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algae scrubber/heavy metals
Adey's book cites an experiment in which he placed a stainless steel plate in a seawater ecosystem, measured high concentrations of heavy metals, and then used an algae scrubber to bring levels back to "normal seawater values". He also reports much greater efficiency of algae compared to macroalgae. The documentation is not sufficient.
The Eco-Wheel is a very large area algae scrubber, and a number of tanks now have them. I was interested in how well these tanks might be doing with their heavy metal levels. Additionally, adding iron would stimulate algae growth and uptake of heavy metals as well as phosphorus if needed.
I talked to Chris Owens of Aquatic Engineers about this. It would be intriguing to get some comparative data on macroalgae tanks and algae scrubbed tanks, with and without iron additions, and publish the results.
Your thoughts about this would be appreciated.
Charles Matthews
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