very well. I had to go through about 3 prototypes before I got it right but now it surges once every 30 seconds and is completely self regulating.

Full Bucket before surge

Bucket after surge

During water surge

After surge

This design is completely self regulating and is virtually silent. I set the water level in the trash can to where it will be high enough to not splash when the water travels down the screen.

I added an Aqua Lifter pump to help break the siphon. With lower water flow it didn't even need a pump but when I hooked everything up to my Rio 2100 pump I had to add the aqua lifter to add air to the siphon when the water level got low so that it would fully break the siphon. Without the Aqua Lifter the siphon would not fully break and so it would not surge. Instead it would just fill the bucket up until it reached a balance to where the water level stayed the same and just ran out in a continuous stream into the scrubber.

If the siphon opening were a little higher then I'm sure it would start to break the siphon earlier which would mean that I could probably not even need to use the Aqua Lifter...Meaning that this is a solid state, completely self regulating surge device. ))*

 

[Rngrdave]

Screen pops out for easy cleaning.

 

[Rngrdave]

Self regulating surge device:

Parts list (all 3/4" PVC fittings):

• 2 90 degree elbows
• 1 slip coupling
• 1 Tee with slip fittings and a threaded 1/2" opening
• 1/2" barb fitting
• Teflon Pipe Tape
• 1 threaded male/female slip coupling
• O-ring
• 3/4" pipe cut into pieces to join fittings together

Basically you just glue all the parts together as shown... This device has two siphon breaks. It has the main one which is the open end of the J opposite of the threaded coupling and it has the threaded barb fitting... You attach two airline hoses and run them to an aqua lifter pump.

Here's how it works. As water fills the bucket it rises up to the top of the J and creates a siphon. The siphoning water quickly rushes out creating a surge effect. As the water level drops, the inlet on the aqua lifter pump starts to suck air. Water continues to drop until the siphon breaks at the main PVC opening. Air from the aqua lifter then reaches the barb fitting and squirts just enough air into the tube to finish fully breaking the siphon. Once the siphon is fully broken, water then starts to fill the bucket again. As it rises it covers the inlet hose of the aqua lifter and causes it to start squirting water through the barb fitting. Water rises up until its high enough to start a siphon again...

There are two adjustments to get it to work. One is the amount of water entering the bucket. I have a ball valve on the outlet of the main pump which feeds the whole scrubber. You don't want to have so much water entering the bucket that the siphon can't keep up. Also, the more water flow you have, the shorter the surges. I like to keep about 30 seconds between surges and so I adjusted the water flow accordingly.

Next you can adjust the height of the airline tubing which is strapped with the wire tie. This sets the level to where the aqua lifter starts to suck air. You don't want the airline to be too high or else the aqua lifter will suck air too soon and break the siphon before the surge has finished. If you have the airline too low then it won't suck enough air and won't break the siphon fully. If the siphon does not break fully then the water level will rise in the bucket and find a balance to where the siphon equals the water coming in... This means that the bucket will just sit there at the same water level and never surge.

If you wanted to use more water flow then you can use a taller bucket and larger diameter tubing. Everything I used was 3/4" and it was more than enough to keep up with the Rio 2100 pump I'm using.

When I tested it in the sink I didn't even need the aqua lifter pump. I used little water flow and it surged itself with no moving parts. The Rio pump puts out a lot more water flow and so I had to add the aqua lifter pump so that the siphon could break properly. What was happening was the barb fitting didn't stay out of the water long enough to draw enough air to break the siphon. If you put the barb fitting a little higher you may be able to use higher water flows without having to use an aqua lifter pump.

 

[Rngrdave]

I started playing with the surge device some more and it will run without a pump if you offset the two siphon breaks more. By placing a piece of PVC in the main opening you increase the distance between the main siphon break and the barb fitting. This allows the barb fitting to start drawing air sooner which means that it will fully break the siphon and create the surge you are looking for.

Now it's a solid-state, self regulating surge device.

 

[2_zoa]

Rngrdave,


Please excuse the interruption but.......I am concerned about the electrical here. One is the electrical components in an enclosed container with salty water ( Very good conductor ) and i think i see exposed wires ? Other than that I think that your idea is great. I like the surge system from what i have read that is what the algae want a surge of water and then a surge of air.

I don't know if this was discussed earlier I was to lazy to read the whole thread.

 

[jglackin]

My thoughts on the electrical, exactly. This is a house fire waiting to happen.

What about cutting the side away and attaching clear plexiglass and mounting strip light on the side? More lighting on the algae and safe from electrical issues.

My TS does not surge. It is a constant stream of water running over baffles that sit on the screens. I grow large amounts of turf algae with no issues. It's always good to experiment and try different variations, but I am certain that the drip method that this scrubber has is sufficient without adding the complexity of a surge. Just my opinion.

 

[servicky]

this is a big thread i was wondering i have a one month old tank that it being takin over by greeen alge. is this the soulution for any alge in my tank or should i set up the fuge on my sump??? any ideas thank you

 

[2_zoa]

jglackin,

I would agree I like things to be simple. The surge is a simple design and does not require and additional pumps but it is one more component.

 

[SantaMonica]

Servicky: Yes, a turf algae screen solves the exact purpose that you seek. It's main function is to remove Nitrate and Phosphate from your water, which will kill the algae in your tank. There are other ways too, but if you want to target the problem algae directly and wipe it out within 4 weeks, and do it for basically free, with no risk, then a 5-gallon sized turf bucket will do it for you. And although your tank is a 150, a 5-gallon bucket will hold a 144 square-inch screen, which is fine. Just use the recommended lighting or stronger. See the first page of this thread for the building instructions.

jglackin: Putting strip lights along the sides of the screen basically get you this, which I am building now:

 

[Rngrdave]

I've redone that fixture... No those wires aren't exposed. They are covered in a fiberglass insulation. All the ends are sealed with silicon and the base where the bulb screws in is wrapped tightly with many layers of electrical tape. There is no exposed metal. The unit is also grounded and hooked up to a GFCI switch. All wiring connections are soldered. Do you think this will be sufficient?

 

[2_zoa]

Rngrdave,

I don't know if fiberglass is rated to be a contact material. In my house i have some can light fixtures that are rated for direct contact with insulation and some that aren't. ( I don't understand why I am not an electrician ) Also is there any way for the insulation to absorb moisture causing it to become wet or like a wet rag? I think the best way to be sure of any thing is to remove the doubt in the situation... ie. moving the fixture to a dry area, I know it involves more time and money but nobody can put a price on safety...............??Can they??

 

[SantaMonica]

Part 1 of 2



2 Weeks Overload At the LFS!

One day I was in my LFS, and he was complaining of N and P being "crazy high" in one of his FO retail displays. I looked at what he was currently doing for filtration... G4 skimmer, bio balls, Phosban reactor, 2 Ocean Clear mechanical filters, and a UV on a 300 gal FO display, and he is feeding 16 cubes a day. He is currently building a custom acrylic waterfall box turf filter like I outlined in the first page of my RC post, but it's not finished yet. He says he has to keep N and P under control by changing 100g every two weeks. The bio balls seem mostly under water; to me, that would reduce their power. Also he thinks he might need to remove the mechanical filters.

Since my bucket-build thread was done, and since I completed the pics of it for the first week, I thought it was wasting its potential trying to filter my 90 since my 90 also has the original pre-grown turf bucket already working. So I asked the LFS guy if he'd like to borrow my bucket. He said yes, so I went right away to get it, and told him to measure N and P meanwhile. I had to wrap the screen in wet towels to keep it from drying out, but otherwise the whole bucket was light and easy to carry in the car. When I got there he showed me his test (Red Sea, I think), and they were deep dark colors. But I wanted to use Salifert so they'd correspond with my tank, so I used my kits to measure: N = 50, P = Off the chart (very deep dark blue). His main goal was to stop the daily rise in N and P, especially N, which had been rising an average of 1 per day.

So we set the bucket on top of his sump so it would just drain down, and hooked up one of his pumps to the waterfall pipe (no wavemaker timer), and hooked up the lights to one of his timers (18 hours on), and away it went. Here are the day-by-day measurements:


....................N...........P.............Comment
.
day 1..........50...........1.5+............
day 2..........50...........1.5+............
day 3..........50...........1.5+............
day 4..........50...........1.5+.........Cleaned; Iron added
day 5..........*............*...............Not measured; Original diatoms gone
day 6..........*............*...............Not measured; Waiting for WC
day 7..........*............*...............Not measured; he did 100g WC
day 8..........50...........1.5+.........WC did almost nothing, N and P same
day 9..........45?..........1.5+.........Screen about 75% full
day 10.........45...........1.5+.........Screen about 80% full
day 11..........*............*..............Store Closed Labor Day
day 12..........*............*..............Store Closed
day 13.........40?..........1.5+........95% full; bottom completely full
day 14.........35!..........1.5+........Starting to develop spots; Cleaned


And here are the pics. Note that the in-bucket pics were done with the water still flowing, since after crawling under wooden beams to get to the bucket, I had forgotten to unplug the pump; so thereafter all pics needed the pump running so they would match:

First, here is the left half of the display, and the right half (all are one system connected together):

. . . .

Here's the bio balls in the sump; Note high water level:

[pic limit]
Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSbioBalls.jpg


His G4 skimmer and Phosban reactor:

[pic limit]


His mechanical filters:

[pic limit]


Here's the bucket as delivered, with screen wrapped to stay wet:

[pic limit]


The bucket was put behind the wood shelves, on top of the sump, between the tanks:

[pic limit]


Day 0: This is the screen as delivered, after the one-week test thread was finished:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay00.jpg


Day 1, Cleaned bottom of bucket:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay01.jpg


Day 2:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay02.jpg


Day 3:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay03.jpg


Day 3, Removed:

(hi-res was blurry)


Day 3, Cleaned:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay03cleaned.jpg


Day 4:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay04.jpg


Day 5: Skip
Day 6: Skip

Day 7:

Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/LFSscreenDay07.jpg