Algae Scrubber Basics

[sensei]

Originally Posted by chema

That's weird, because usually you see larger and quicker reductions in nitrate than phosphate. May be it depends on the species of alga which is growing on the screen.

as you know Phosphate figures are much lower in magnitude than Nitrate ones. I have a 180 gal system and I had 0.12ppm PO4 and around 7.5 ppm of Nitrate. Also it is difficult to quantify a 1ppm reduction of Nitrates since test kits for NO3 are not that exact , while for PO4 if you use hanna digital tester it is preaty easy.

[herring_fish]

Originally Posted by chema

That's weird, because usually you see larger and quicker reductions in nitrate than phosphate. May be it depends on the species of alga which is growing on the screen.

Bacteria load in the tank and phosphates that are temporarily bound in the rock are just two examples of factors that can render weird results.

[chagovatoloco]

Hay, what do you guys think of the marine magic scrubber on ebay item number.
272053935197
I am thinking of putting the light in the overflow box of my innovative marine 40.

[KafudaFish]

Has anyone used this light on a scrubber?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M31GHHO?psc=1

If so what size screen would it effectively light?

And the 20 watt version?

Thanks.

[m1k3]

Bud, couple questions but let's start with my situation. I've got a 125 with a 20 sump and separate 20 fuge with cheato. 8 fish and a variety of soft and lps. My skimmer is by some accounts a tad undersized, aquamaxx cones co-1. Tank started to get overtaken with the short brown fuzz algea but lately have also been getting a powdery green algea that is easy to blow off with a turkey baster. And it's getting worse. Oh also run the BRS mini gfo reactor with their standard bulk media. I have recently began feeding more especially the coral which is obviously contributing to the algae prob. On average I would say I feed 1.5-2 cube equivalent per day. Always been curious about ATS but didn't think too much about one till my algae problems started getting worse. I should also add that my nitrates are always unreadable and phosphates never more than .02 on red sea kit. Obviously a lot of phosphates are bound up in the algae and my pukani rock may well still be leaching. I love diying so this looks like a fun project and I can't wait to get started. Have a lot of stuff on order already and heatsink will be 2-4 weeks coming from china. Picked up the canvas today and prepped it, it is marinating in the fuge alongside my cheato ball, at a min it should at least get a biofilm on it by the time I am ready for it. Couple more fish to add and a lot more coral so I am shooting for a 3 cube per day system. Here is what I got so far, let me know if I am off anywhere:

6x6 lit area 2 sides.
Enclosed
6 ea 660nm (cree XP-E )and 1 450 nm (cree XT-E) per side
Driven by a meanwell 60-48d
Dimming and timer control via arduino upped to 10v via op amp and dac (this will be one of the funner parts).
Heat sink to be cut in two is 300x140mm

Still debating on separate pump or splicing off my return line. I do not want to tap my drain line. Looking to upgrade my return pump and would like tune everything but the skimmer off of it. Goal is to get rid of the fuge and use the mini reactor for carbon. Oh and be algae free or close to it in the DT.

So the questions, did I get the level of light corect? Assuming yes would best layout be simply two rows of three with the blue in the middle or some other configuration? Since I am going enclosed what do you recommend for the number and size of drains?

My biggest concern at the moment is my tank is practically silent, loudest noise being the fans on my two photon lights. That's the main reason I opted for enclosed am I going to hear this thing? Any tips to make it as silent as possible?

Wow I've never written that much on my tablet before...

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by KafudaFish

Has anyone used this light on a scrubber?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M31GHHO?psc=1

If so what size screen would it effectively light?

And the 20 watt version?

Thanks.

Yes, multi-chip fixtures are generally pretty good, but can create a hot spot right in front of the chip

Originally Posted by chagovatoloco

Hay, what do you guys think of the marine magic scrubber on ebay item number.
272053935197
I am thinking of putting the light in the overflow box of my innovative marine 40.

IMO, developed by someone with little to no understanding of how a scrubber works, just trying to fill a void with and HOB unit. There are multiple things wrong with this design. Haven't seen on in operating but just from examining the way it's put together, waste of $$. If I thought that design would work well, I would build one like it.

[chagovatoloco]

This is what I use now, I placed a 3" round air stone in the bottom of one column. I suspended a screen with some pvc pipe and have an innovative marine magnetic fuge light. But as I understand it the led are 6500k, not right and I'm sure I could do more with better lighting.

I thought about a santamonica drop 2x but, the flow is restricted and I feel with better lighting I may do well with what I have. It's not the money I just want the best scrubber for my setup.

[chagovatoloco]

[chagovatoloco]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but scrubber help is hard to find.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by m1k3

6x6 lit area 2 sides.
Enclosed
6 ea 660nm (cree XP-E )and 1 450 nm (cree XT-E) per side
Driven by a meanwell 60-48d
Dimming and timer control via arduino upped to 10v via op amp and dac (this will be one of the funner parts).
Heat sink to be cut in two is 300x140mm

Sounds pretty good. With the RB I would instead run a pair of these and wire them in parallel together, then wire this pair in series with the red string. This avoids needing a separate driver and cuts down on the intensity, you don't need much blue. I use SemiLED Hyper Violets instead of blues, they seem to work better

Originally Posted by m1k3

So the questions, did I get the level of light corect? Assuming yes would best layout be simply two rows of three with the blue in the middle or some other configuration? Since I am going enclosed what do you recommend for the number and size of drains?

My biggest concern at the moment is my tank is practically silent, loudest noise being the fans on my two photon lights. That's the main reason I opted for enclosed am I going to hear this thing? Any tips to make it as silent as possible?

Wow I've never written that much on my tablet before...

Level is good, you can do different configurations, just try to get as even spacing as you can to get good even coverage. You're on the right track. What I would do is figure up your sq in (36) and divide by the # of reds (6) so you want to have each 660 cover a 6 sq in area (2x3 or 2.5x2x5, etc) then find a place for the blues after that (don't take the blues into consideration when spacing the reds)

Making it silent is not difficult, you can extend the screen into the water by an inch or so to prevent the water from crashing into the sump and that will get you a long way.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by chagovatoloco

Sorry to hijack the thread, but scrubber help is hard to find.

You're not threadjacking here if you are posting about your scrubber - not a problem!!!

[chagovatoloco]

Thank you, so what would help my scrubber?

[karimwassef]

Is it time to scrape my overflow scrubber?







The areas closest to the surface but submerged have red slime cyano. The regions underneath (including under the cyano) have dark green hair. Above the waterline and behind the overflow shadow are empty.

Is this normal/healthy?

The glass back wall is still growing too.



I'll scrape that too.

[karimwassef]

Oh. It's been four weeks for the growth above. Very tempted to take it out.

[chema]

Originally Posted by herring_fish

Bacteria load in the tank and phosphates that are temporarily bound in the rock are just two examples of factors that can render weird results.

That's true. The rate of phosphate adsorption to the rock, or leaching, may modify the ratio of nitrate/phosphate reduction you may theoretically expect.

[KafudaFish]

Thank you for looking at the link. Now it is time to do some reading and planning for my build.

[hkgar]

I see people posting about 0 PO4 after installing a scrubber. Heck, i run a scrubber, dose vinegar and run both GFO and GAC, and have a skimmer. I feed heavy: 6 grams of homemade frozen, 8 sq inches of nori, 1 Marine grazzer ring, and a pinch of pellets per day; but I have a lot of fish - a pretty heavy bio load.

My po4 test 2 days ago (4 days after changing GFO) was .03 (Hanna checker) and nitrate about 1.5 with RedSea Pro.

Here are pics of my screen after 10 days and my skimmer after 1 day.

[MaccaPopEye]

Originally Posted by hkgar

I see people posting about 0 PO4 after installing a scrubber. Heck, i run a scrubber, dose vinegar and run both GFO and GAC, and have a skimmer. I feed heavy: 6 grams of homemade frozen, 8 sq inches of nori, 1 Marine grazzer ring, and a pinch of pellets per day; but I have a lot of fish - a pretty heavy bio load.

My po4 test 2 days ago (4 days after changing GFO) was .03 (Hanna checker) and nitrate about 1.5 with RedSea Pro.

Here are pics of my screen after 10 days and my skimmer after 1 day.

I haven't even got my scrubber running yet and I don’t know what the dimensions of your screen are so I'm a noob but IMO it looks too small for that amount of food you listed (but I'm not great with judging size so I could be completely wrong). If you read the posts in Flyod's signature he goes through sizing the screen for the amount of food and correct lighting for the screen size. I would say if you sized your screen to the amount fed and light correctly (you didnt say how you have it lit) then you would possibly be able to remove the GFO and probably stop carbon dosing (stop slowly of course) and keep a similar PO4 level. I think a skimmer and GAC are still good to have as they do slightly different jobs, skimmers remove organics and GAC removes chemicals from soft corals and polishes the water.

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by MaccaPopEye

I haven't even got my scrubber running yet and I don’t know what the dimensions of your screen are so I'm a noob but IMO it looks too small for that amount of food you listed (but I'm not great with judging size so I could be completely wrong). If you read the posts in Flyod's signature he goes through sizing the screen for the amount of food and correct lighting for the screen size. I would say if you sized your screen to the amount fed and light correctly (you didnt say how you have it lit) then you would possibly be able to remove the GFO and probably stop carbon dosing (stop slowly of course) and keep a similar PO4 level. I think a skimmer and GAC are still good to have as they do slightly different jobs, skimmers remove organics and GAC removes chemicals from soft corals and polishes the water.

Screen size is 6x8 (48 square inches per side) and lit on both sides with 23W CFL (1 on each side). Photo period is 18 hours on 6 hours off.

Using the calculator https://docs.zoho.com/sheet/publishe...b2b670ae00412b I am feeding just under the max for 48 inches at 3.9 equivalent cubes per day.

[MaccaPopEye]

Apologies then, 48 square inches should do 4 cubes per day which should be good enough. 23W of CFL is bit on the low side. I think recommended is minimum of 24W each side for a 48 square inch screen, even a bit more could be beneficial, I have been reading up on LEDs so not sure about CFL but they could be the wrong colour temp too?

The only other major factor I can think of is flow. If your screen is 6" wide then it should have around 210GPH of flow. If you have all that then you will have to wait for one of the experts to chime in as I can’t think of anything else. I guess if you have all of that down and you want to increase growth try more intense lighting?

[hkgar]

The lights are 5000K and flow, last time I measured was a bit over the 210, I should check it again.

[MaccaPopEye]

Best CFL lights are 2700K-3000K. It sounds like everything is correct except the lights. Like I said I am a complete noob so wait for someone more experienced to confirm but I would say increase your lights wattage and lower the colour temp if you want to stick with CFL lights.

[Paul B]

I don't remember when I built this thing, maybe 8 weeks ago. I have a very weak temporary LED on it that was probably used for lighting a closet and I also have a five foot algae trough in this tank that grows algae. This also needs more flow but being it also feeds my reverse UG filter I would need to do a lot of re-designing to accomplish that. I have been using mortar and cement in my reef since the 70s. To grow algae and build rocks. Algae loves cement like I love Supermodels.

[Floyd R Turbo]

It was about 5 weeks ago Paul, I posted your screen here a couple pages back

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...9#post24089859

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by MaccaPopEye

Best CFL lights are 2700K-3000K. It sounds like everything is correct except the lights. Like I said I am a complete noob so wait for someone more experienced to confirm but I would say increase your lights wattage and lower the colour temp if you want to stick with CFL lights.

Actually, I was wrong. I just checked the box and they bulbs are 2700K.