Algae Scrubber Basics

[Allmost]

but no SPS !

[BluScrnOdeth]

Originally Posted by Allmost

but no SPS !

Yes there is. Right behind the neon/brown frogspawn.
an ATS isn't going to prevent anything from growing.

[srusso]

I will post pictures of some tanks in a few.

In fact SPS corals are known to grow after in tanks with algae scrubbers b/c of the 24/7 food that is made available from it.

[Allmost]

would love to see some nice SPS, who have colored up in an ATS tank .

I never have before.

Santa monica posts pics of his SPS, but they are dead and he thinks the algae on it is coral ...

[Nova101]

If there any thought on which style is more efficient comparing the SantaMonica-style (wide but short) vs the Srusso-style (longer but less wide).

I'm not refering to the T5 vs spiral bulbs but the format of the screen. The wide one's have a shorter contact time with the screen vs the longer ones. In addition, the wider ones will require more input flow in order to maintain the 35 gph/in rule.

Also to anyone with an open screen version(like in Srusso's picks) vs those scrubbers enclosed in acrylic boxes, how much do you have to deal with salt creep and/or spray. Do you have to worry about a glogged outlet creating a jet which then sprays all over the inside of your cabinet?

[srusso]

Originally Posted by Nova101

If there any thought on which style is more efficient comparing the SantaMonica-style (wide but short) vs the Srusso-style (longer but less wide).

I'm not refering to the T5 vs spiral bulbs but the format of the screen. The wide one's have a shorter contact time with the screen vs the longer ones. In addition, the wider ones will require more input flow in order to maintain the 35 gph/in rule.

Also to anyone with an open screen version(like in Srusso's picks) vs those scrubbers enclosed in acrylic boxes, how much do you have to deal with salt creep and/or spray. Do you have to worry about a glogged outlet creating a jet which then sprays all over the inside of your cabinet?

The big difference is in the amount of water processed; A screen twice as wide will flow twice as much water, and this makes a big difference in how fast it can eat the nutrients out of the water.

Salt spray and creep is easily manageable on my setup, the straighter you make your slit in the PVC the better the water will flow. Therefore the less splatter happens. People have also made simple ways of stopping most. I have an acrylic catch that stops bubbles.

Screens will not clog PVC.

[srusso]

I am taking the liberty and posting mrbncal tank, he posted on this other algae scrubber thread...
Can be found here... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...1963130&page=4

Originally Posted by mrbncal

I want to show my support for ATS's. When I set this 75 back up 4 years ago I battled with my EUROREEF skimmer for 7-8 months. Every couple of weeks it would go into overflow mode for a couple days and flow teh skimmate back into the tank. Things looked horrible every time it would overflow. Just got sick of dealing with it. I unplugged it and let the tank go. Three months with no attention. Almost tore it down. 90 days later when I scrubbed the front glass I was surprised to find that things had gotten better since turning off the skimmer. So i left it like that for about a year and a half. But hair and bubble algae had a serious foothold. I couldnt feed much. Then I read the articles on ATS's and eventually decided to try one. So I built a bucket scrubber and haven't looked back.

Is it tank of the month material? No. But my maintenance time is a lot less than those guys also. I still have great growth on corals and most important I enjoy the hobby again.

My only source of cal/alk is kalk in the top-off water and I run a bag of chemipure hanging in the sump. I have not changed any water since June of 2010(30 gal). (I had a hot day prior to hooking my chiller up and things got a little soupy, stupid gamble and I lost a few corals).

I have been running ats since Nov/Dec 2009. Anemones, tubeworms of all types(cocoworms), photosynth gorgs and LPS as well as green slimer and birdnest, pocillipora have all grown very well. These fotos are about 4 months ago. Will try to get some newer ones if you guys want. The slimer in teh upper left is much bigger now.

[srusso]

his follow up...

Originally Posted by mrbncal

I have some new shots. Things have changed a bit. I traded off teh roses and the Gigantea carpet(they took up a lot of room). Got a new smaller rose and a new giant clam. some other things. Anyway here are pics as of this morning.
Dec20,2010

Today Jan30,2011

I am not sure what species this is:

[srusso]

another....

Originally Posted by mrbncal

Some more stuff






Some cool feater dusters I have found:

[srusso]

His build....

Originally Posted by mrbncal

My wife didn't like the bucket on the side of the tank so I moved it into the sump. Its not pretty but it works great. And this is the scrubber:



And here is my favorite fish in the tank right now Blue striped pipefish. Doing great, constantly browsing for food

Hope its ok I posted your tank for you mrbncal!!

[BluScrnOdeth]

Loving this thread. I updated my skimmer till i can get my LED setup. Decreased the width, upped the length (which increased the flow which can only be better than 25gph), thought about getting some 2700-3k CFLs from the store tonight because i dont think that i'll get to the LED conversion till this summer. I still have to build the exterior of my tank stand which is more important to me ATM.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by Nova101

Also to anyone with an open screen version(like in Srusso's picks) vs those scrubbers enclosed in acrylic boxes, how much do you have to deal with salt creep and/or spray. Do you have to worry about a glogged outlet creating a jet which then sprays all over the inside of your cabinet?

By the end of the week on mine, there is some squirting, in fact you can hear it when you open the cabinet. That's because of the cross-cuts that I made (rudimentary slot tube, done with a dremel - haven't had time to replace it). Also the slot is just a hair longer than the screen, and I put a cross-cut too close to the end. The crosscuts actually promote algae growth into the tube IMO so as it grows into it, the volume of water gets pushed to the end of the tube, that's always where the squirting is on mine.

If you're concerned, then find the plastic sheet like I posted the picture of and punch holes it in, and fit it so that it 'hugs' your screen at the top. This will block the light from the screen at the top, preventing the growth into the tube, and reducing the potential for squirting.

[BluScrnOdeth]

Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo

By the end of the week on mine, there is some squirting, in fact you can hear it when you open the cabinet. That's because of the cross-cuts that I made (rudimentary slot tube, done with a dremel - haven't had time to replace it). Also the slot is just a hair longer than the screen, and I put a cross-cut too close to the end. The crosscuts actually promote algae growth into the tube IMO so as it grows into it, the volume of water gets pushed to the end of the tube, that's always where the squirting is on mine.

If you're concerned, then find the plastic sheet like I posted the picture of and punch holes it in, and fit it so that it 'hugs' your screen at the top. This will block the light from the screen at the top, preventing the growth into the tube, and reducing the potential for squirting.

I was thinking, with keeping the algae out of the tube, couldnt you just get a bigger tube that would cover about 1/4" down and 1/4 inch away from the screen. Basically a tube inside a bigger tube. May starve the algae closest to the water tube from enough light to not grow up into it....

[rysher]

can i use the algae growing in my scrubber to feed my herbivores?

also, when my copepods grow in my ATS, can i wash/wiggle them a bit in the DT before i scrub them out so th pods go in the DT for food to my wrasse?

[BluScrnOdeth]

Originally Posted by rysher

can i use the algae growing in my scrubber to feed my herbivores?

also, when my copepods grow in my ATS, can i wash/wiggle them a bit in the DT before i scrub them out so th pods go in the DT for food to my wrasse?

Yes, but, I'm not sure if what the algae took out just gets put back in your water or if it may get converted into something else (back into the proteins which starts the cycle over). You can wiggle them but I dont know how effective that will be and you risk breaking off some algae into the tank.

But i think that the scrubber can handle cleaning up whatever was added back to the tank.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by rysher

can i use the algae growing in my scrubber to feed my herbivores?

Yes. It's the same as growing plants in a refugium for the purpose of feeding to the fish. The plants take stuff out, fish eat the stuff, digest and release the stuff, the plants take the stuff out....

Originally Posted by rysher

also, when my copepods grow in my ATS, can i wash/wiggle them a bit in the DT before i scrub them out so th pods go in the DT for food to my wrasse?

I do this occasionally to release the pods back into the tank. You have to have a pretty mature screen to do it, or else the strands tend to break off. I did this a couple times at 6 to 8 weeks of growth no problem.



But if you have herbivores, they'll eat it, and the screen will out-compete algae growth in the tank from anything that breaks away.

[srusso]

Originally Posted by rysher

can i use the algae growing in my scrubber to feed my herbivores?

also, when my copepods grow in my ATS, can i wash/wiggle them a bit in the DT before i scrub them out so th pods go in the DT for food to my wrasse?

I put my scrubber in my DT before each cleaning. I place it right in front of my power head and blast pods right out of the tank. I have had it sitting in the tank over 30 mins. You NEVER have to worry about a little algae falling off your screen. Your fish or CUC will eat it. You will never have algae problems in your tank again. The scrubber ensures this.

[srusso]

Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo

Yes. It's the same as growing plants in a refugium for the purpose of feeding to the fish. The plants take stuff out, fish eat the stuff, digest and release the stuff, the plants take the stuff out....



I do this occasionally to release the pods back into the tank. You have to have a pretty mature screen to do it, or else the strands tend to break off. I did this a couple times at 6 to 8 weeks of growth no problem.



But if you have herbivores, they'll eat it, and the screen will out-compete algae growth in the tank from anything that breaks away.

+1 just like I said

[srusso]

Herring_Fish posted his dump bucket style ATS. This design is NOT for beginner builders and should only be attempted by experienced builders after loads of research and a test system to try the build on. This is the same design used in the 70's on the very first systems built.

Originally Posted by herring_fish

I built a box about 3" high. 6 " and 48" long. As you can see, it tapers to a sharp end. There is a weight at the other end that is made of steel and is in-cased in plastic.

As the water starts filling the tray, it pools in the lowest part (shown in dark blue). As the tray takes more water it fills to the left in this picture. At some point, the water to the left of the fulcrum weights more than what is on the right and the weight of the steel. At the point the bucket tips over and dumps it's water. The water rushes out of the tray to create natural high speed, fairly linear turbulence.

The water spills a foot, in my case, to create a splash. To prevent over-splash, I installed a tube that goes just below the water line. I also have a flat plastic plate that stops the popping bubbles from causing salt creep.

When the water finishes dumping the tray rights its self. I placed jell pads, like you might put under your wrist when you use a mouse or keyboard, under the counter weight and at the sharp end to prevent a bumping sound and this works quite well.

Unlike similar the designs in Dynamic Aquaria, I place the fulcrum on the outside of the bucket. That way, I could move it forward and back until I had it properly tuned.

When the bucket tips back up, it happens quickly and the remaining water that doesn't make its way out of the tray, reverses its path and slides back down the narrow end of the tray. Then it crashes into water at the right end of the tray and into the wall of the counter weight. This adds random erratic turbulence. While this is not advisable, I found that I could leave my scrubber unattended for weeks or even a couple of months without seeing any dye off.

This is a design that requires basic fabrication skills and access to a ban saw or something like it because you need straight clean lines. Cutting the angle does not lend itself to doing score and snap cuts which is what you normally get at Lowes. Other than that, it wasn't too hard to make. I bought 1” square bar stock and they cut it for me so that I had four pieces to stack into a 4” height x 4” length x 6” (minus that plastic) width.

I did have to mess with it for a couple of weeks to get it to work the way that I wanted it to. This is definitely not something that you can just take out of a box, plug it in and forget it. Once I tuned it, I haven't had to mess with it much at all though. It is very forgiving.

Originally Posted by herring_fish

You can fine this video of the dump bucket,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRoKX8AjEbI
on my website, along with another video of the splash and some articles that were publish when I made my last reef tank in the 90’s. It also has some of what I am doing now. Take a look at it:

http://asaherring.com
Before you look at the video, look back at my dump bucket graphic as a review or see it on my web site. You will be able to pick out what is what a little better.

[srusso]

Originally Posted by Allmost

would love to see some nice SPS, who have colored up in an ATS tank .

I never have before.

Santa monica posts pics of his SPS, but they are dead and he thinks the algae on it is coral ...

Just in case there is still any doubt they SPS corals can be successfully kept in tanks with algae scrubbers. Many documents point to high particulate (including plankton) environments can increase SPS grow several times over.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...843241&page=11

[srusso]

One additional thing that has yet to be mentioned... Algae Scrubbers can also be used on fresh water tanks...

Time for bed... very tried...

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by srusso

Algae Scrubbers can also be used on fresh water tanks..

...but not on planted tanks, for the obvious reason.

I haven't seen very many FW applications however. That begin said, one restaurant I maintain a 125 FOWLR for also has a 225 Cichlid habitat that will be my first attempt at the FW scrubber, eventually.

[BluScrnOdeth]

Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo

...but not on planted tanks, for the obvious reason.

I haven't seen very many FW applications however. That begin said, one restaurant I maintain a 125 FOWLR for also has a 225 Cichlid habitat that will be my first attempt at the FW scrubber, eventually.

A friend of mine wanted to use a scrubber on his freshwater tank. But then he bought plants.... Had to tell him that he cant do it now. Hopefully the plants do just as well.

[srusso]

Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo

...but not on planted tanks, for the obvious reason.

I haven't seen very many FW applications however. That begin said, one restaurant I maintain a 125 FOWLR for also has a 225 Cichlid habitat that will be my first attempt at the FW scrubber, eventually.

100% correct, I did say I was tried. Lol yes an algae scrubber will starve a planted fresh water tank. Even with adding fertilizer and scrubber will absorb all plant food before FW plants could.

When you do the cichlids tank, please post your build.

[srusso]

Originally Posted by BluScrnOdeth

A friend of mine wanted to use a scrubber on his freshwater tank. But then he bought plants.... Had to tell him that he cant do it now. Hopefully the plants do just as well.

The types of planted tanks we are talking about, aren't really a secondary thought... IF your friend got a few plants they sell at petco, they will just die w/ or w/o and algae scrubber.

Here is my planted tank before I changed to salt water

YOU CAN NOT HAVE AN ALGAE SCRUBBER ON A PLANTED FRESH WATER TANK.



but a discus tank its fine



Just not a planted discus tank...