My Algae Scrubber Experience

Palmer · #1 01-20-2012, 10:12 AM

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?

Edmonton newbie · #2 01-20-2012, 12:43 PM

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

Proteus · #3 01-20-2012, 03:19 PM

Thanks for the info. Shall start a build right away

globaldesigns · #4 01-20-2012, 04:06 PM

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

Edmonton newbie · #5 01-20-2012, 04:14 PM

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

Edmonton newbie · #6 01-20-2012, 04:15 PM

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

pterfloth · #7 01-20-2012, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

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

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.

Proteus · #8 01-20-2012, 04:36 PM

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.

lastlight · #9 01-20-2012, 04:53 PM

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?

pterfloth · #10 01-20-2012, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus99

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.

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