Algae turf scrubber

[Pat02026]

Can't speak for its effectiveness as of yet, but if properly sized and maintained, its about as effective and natural a method of nutrient export as you can get.

There is an A.C. Moore up the street that carries the mesh; any craft store should have it. It's called plastic canvas. I have a few 12"x10" pieces extra (bought a bunch, they're inexpensive) but I'm sure you can find some local rather than a trip to Boston.

Ill be updating this thread with growth of algae and effects on the display as result of the scrubber.

 

[Trevor]

Walmart has the screen/mesh also in the craft section

 

[Pat02026]

Paul, I call your experience to the stand once again!!!

Are you running an opposing light schedule on your Scrubber, and would you say it plays a substantial role in stability of PH? (I will admit a recent post suggests that you "monitor" PH, not suggesting to chase PH as some may have been guilty of and causing more problems than anything else as a result)


My screen is 50% exposed and 50% submerged and at the 5 day mark, I can say that there is more growth than anticipated on the "open air" (upper half) of the screen than the submerged section. I will old off until sunday, day 7 before I clean the screen. Although its too early to make any assessment, I am optimistic to this point with the growth I am seeing so far.

 

[Bobbofin]

After much reading I'll decided not set up a scrubber. It will strip the water too much and kill my corals.

 

[reefkeeper2]

Paul, I call your experience to the stand once again!!!

Are you running an opposing light schedule on your Scrubber, and would you say it plays a substantial role in stability of PH? (I will admit a recent post suggests that you "monitor" PH, not suggesting to chase PH as some may have been guilty of and causing more problems than anything else as a result)


My screen is 50% exposed and 50% submerged and at the 5 day mark, I can say that there is more growth than anticipated on the "open air" (upper half) of the screen than the submerged section. I will old off until sunday, day 7 before I clean the screen. Although its too early to make any assessment, I am optimistic to this point with the growth I am seeing so far.

Yes, the scrubber operates opposite the display. It goes on at 6pm and off at 12 noon. For some reason the CO2 level in my basement is elevated. I don't know if it's the furnace and water heater or if it's seeping in from the ground. If I take a cup of tank water and aerate it in the basement the pH rapidly sinks. So I am always trying to find ways to offset the "basement effect".
I switched some lighting on one side of the scrubber recently from the cheapo COSTCO LEDs ($20.00) to Kessil 150watt leds. The cheapo lights grow algae about twice as good as the Kessils. I was amazed.

 

[reefkeeper2]

After much reading I'll decided not set up a scrubber. It will strip the water too much and kill my corals.

I don't believe that is possible. When the nutrient level gets low, the algae just stop growing.

 

[Skeeter7424]

After much reading I'll decided not set up a scrubber. It will strip the water too much and kill my corals.

Bobbo I also question this idea. I have been to 3 members houses that were mixed reefs with a scrubber and they looked great. Ask reefkeeper2 if he thinks his is working. I think he may have one of the top 2 tanks in the club and last we spoke he thought it was great

 

[Pat02026]

Looks like we lost a few posts with the site crash (thanks to those behind the scenes fixing the bugs!).... anyway heres the 1 week growth pic

 

[Pat02026]

Heres week two. I made the decision to go ahead and chop the exposed threads of the bulkhead off inside the enclosure to drop the water level down to the last 1/2" of mesh as it seems to be impairing the growth of anything desirable. All I can see below the water line is cyan/dino resemblant. I am excited about the bright green growth I am starting to see at the top, however theres a lot of cyano and other nastyness growing right now. I'm going to be patient with it and keep this thread as updated as possible with weekly growth photos for those of you who are following along.

 

[Mr. Leemr]

I'm following along here, i constructed an ATS a while back but never ran it because i was concerned that it would strip the water too much and starve the massive amount of cheato that i have in my fuge and would have some adverse effects from all the die off but don't want to completely remove it so suddenly..very curious as the systems i have seen running an ATS always looked great.

 

[CC Reefer]

Great thread. Following along.

 

[Pat02026]

Here's # 3
An obvious difference since dropping the water level down; also as of tonight I increased water flow> an exact number hasn't been established as far as GPH, but it appears to have doubled; hopefully it will help to get rid of the dark boogery crap, and let the bright green turf take hold.

 

[Pat02026]

I must apologize for skipping a week, but there wasn't much difference on #4. last week I increased the flow substantially in comparison to weeks 1,2, &3.
That made a noticeable improvement, but I think its going to be another week or so before the screen can catch up. Here is the results of the increased flow on week #5

 

[Pat02026]

Haven't update this in a few weeks; not much has changed and I am less than impressed with growth up to this point. I figured 7 weeks+ in that I'd be harvesting some serious algae; I blame it on the Chinese eBay 660nm LED's, combined with the fact that they are under driven. I am moving in a few weeks, and I may either add or exchange for a few cool white's and see what happens. I am going to me moving up to a 90 gallon, so there's going to be some big changes in a few weeks! Hopefully I can get some turf growing in the meantime instead of this snotty dark crap (almost looks like mats of Dino's which wouldn't be good if that's what it is!)

 

[Pat02026]

This past weekend's harvest