MY ALGAE SCRUBBER PROTOTYPE

[DFW]

@claynguyen1973 wrote:

It is my pleasure having you come by!

David

 

[DFW]

Here is the side that I scraped last week:

[attachment=1]4 8 12 algae screen 1 weeks growth.JPG[/attachment]

And here is the side that I scraped 2 weeks ago:

[attachment=0]4 8 12 algae screen 2 weeks growth.JPG[/attachment]

I am still working on a permanent solution for metering the water evenly on the screen. This felt material works ok for a week, but algae grows on it, it gets stiff, and clogs, and then some of the water is forced out the ends rather than down the screen. It works fine if I replace it every week, but will find a better solution!

Thanks for looking!

David

 

[BrianG]

Pretty cool, any adverse affects on water chemistry so far?

 

[DFW]

No nitrates as of yet. And I removed about 20 pounds of live rock from the system a few weeks ago as well, and started adding phyto most every day, too. I had a light green acro start bleaching about a week ago, and it's turning brown now, after having turned white. I had placed it right at the top of the rock, and was too close to the light, I think. And I am seeing today that a very fast growing acro with a light green base upwards to sky blue tips of new growth is lightening up to a tan color on the branches, although it is retaining the blue tips, and green at the base, and green polyps on the tan stalks. It is fairly high in the tank. too. I understand that many of these corals are brown in the ocean, and that in our tanks, we get colors not always seen in the wild. I understand, also, that corals will change colors during certain events, and then return to their "prettier" state when we provide them with the right conditions. I am hoping, and trusting, that is the case here!

I do not think that switching from a "cheap" skimmer to an algae scrubber has anything to do with this! I am more inclined to think that a somewhat sudden reduction in alkalinity may have something to do with it. I had been adding more baked baking soda each day than I should have for several weeks. Upon realizing that, 3 days ago I stopped doing that, and just added the daily limewater dosing, so the alk has fallen back slightly from around 9.7 to 8.7 over 3 or 4 days. I am now increasing, slightly, the daily dose of limewater so as to elevate the alk back to where it had been, and this will achieve the proper calcium level as well.

I have not tested for phosphates, but since nitrates are at 0, and since I believe that an algae scrubber deals with phosphates as well as it does nitrates, I don't think that phosphates are likely to be a contributing factor to any of this either.

Any insights will certainly be appreciated though!

I am scraping a good bit of algae from one side of the screen every week.

Thanks for your interest!

David

 

[DFW]

Can you run a mixed reef with sps, lps, soft coral, and 20 plus anemones with live rock, deep sand bed with plenum, an algae scrubber, and no skimmer? Well, for 70 days now, at least, with God's help, I have been. I have seen no increase in any "bad" algae. There are still no nitrates. There are no bad smells - I expected that without skimming that the water might stink a bit, but not so. During this 70 days I removed at least 20 pounds of live rock, and have fed phyto 30 days, which I had not done while using the skimmer, so actually have put more "pressure" on the scrubber than was on the skimmer, but everything looks to be ok so far. I am still running carbon for 12 hours each week as I had been all along.

I am scraping 1 side of the screen each week now and getting several cups of algae from a scraped side. It is sticking fast to the screen - I keep some polyfill quilt stuffing under the scrubber to dampen what would be a splashing sound if it weren't there, and little debris is deposited there by the scrubber. I disconnect a hose fitting from the Mag 5, set the 2 lamps to the side, and carry the whole scrubber unit to the kitchen sink. A scrape, and a rinse, and brush run through, and around the feed pipe, and a good rinse of the felt that I use to eliminate water squirting other than on the screen, re attach the felt, and it's back in business! (The felt actually is preventing algae from growing into the slot of the feed pipe anyway, and I am using a foam filter on the Mag 5, so not feeding debris in there anyway.)

Thanks for looking!

David

 

[K_Red_Raider]

I'm following this. I've always like the thought of an algae scrubber


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[DFW]

@K_Red_Raider wrote:

Thanks!

I am hoping that this is the very simple answer to eliminating many problems that are had in this hobby! If it basically removes everything that you don't want in your tank except silicates, and you want some silicates in your tank, while allowing the reef plankton type things to pass right on through to be used by the reef inhabitants, it seems to be a win win situation to me. Will sps coral do well in a system without a skimmer, and all the other gadgets being used by most today? I am hoping so!

I dose lime water, and run this scrubber. That's basically all that I do, except do a 5 or 10 gallon water change every other week in a system that holds 120 actual gallons of water, and run 1 1/2 cups of carbon for 12 hours once a week in a Aquaclear 70.

I am not saying that this is "it". I am just saying that this is what I am doing, and that I hope that I am getting closer to "it"!

David

 

[melev]

Can you please measure your phosphate level and report that as well?

Are you seeing more pods in the tank? The type that look like tiny dots buzzing about, not amphipods or copepods.

 

[DFW]

@Marc wrote:

Please tell me what is an acceptable phosphate test and I will attempt to do that as soon as possible. I have never tested for phosphates before.

I have always had those little pods, but really have not made note of an increase.

Thanks!

David

 

[melev]

David, PO4 should measure .03 or less.

I had an interesting discussion with a vendor recently about how the skimmer takes out so much food that pods don't thrive. I've not seen the buzzing kind of pods Jessy posted a video of in my 400g, and I was wondering since yours is skimmerless if you've seen an increase. I'll get you a link to the video later.

 

[DFW]

@Marc wrote:

I should pay more attention. I have normally seen the pods when the glass gets a film on it, but I haven't been getting as much of a film on the glass, and what I have been getting, I have been cleaning more promptly. I will let some film grow on the glass and watch!

But tell me what test kit to use for phosphates. I don't know which one to trust.

Thanks!

David

 

[melev]

I've used Elos and Salifert for PO4, and both do the job well. Salifert is easier.

Here's the link with a video on the page: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/301-Pod-Party-in-Jessy-s-Tank

 

[DFW]

@Marc wrote:

OK. I'll get a hold of a test kit as soon as I can, or get someone to test it for me.

Thank you!

David

 

[DFW]

Well, True Percula only has API & Seachem phosphate test kits, and I got the API. I have tested my water for phosphates just now for the first time in the almost 4 years the tank has been running. It shows to be 0 ppm - a very pale, clear yellow. I am sure that this is not considered to be the most accurate test kit for phosphates, but since the next color on the chart is green, and 0.25 ppm, surely I can at least gather that it is much closer to 0 ppm than it is to 0.25, since there is hardly any yellow color, and no green. And the kit is marked with an expiration date of Jan. 2015, so, I expect that it is a fresh kit.

I have heard that you should rinse all of your frozen food before feeding to eliminate phosphates. I never have done that. I feed it 2 or 3 times a week soaked in Reef Plus, and I dump it all in. I have heard that flake food often has phosphates. I feed spirulina flakes 3 or 4 times per week. I sometimes feed pellet food once per week. I feed a tiny particle sized food once, or twice a week, too. And I have heard that feeding anemones can cause problems with all of their waste products. I have 20, and feed each one 2 or 3 eraser sized pieces of silversides, or more if they will take it, 3 times per week. I rarely find any waste products from the anemones that needs to be removed from the tank either.

David

 

[melev]

That's good that you tested for it finally. And even better that you got a good reading.

 

[McReefer]

Is that the virgin mary's face in your ATS???!!!! JK JK... but that is crazy looking. I ran mine for months and it never looked like that. The only time I had to clean it was when the algae started to hang off the screen on the bottom. But it never looked that thick. I also only ran one 60W bulb for 16 hours a day. Never read that you should do it that way but I never wound up cranking it up to the advised light settings.

 

[DFW]

@McReefer wrote:

I don't think so! And she is not a virgin any more any way. She had a number of children by Joseph after she bore our Savior by the Spirit of God!

I don't know what the "advised light settings" are. I guess that you could use any wattage bulb that you want.

David

 

[Powers]

Been following this with great interest was curious if you could give some info in how you made the acrylic box is it siliconed? What size acrylic used? Awesome build looks like your getting a lot per week as well

 

[DFW]

@Powers wrote:

Acrylic is put together with acrylic solvent cement.

I made the 2 piece box so that it would fit inside the sump tank. I made it so that it would be as far into the sump as possible without getting the reflectors wet when the power goes off and sends more water down there. And I made it as tall as I could make it and still be able to take it in and out easily without getting in a bind anywhere. The box is 3 inches wide, although I am thinking 4 inches would be ok, and maybe better. The 2 narrow sides, the bottom, and the left side - looking at my photos - where the water line comes in through a cutout on top, are one piece. The top, and the right side are one piece. You just fix it where you can set the right side in to the left side.

I hope that's at least a little clearer than mud!

David

 

[DFW]

A few more days and I will have run this algae scrubber in place of the skimmer for 4 months. All the corals look good to me. Well, at least the ones that were looking good still look good to me. It seems like I am having to clean the glass a little less often. I have increased lime water dosing during this time as well. Rather than dosing 1 gallon saturated solution every night, and adding baking soda, too, I increased to between 1.25 & 1.375 gallons saturated solution, and no baking soda. I will likely change the light bulbs soon, since many have said that they should be changed every few months. I am presently using a piece of felt draped over the top of the scrubber with a large loose fitting rubber band keeping the felt somewhat snug up to the growing surface. It is working ok, but am still thinking there is a better way. And I am wondering if a Mag 7 pump would be better than this Mag 5. Sometimes it looks like it could use a little more flow.

Thanks for looking!

David