My Algae Scrubber Experience

[pterfloth]

Originally Posted by lastlight

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?

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.

[pterfloth]

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.

[reefwars]

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.

[reefme]

What size tank you are building for?

Originally Posted by reefwars

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.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by reefme

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.