Algae Scrubber Disaster

[Jaws]

Actually I always remove it to clean it but the contamination happens before I replace the screen. It's definitely happening when I take it offline and remove the screen. I modified a large aquafuge in order to build a waterfall scrubber so that water from my sump gets pumped up to the top of the aquafuge and falls down the screen and empties out the bottom back into my sump. But because it's under my tank in the cabinet, I had to make it tall enough so that the bottom of the scrubber is above the top of my sump so it empties back into the sump. As a result the top of scrubber is only an inch and a half from the ceiling of my stand. When I pull the screen out I have to bend it over the top of the scrubber and it tends to squeeze a bit against the acrylic of the aquafuge and ends up straining a bit of the water that's in the algae back into the sump. Just water though, no algae and barely any water at all. That's why I'm so surprised at how quickly it affects the breathing and overall health of my fish. Within 5 minutes they start swimming into rocks and each other and their coloration looks horrible. Definitely looks like ammonia spiking to me. I just can't understand why its happening and how it's happening so quickly. I do have a large bioload but my parameters have been WAY better since adding the algae scrubber and they should be more reliable than this. It's a mature scrubber too so it's nice thick green hair algae that's growing.

[ocean diver]

umm well could you give us some pictures of the algae scrubber in action and maybe we can figure out what is going on. I take mine out and clean the screen then put it back and turn the pump back on and have never had any issues.

[Borderjumper]

That's weird! I've lost fish 3 times after cleaning the sides of a tank. Just basic mag float scraping... Nothing on the mag float, nothing on my hands.

As you said within MINUTES the fish are stunned, lay on the bottom and are dead almost immediately. The funny thing is it killed the smaller fish almost instantly while a few bigger ones swim around like nothing's happening.

Victoria Killer Algae maybe? I now clean the glass on my tanks a 1/4 a day I'm so freaked!

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

That's weird! I've lost fish 3 times after cleaning the sides of a tank. Just basic mag float scraping... Nothing on the mag float, nothing on my hands.

As you said within MINUTES the fish are stunned, lay on the bottom and are dead almost immediately. The funny thing is it killed the smaller fish almost instantly while a few bigger ones swim around like nothing's happening.

Victoria Killer Algae maybe? I now clean the glass on my tanks a 1/4 a day I'm so freaked!

Wow! That's crazy and doesn't make any sense at all. I hope it never comes to that!

Here's a pic if that helps. I had to make the scrubber even higher than what it is now too. This was before I started using it too.

[windcoast reefs]

Sorry to hear about yor losses!

I can honestly say I've never had anything like that happen. Could it possibly be that the algae is causing denitrification? Since it stores some nitrates it could store them long enough and act live a substrate does in the ocean, basically breaking it down into ammonia and not fully into nitrogen gas. Then when you disturb it, it releases the ammonia in small amounts. That might explain why your smaller fish die Shelley. And possibly when a large amount of algae is disturbed, like in an algae scrubber, the larger fish die to.

If I'm right, then I would try turning the ball valve off for the drain and taking the algae out for cleaning, then sucking all the extra water out of the algae scrubber and testing it for ammonia.

Just an idea though!

[monocus]

my scrubber is built the same way sitting on my sump with 2" clearance to the top of my stand.i've never had any problem while or after changing.it almost sounds like your o2 is very low in your tank and when you turn the pumps off the o2 is rapidly depleted.you shouldn't be getting a spike in ammonia by changing your algae scrubber which soaks up nitrates and phosphates

[windcoast reefs]

Originally Posted by monocus

my scrubber is built the same way sitting on my sump with 2" clearance to the top of my stand.i've never had any problem while or after changing.it almost sounds like your o2 is very low in your tank and when you turn the pumps off the o2 is rapidly depleted.you shouldn't be getting a spike in ammonia by changing your algae scrubber which soaks up nitrates and phosphates

Yeah that's possible as well, but what I was saying is that when there is nitrites, they can denitrify down to ammonia.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by monocus

my scrubber is built the same way sitting on my sump with 2" clearance to the top of my stand.i've never had any problem while or after changing.it almost sounds like your o2 is very low in your tank and when you turn the pumps off the o2 is rapidly depleted.you shouldn't be getting a spike in ammonia by changing your algae scrubber which soaks up nitrates and phosphates

id have to agree , ive spilled skimmer cups , full ats mats and all inds of junk i didnt mean to and never had the ill effects yur describing.

i can almost bet its the lack of oxygen when the sheet is cleaned that the mature algae gives off that is causing you grief.

have you posted this on algaescrubber.net??

i bet you would get the answer you need off that forumn

good luck

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Try adding an air pump and air stones into your display when you clean your scrubber, to help oxygenate the water.

[Jaws]

Wouldn't I see the same effect when I turn the return pump off in order to do a water change? I have the return pump T'd so it feeds the scrubber as well as the main display. When I turn the return pump off to do a water change all the fish seem totally fine.

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