Would you/Do you use an Algae Turf Scrubber?

[cvermeulen]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

cvermeulen, do I understand correctly that you are running one on your FW tank?

Yes, I am. It's doing a pretty good job too. There are a few FW success stories on MonsterFishkeepers.com as well. one fellow successfully "ungrew" algae from his whole outdoor pond with a solar powered algae screen.

My only complaint is that I removed my mech. filter bags to make room for the scrubber in my sump, and the filter floss I replaced the bags with don't do nearly as good a job... this of course is easily remedied. It's only a problem in my tank because of it's messy inhabitants.

[fdiddy]

I thought this system was a thing of the 70s and had major problems with water discoloration?

[cvermeulen]

Originally Posted by fdiddy

I thought this system was a thing of the 70s and had major problems with water discoloration?

Well it's definitely not NEW technology. I haven't seen any report of water discoloration on either FW or SW applications. I'm not sure why they aren't more predominant in hobbyist aquaria. It's a similar idea to running an autotrophic denitrator with sulfur or alcohol as an energy source (as in some public aquaria). The only issue I can foresee (which is preventable !) is when you do not clean your scrubber for weeks and weeks, and the bottom layers die and begin to decay causing an ammonia spike. There are scrubber designs though that prevent this problem... and realistically can you say it's a system flaw that negiligence causes potential problems?

[BlueAbyss]

The issue with water discolouration in these systems, as seen in some older reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef display in the Smithsonian Museum (it was actually really bad in this system from the pictures I looked at) probably stemmed from the fact that this was the only form of filtration used in these systems. I would think that used together with common technologies from today (skimmers, prodigious use of live rock, etc.) this would probably be a non-issue.

And if a little colour was noticed, you could just run some carbon.

Glad to see this idea getting some attention. Seems like a more efficient way to export nutrients than a 'fuge.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

The issue with water discolouration in these systems, as seen in some older reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef display in the Smithsonian Museum (it was actually really bad in this system from the pictures I looked at) probably stemmed from the fact that this was the only form of filtration used in these systems. I would think that used together with common technologies from today (skimmers, prodigious use of live rock, etc.) this would probably be a non-issue.

And if a little colour was noticed, you could just run some carbon.

Glad to see this idea getting some attention. Seems like a more efficient way to export nutrients than a 'fuge.

Well said.