algae scrubbers

[robbywood20]

im having some phosphate issues. been running GFO in a BRS single reactor but cant seem to get it tuned right so the GFO tumbling like I want it. has anyone ever used a waterfall scrubber? if so what are the pros and cons

 

[ringo®]

GFO will be your best bet for high phosphates. What issues is the reactor giving you?

 

[robbywood20]

cant keep the canister full. the water level in the canister drops all the way to the bottom. I dont think this affects the operation since it feeds from the top to the bottom but it makes it hard for me to see the tumble

 

[robbywood20]

mainly just curious about these algae scrubbers. I know nothing about them ans was hoping someone on here has used one and can add some input

 

[robbywood20]

yea i've been reading up. seems like a pretty good idea in theory. i have plenty of room just not sure I want to take on a diy project like this, seems the color spectrum on the led's are the key to good green hair algae growth. the ones you buy range from $299 - $549.

 

[morganatlanta]

Basic waterfall scrubbers are easy to build. You don't even need a box around them. Just hang the plastic mesh from a pipe and use CFL clip lights to try it and see if you like it. You'll be in for $20. When they are growing strong, they definitely can export a lot of nutrients. If youfind it works, you can build a fancier one and reuse the screen. How big is your tank?

Also, on the BRS reactor, try mixing the GFO together with carbon. That way it doesn't need to tumble to keep from clumping.

 

[morganatlanta]

On the con side, there are some who claim there are negative interactions between corals and algae, so maybe if you have an SPS garden, it's not for you. However, there are plenty of people with macro filled refugiums and nice SPS. Like everything else in this hobby, there are lots of opinions.

On the plus side, it's a cheap, simple, natural, robust way to extract a lot of nutrients. It's a great compliment to skimming since the scrubber works on nutrients-- the stuff that got by the skimmer.

There used to be a lot of great info on algaescrubber.net, but that site is now the commercial site for SantaMonica upflow scrubbers. The best contributers from that site have moved onto RC and regularly post on the algae scrubber thread there.

 

[robbywood20]

ive got a 125 gal in wall with the sump in my utility room. I run a manifold system with several reactors and a MRC-MR2 skimmer. My thought was if this thing works good enough I could turn off that skimmer that runs a blueline 55 pump on its own and uses way too much electricity. my tank is under reconstruction due to crazy hair alge and laziness on my part. got rid of most of my corals when I couldnt contol the phosphates in my tank. My RO/DI broke and apparently my municipal water is full of phosphates because when I had to top off with tap water is when the phosphates got out of control. I've since purchaced a new BRS 75gpd RO/DI and want to start over. probably will do a nice mixed reef with a few SPS and not many fish so I can cut back on the feeding to control the nutrients. my fear is that the live rock I have is still leaching phosphates back in the water? any thoughts on if I should nuke the rock and start over completely?

 

[acroholic]

I don't know if everyone who has used algae scrubbers gets this, but I had a definite reduction in water clarity when I built and used one. Not terrible, but noticeable to the naked eye. Enough for me to stop using it and go a different route.

 

[robbywood20]

That's not good news. Were you also running carbon?

 

[acroholic]

robbywood20;978232 wrote: That's not good news. Were you also running carbon?

Yup. But don't let that stop you if you want to tty one. Part of the fun is trying new things and learning from them. My experience does not speak for everyone. You might not see that issue at all.

 

[morganatlanta]

You might find it will take a long time (many months) to leach all the phosphate back out of your rock if it has been soaking in really high phosphate water for a while. You could try a bath in muriatic acid, which will take the top 1/8" or so off the rock, and (I hear) take care of phosphate issues. As a bonus, it will really open up the pores in the rock and make more holes and open spaces. Just don't soak it too long or you'll have all spaces and no rock. I gave my BRS pukani rock an acid bath since it is rumored to have high phosphates embedded.

For a 125g an 8x10 or so screen should give you a lot of filtering power. Use about 0.5 of CFL per side for each square inch of lit screen, so if your screen is 8" across x 10" long, use a 30-40W CFL on each side. Flow should be a minimum of 35 gph per inch of screen width, so an 8" wide screen should have around 300 gph coming out the slot.

You might try a few urchins to keep the rock clean until things stabilize.

I did not notice any degradation of water clarity when I ran mine, but I'm not the connoisseur that Dave is.

 

[acroholic]

100%hydrophylic;978251 wrote: Was there yellowing in the water or what? Just general cloudiness like there was always sediment in the water? And how were you running carbon?

Been a while.........the water was not yellow, but almost like there was a bit of ultra, ultra fine dust in the water. I was running carbon in a separate media container.

 

[lant]

Acroholic;978297 wrote: Been a while.........the water was not yellow, but almost like there was a bit of ultra, ultra fine dust in the water. I was running carbon in a separate media container.

This...but on the bright side, polyp extension is great when running ATS.

 

[reeferboy83]

I built one about 3 weeks or so ago and put it in my lagoon fuge thats in the garage. I have the CFL 6500k bulb on it and at this point I am seeing a serious brown alage growth on the screen. Not sure what good/bad effects it has on the tank at this point but I will keep updating on the results. Also want to follow along and see what results good or bad others are having with the ATS. I hear they are a good food source for pods once the green algae takes hold. We shall see.

Photo of ATS at first:

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Photo taken today:

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[acroholic]

Lant;978326 wrote: This...but on the bright side, polyp extension is great when running ATS.

I was mainly concerned about the effect of the water turbidity on light reaching the corals, and most of the corals were SPS.

 

[reeferboy83]

100%hydrophylic;978346 wrote: from my understanding, browna lgae is a bad thing. you want green algae. also, it looks liek your screen isnt ruffed up. ruffing it up will promote better algae growth

From all the info I read before building the ATS, the brown algae normally appears first which is considered the "break in period" of the ATS. Here in about a week I will try to rinse the brown slime off but leaving anything that has a hold on to the screen. It will take some time for the green algae to start growing but once it does it should have a pretty good hold on the screen.
Also I have a very light bio-load in my tank atm since it is a new build.

 

[morganatlanta]

Clean off the brown stuff. Usually you can just use your fingers. The green stuff will stick more.

How big is that screen? It looks pretty big. If a screen is really big, it takes a lot of total flow and light to get the right conditions for growth, so the scrubber doesn't end up being as effective as a smaller one with the appropriate conditions.

 

[jrwhite07]

What's the easiest way to make the cut down the PVC pipe?

 

[morganatlanta]

Jrwhite07;978464 wrote: What's the easiest way to make the cut down the PVC pipe?

Actually, I recommend a different set up using holes instead of a slot. See this thread: