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lapoza · 12/28/2017, 10:26 PM

Hello All,

I am just getting back into salt water reef keeping, wasn't really in it that long back in 2000 when I gave it a go in the first place. But, I bought a building last year that had a 265 gallon tank owned by Inland aquatics here in Terre Haute. I moved the tank to my office last month and started it going. The tank was pretty magnificent back when it was running from what I have heard, the building sat empty for 3 years until we bought it so all the water had evaporated out.

Anyhow the tank came with an old dump style turf scrubber, and I was able to get a seed screen from Inland aquatics before they closed. Algae is growing pretty well in the last three weeks and starting to spread onto the main screen. My complaint if you would call it that, is the dumping sound, right behind my back, gets a little old all day long when I'm stuck in the office. Also, because I started it back up without spending enough time relearning I filled the first 150 gallons with tap water so I'm having the diatom breakout right now. The dump style is dropping a ton of small bubbles with each and every drop which are getting caught in the diatoms. Even without the diatoms though it is a lot of bubbles, the water is full of them which makes it look hazy instead of nice and clear like I would like.

Another issue is the on top of the tank ATS block a good portion of area which hinders my LED light placement from giving a nice even spread, Where the scrubber is I have to put the LED's low and to the front of the tank in that area.

So I have had two thoughts, one would be to move the ATS to the underneath of the tank and somehow configure it to dump into a sump, the second idea would be to build a vertical scrubber and once it is running discontinue the overhead dump scrubber. Ive tried searching through all 396 pages of this post to find some sort of opinion of comparing the two styles and which is more effective but can't find anything as of yet. I have an open weekend and Strong sense of DIY wanting to build something or do something to get rid of the bubbles at least. With the long term goal to not have a scrubber overhead so I can have wide open access for lighting.

So with all of that stated I am just curious on the long time veterans here if I am going to make a change, which would you recommend, keeping and moving the dump ATS or building a vertical style

12/28/2017, 10:26 PM	#9891
lapoza Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 21	Hello All, I am just getting back into salt water reef keeping, wasn't really in it that long back in 2000 when I gave it a go in the first place. But, I bought a building last year that had a 265 gallon tank owned by Inland aquatics here in Terre Haute. I moved the tank to my office last month and started it going. The tank was pretty magnificent back when it was running from what I have heard, the building sat empty for 3 years until we bought it so all the water had evaporated out. Anyhow the tank came with an old dump style turf scrubber, and I was able to get a seed screen from Inland aquatics before they closed. Algae is growing pretty well in the last three weeks and starting to spread onto the main screen. My complaint if you would call it that, is the dumping sound, right behind my back, gets a little old all day long when I'm stuck in the office. Also, because I started it back up without spending enough time relearning I filled the first 150 gallons with tap water so I'm having the diatom breakout right now. The dump style is dropping a ton of small bubbles with each and every drop which are getting caught in the diatoms. Even without the diatoms though it is a lot of bubbles, the water is full of them which makes it look hazy instead of nice and clear like I would like. Another issue is the on top of the tank ATS block a good portion of area which hinders my LED light placement from giving a nice even spread, Where the scrubber is I have to put the LED's low and to the front of the tank in that area. So I have had two thoughts, one would be to move the ATS to the underneath of the tank and somehow configure it to dump into a sump, the second idea would be to build a vertical scrubber and once it is running discontinue the overhead dump scrubber. Ive tried searching through all 396 pages of this post to find some sort of opinion of comparing the two styles and which is more effective but can't find anything as of yet. I have an open weekend and Strong sense of DIY wanting to build something or do something to get rid of the bubbles at least. With the long term goal to not have a scrubber overhead so I can have wide open access for lighting. So with all of that stated I am just curious on the long time veterans here if I am going to make a change, which would you recommend, keeping and moving the dump ATS or building a vertical style