My Algae Scrubber Experience
 

For the past two years I have been battling hair algae and excess nutrients in my 200 gal SPS dominated display tank. After fighting off acro-eating flatworms and then montipora eating nudibranches, I was never able to regain control of hair algae and my nutrient level. Even though nitrate (<5 ppm) and phosphate testing (<0.1 ppm) showed low levels of nutrients, rampant hair algae and poor SPS growth indicated that I had excess nutrients. I feed 1/2 sheet of nori and 2 cubes of mysis per day. I do 10-15% water changes every one-two weeks.

I tried zeoreactors with carbon dosing and bacterial supplements for a year and then tried 2 liters of bio-pellets plus bacterial supplements for a year, but conditions didn't improve. I had to try something else, so I set up an algae scrubber using the guidance of algaescrubber.net.

I am very, very happy with the results. I have been at it for 3 months now and results continue to improve. Hair algae growth is significantly reduced and gradually receding. More importantly, my SPS growth has returned to former levels, colors are better and polyp extension is better. Colonies that had shown no growth for many months are now sprouting new tips everywhere and visible growth of SPS colonies is quite apparent. Areas damaged by hair algae or cyano encroachment are repairing. All cyano has disappeared. Maintenance is very simple, clean the mesh once every two weeks, and I don't have to dose anything. I took the bio-pellets out two weeks after starting the scrubber.

My scrubber is 24" long and uses 2 10x10" mesh pads. Since my overflow return is too low to supply the scrubber, I pump 600 gpm water out of the sump into the scrubber supply tube which flows down the mesh and exits the bottom of the scrubber back to the sump. I have 4 x 2-17w 24" fluorescent fixtures with warm white bulbs that are clamped onto the outside of a clear acrylic box that the mesh pads hang in. The lights are on 18 hrs per day.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...h/IMG_0091.jpg

This is the growth I get at the end of two weeks, on both sides of each mesh pad. In total, I scrape off about 4-6 cups of thick wet algae every two weeks.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...h/IMG_0095.jpg

All the information you need can be found at algaescrubber.net or on Reef Central.

Some lush growth for sure. Did you seed the screens with a specific algae?

Interesting read, I hope I never need to do this.

Forgot to ask but light hits 2 sides of mesh. How is it growing like that on 4 sides?

haha looks great im building one myself now.what are you using for lights??

I use a 5 gallon bucket type for my 120 gallon.

I guess its a refugium for hair algea then.

No, I did not seed the mesh but it is important to rough-up the surface. The first two weeks I got a mix of brown slime and algae but after that, good solid algae took over. I followed the guide at algae scrubber.net pretty closely and my results appear to be consistent with what they say I should expect.

I have two 10x10" mesh pads strung linearly. Each side of each pad looks like that after two weeks. Growth on two sides, not four.

Industrial Plastics built the acrylic box for me. Total cost with lights (I had a spare pump) was about $200.

I'm just using standard T8 warm white bulbs.

Looks great. I've always wanted to try the algae scrubber method but just can't seem to cram any more in the space I have. Is the light on 24/7 or reverse photoperiod?

Reverse light period, but on 18 hrs/day vs 12 for the tank lights.

looks great i started mine over the christmas holidays, my growth is not that thick yet but i have 0s across the board on my test kits, im running cfls for lights 18h on 6h off. switched out for a second screen cuz i roughed up too high on the first one and was getting the algea growing into the water feed.

guess i could add this in case anyone doesnt want to go browsing through the algaescrubber forumns its a basic diy for a scrubber im gonna use this and tweak it a bit:pppp

http://www.livingreefs.com/build-alg...er-t32422.html

yup denny thats pretty much what mine is like just hang the screen and wait a week lol seeds itself and all you gotta do is harvest

I was looking at the link just posted. For those of you that use this design do you cut off the zip ties attaching the screen to the pipe each week when cleaning the screen?

no zip ties here i cut a piece of thin wall pipe a size bigger than my feed pipe and use a coupe of them instead

Thanks for the info. Shall start a build right away

Very cool, and the million dollar question is: Is it helping your tank and nutrient levels?

global i doubled my feedings just to test it all out and found for the first time in 3 years i am running 0's in all my tests across the board, i brought a sample to the fish store and they got zeros too

titus get on it lol works great hope to see your pics next week lol

That's the only question that really matters. I held off posting anything until I had been running for long enough to answer that question. There is no doubt in my mind that my SPS corals have improved tremendously since I added the algae scrubber. Colonies that had shown no growth for the previous year are now growing like mad. Bright new growth tips are popping up all over. My LPS remain unchanged. The only downside I've noticed is that my red milli has become paler in color, not sure why. My blue milli is unchanged in color and growing faster.

As for nutrient levels, I use a spectrophotometer from work to conduct my nitrate and phosphate tests. Nitrate and phosphate are pretty much undetectible now, although they were never very high. I don't put a lot of stock in test results. How the corals look, how much hair algae and cyano I have is more important to me.

I'm not trying to advocate algae scrubbers. I'm just trying to share what is working for me. I tried the zeo approach and the bio-pellet approach, with RowaPhos, and they did not work for me. Nutrient test results were low, but hair algae was rampant and SPS growth had ground to a halt. I have a lot of fish in my tank, probably too many, and they have grown a lot in the past three years. Loonie-sized fish three years ago are now 8-10" in size.

I tried this out of desperation and it is the only thing that has worked so far.

I think I have a design in mind. My question is. I run a gfo and carbon reactors. Does anyone see a issue with using there output for my water source. As it would eliminate the need for another pump. I thought of using my over flow but that would mean another light. I was planning on running this above my refuge and draining into.

I'm sure many are skeptical due to how 'santamonica' force-fed this to the web on 80 different forums and his subsequent banning on some of them. I'll admit I am still intrigued. I run gfo and could make it last longer with one of these in operation. I recently added chaeto to my sump but my instincts tell me this will grow algae faster. Unlike bio pellets there's no way this can be limited or messed up by running the gfo... it can only allow the media to last me longer.

I'm curious which algaes in general remove more nutrients by mass.

Any shots of the components apart?

Well it's nice to see the results finally, I just started running rowaphos but am going to be building the same type of unit soon. Just gotta find a free weekend and may wait till it warms up abit to start this project. I will post pics of my mini scrubber on here aswell if you don't mind.

chaeto and calupera are the best but calupera requires calcium as well so you may need to dose more.

i think chaeto would do almost as well as an ATS if you gave it as much light. Everyone puts a small ass bulb over the fuge so only the surface of the chaeto will get light. if you keep the chaeto moving in a tumble then all parts of the chaeto get light and it will be more effective. Throw four t5's over your fuge and get the chaeto tumbling and then you can compare an ATS with a chaeto fuge. Otherwise the ATS will always win (higher flow, more light, greater surface area)

As long as you have enough flow, you should be fine. Any excess nutrients will sustain algae growth.

I remember the 'santamonica' banning etc as well. The reason I chose to go with the scrubber vs chaeto was the space I had available. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate a chaeto fuge.

I don't have any pictures of components apart. My acrylic box is 24" long, 12" high and 3" wide. I cut two 1" bulkhead drain holes in the bottom and a semi-circle groove in each end to support the supply tube. The lights are 4-24" dual T8 fixtures from Home Depot.

I have been running a scrubber for month now and it works really well. My phosphate and nitrate are at 0 consistently for the first time in 6 years. My fish and corals like the extra food they are getting as well.So easy to build and effective.

Ive run a scrubber since spring, or may be early summer. I have the top of my mesh up inside the slotted pipe and attached with fishing line. To clean it I just remove the pipe with the mesh still attached. We all know how fast GHA can grow, but its amazing how much you can grow in 2 weeks on one of these things. I also run carbon and rowa with no problems. I do get alot of particulate in my water. The waters clear , but always with little bits of stuff floating around. Ive been running skimmer less since I set this up, but lately Ive been thinking of adding a skimmer to remove this stuff. I know alot of it can be eaten by the corals , plus my euro reef bit the dust, so I would have to by a new pump, or a new skimmer. I'm kind of on the fence here, but I wouldn't mind seeing how both together would work.

ok well i went and got all the materials today to build a algae scrubber, once i start building i will start a thread for the build and then to monitor the results and we will see how fast we get results, right now my phos is controlled by gfo but my nitrates are around 40ppm .




im thinking that instead of zipties onto the main pipe that my water comes out i will use a smaller size pipe that the mesh will ziptie onto, ill just shut off the valve,remove the end cap and slide the pipe out,ill make abigger otch out of the smaller pipe so it doesnt restrict flow but it only has one output anyways so i dont see that being a problem.

ill run to home depot later and see what they have for lights but besides that i have it all.:)

What size tank you are building for?

90gtank and 75g sump as it stands i have a very large fuge packed with cheato,halimeda, mangroves,caulerpa(?) bad at spelling lol plus i run a large amount of gfo.i have no algae in my display but my nitrates are very high and they are around 40 down from off the chart when i got the tank.i feed pretty heavily but have a small bio load.

im not worried about phosphates as my gfo keeps them in check and the high nitrates is def helping my fuge as my cheato is now again basketball sized and i just gave out bags full to about 10 people over the last 2 weeks.im not interested in running pellets or carbon dosing for this tank.i run a skimmer 24/7 and have around 70lbs of liverock in my fuge.


since this is a reletively low cost build and idea im more interested in how fast it takes my nitrates down.

so far my cost is:

$30 for the maxi jet
$6 for 2 x 12" x 24" sheets of mesh
about $20 in pvc fittings and pipe
ill have to see how much the lights are gonna run when i get to home depot tomorrow:)

how much were the t8 lights you found at hd pterfloth????

i already have a timer and zip ties:)

ill be building it all tomorrow and it will be housed in my sump, my sump has a seperate box where my tank overflows so i will run the maxi jet in there so as i can get all the nutrients i can.

once i get it built ill start a thread showing its progress daily with pics and tests as well.:)

I think I paid $26 per fixture plus $5-6 per bulb. Make sure you rough up the screens!

im gonna use a whole saw bit i have like in the link to rough them up i have some extra screens in case i screw them up same with pvc.

do you think my maxijet1200 will be enough or too much flow?? i have a ball valve on it incase i need to restrict it but i figure it was better then being plumbed into my overflow and at 30$ for the maxi jet its less headache then taking apart my plumbing . im gonna run the screen over my return section and the feed will be from my overflow output does anyone see any problems with that??

canreef mods should talk about adding a scrubber talk topic forumn??

and that was at home depot right?? thanks again man much appreciated:)

here is my bucket.

do you find its working?? how are your parameters?? from what to what??:)

looks nice and green :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Right now everything looks good. No GFO just carbon. It is LPS tank. Change 5 gallons every two weeks to bring chemistry up.

That looks like its working quite well.

The Maxijet 1200 should be good for 1 - 10x10" screen. The recommended flowrate is 35 gph per square inch of screen.