Waterfall Turf Algea Filter: CHEAP and EASY to build

[mlsund]

Ouch... what a soap opera
If you ask me I think these turf scrubbers looks like a good idea for water fall art in your house...
He he he

 

[herring_fish]

I have been using a dump bucket style ATS for many years but thought that I would add a kalk reactor after I saw the terrific growth in a friend's tank. He uses a skimmer and some cheato but he added a reactor and his growth rate went up quite noticeably.

I have been doing a major overhaul of my system and am planning to add a Kalk reactor but I was reading in another thread and I ran across this answer from Randy Holmes, to a question about the pros and cons of going skimmerless:

I experimented without my skimmer for several months. The primary issue that was immediately apparent was that the pH rose too much. I use limewater, and without the skimmer to aerate and bring in adequate CO2, the pH was too high.

Since I have a dump bucket that drops 2 gallons of water 1 foot, I get a good splash. I don't think that I will have an issue with not enough air exchange and the algae should keep the oxygen levels high.

Does anyone have experience using reactors? I know that the ATS community goes for a more natural environment when ever possible but how should a good reactor interact with a good ATS system?

 

[mrbncal]

double post

 

[mrbncal]

imo its the single greatest piece of equipment i have in my tank.

+2

 

[dotcommer]

I have two of santa monica 100 turf scrubbers I am looking to set up on my 300 Gallon tank and 180 gallon sump.

The plan is to have them on top of my sump which is two feet tall.

I noticed on a thread about the unit there was a post about pump size

Requires 800 GPH (after head loss). Do not skimp on GPH, because the long pipe will not fill with enough water if you do. An Eheim 1260 pump works good if the scrubber is down in the sump area, but if you put the scrubber up high on a shelf above the tank, something bigger like an Eheim 1262 would be needed. I have and use both of these pumps. At the sump level, there is not much difference in flow between these two pumps, but when you have to pump up to a shelf above the display, the extra power of the 1262 (or similar) would be needed.

I am trying to cut down on any extra heat added to the water, since I am going with MH lights.

Can I use one pump for both units? If so, should it be 1600 GPH, or would you recommend one pump for each at the 800GPH?

I know that they base cubes of food on these units, with two of these how much food do you recommend each day?

How many hours should the lights should be on each day. And when the lights go out, should the pump turn off, or continue to run 24/7?

Lastly, I have been looking at the new Turf 4 and was wondering how the old units compare to the new ones?

I appreciate anyone taking the time to answer these questions.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

The old SM100 is essentially 10 cubes/day. So with 2 of them you could theoretically feed a lot.

Flow, yes 800 GPH per unit. You could probably run both off one pump.

flow always on. That has never changed in 30 years. no flow = dead algae.

Waterfall scrubber have always been, for the vast majority, consistently reliable. I'll just leave it at that.

 

[dotcommer]

The old SM100 is essentially 10 cubes/day. So with 2 of them you could theoretically feed a lot.

Flow, yes 800 GPH per unit. You could probably run both off one pump.

flow always on. That has never changed in 30 years. no flow = dead algae.

Waterfall scrubber have always been, for the vast majority, consistently reliable. I'll just leave it at that.

Thanks for the response.

How many hours should the lights run on each unit?

If I am going to be running them, more than 12 hours each, Would it be best to stagger the times, so there is always one running throughout the 24 hour period.

 

[salty joe]

, Would it be best to stagger the times, so there is always one running throughout the 24 hour period.

I'd guess yes. I wonder if a timer is available that controls two appliances, but only one at a time, alternating them.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

For most fluorescent based scrubbers, you want to run them right up at 18 hrs/day as long as there is a bioload to support it. lowering the photoperiod lowers the capacity. Staggering them so that you had each on for 12 hrs/day opposite cycle would maybe put you at 6-7 cubes/day per unit for capacity. That's once they have fully mature screens and are producing consistent growth

 

[dotcommer]

For most fluorescent based scrubbers, you want to run them right up at 18 hrs/day as long as there is a bioload to support it. lowering the photoperiod lowers the capacity. Staggering them so that you had each on for 12 hrs/day opposite cycle would maybe put you at 6-7 cubes/day per unit for capacity. That's once they have fully mature screens and are producing consistent growth

Thanks, I will work them up to the 18 hours each and have them overlap 6 hours together once I have the tank fully up and runnning.

I will be running them on my APEX, so setting up the time schedule won't be a problem.