Algae Scrubber Basics

[HarrisonMG]

Oh, cool! Did not think that would be ideal, especially since cleaning it means removing the unit. But....ok, it's growing back anyways!

The secondary and emergency drains are at or above water level, so they are not relevant, but the primary drain could be impacted because it opens right at the acrylic wall. I guess if I remove the "3D growth" before it starts getting sucked down the drain, then it shouldn't be an issue. Otherwise I could probably use some spare parts and get it away from growth.

I cleaned the scrubber about a week ago, and only took out the brownish red hair algae. It has almost completely grown back, and the green stuff has grown too. But since my system has seemed to have selected both as what will grow, should I treat them equally with my scraping?

Thanks!

[Floyd R Turbo]

If it's hair algae, leave it. If it's slime or goo, it will come off easily.

My method is this: swipe your palm across the screen while rinsing. This will remove slime and gooey/spongey stuff. Then use your fingertips and rub gently under running water; this will remove some of the more loosely attached algae (hopefully no more than 25%)

Here are my thoughts on screen start-up vs long term, and why you shouldn't worry about or try to force a specific type of growth.

Different algaes will tend to pop up depending on the nutrient/chemical balance. Sometimes, when you start up a scrubber, things are set up for growing multiple types of algae well. Then, over time, levels change and one algae ends up with better conditions, and that algae become dominant. Between that point and the starting point, the scrubber can be all over the map. I've had orange goo, yellow spongey growth, dense/dark GHA with a reddish slime coating that looks black under red light, etc. It was that way for months, and then it was like someone flipped a switch and I got explosive GHA growth and pretty much nothing else. This was on my personal tank where I was testing versions and the nutrients had risen, so it was sort of like a semi-mature tank that had not had a scrubber on it (effectively). I have seen similar patterns on other similar tanks. But that's it - just a pattern.

[SantaMonica]

Speaking of growth on the glass, here is an upflow scrubber looking through the sump glass, with the growth light removed. The strings are shown touching (and rubbing) the glass, and when bubbles are rapid this has the effect of cleaning growth off of the glass so that more light gets through.

[LQT]

Growth from my Turbo’s Aquatics L2 Rev4 ATS running on a 57 gallon tank with only 4 fish at the moment. 16 hour photo period with the potentiometer knob still in the 6 o’clock position which is 25% intensity.

[Floyd R Turbo]

@LQT that looks like you've got it pretty well balanced - and ready for additional bioload! How does the tank look?

[LQT]

Tank is looking better. Went through about a month and a half of serious GHA growth in the DT... chalking it up to new tank uglies. Did a few weeks of manual removal. The manual removal as well as the addition of more snails and a Lawnmower blenny looked like it coincided with the screen. maturing. “3D” growth finally started happening in the scrubber. Algae in the DT has since receded significantly. Hopefully the new tank uglies are finally over and the mature ATS will keep future GHA outbreaks in the DT at bay.

[Floyd R Turbo]

you can probably bump the photoperiod up to as long as you want, the rate of uptake is driven by the intensity so if you leave that alone, it should not over-filter. Adjusting the intensity from 25% (halfway) to 50% (knob at 3/4 of max) is where you can fiddle with it a bit. If your bioload is relatively low, you may not need much more intensity, if any. Offhand I would say it would be pretty easy to over-filter a 57g with an L2 on it, so whatever you do, watch the algae for color changes. If it gets a lot lighter and starts to turn yellow, you're pushing the edge. But if you had algae on the rocks, you could still have nutrients to pull out for a while.

New tank uglies - yes, that is a thing! #15 below

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/

[SantaMonica]

Going to be getting creative this Halloween...

[salty joe]

I know its probably somewhere in this 10,000 plus pages...wow what a thread! I'm hoping you guys can let me know if I'm on the right path.

I want to run eight 1W 660nm LEDs. They have a forward V of 2-2.2 and forward current of 280-350mA.

I'll need a power supply of at least 17.6V, 2.8A, which really means 24V, 4A.

I'll use four Meanwell LDD-700 drivers with each driver handling two LEDs in series.

Do I have it right?

[Floyd R Turbo]

You need 8x 2.2V = 17.6V, but it's the same current going through all 8 LEDs so you only need 350 mA

A quick look (very quick) tells me you need one LDD-350H which is 320mA and 9-56V

[SantaMonica]

320ma is good for 1w leds, but most people use 3w leds which would use 500 to 600ma.

[salty joe]

Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo

You need 8x 2.2V = 17.6V, but it's the same current going through all 8 LEDs so you only need 350 mA

A quick look (very quick) tells me you need one LDD-350H which is 320mA and 9-56V

Thank you Floyd Turbo, you are right on the money.

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

320ma is good for 1w leds, but most people use 3w leds which would use 500 to 600ma.

I'm using 1W to try to bump up phyto production. I currently have a warm white 12W LED light bulb point blank on four 2 liter bottles and am going to add eight 1W 660nm LEDs point blank on them as well.

[SantaMonica]

When figuring out what materials to use, don't neglect considering strings... sometimes they can hold on to the most growth, because they are narrow and light can get to all sides of them.

[SantaMonica]

Time for salad with oil and vinegar...

[LQT]

Bud, your scrubber rocks!

[Floyd R Turbo]

Nice!

[Daddyrawg]

Originally Posted by LQT

Bud, your scrubber rocks!

how long is that growth for? what are your light settings on the ATS?

[LQT]

Originally Posted by Daddyrawg

how long is that growth for? what are your light settings on the ATS?

It’s about 18 days of growth. The potentiometer knob to adjust the lights on my scrubber moves in a counterclockwise direction from lower to higher intensity. So my lights are currently in the 7 o’clock position on the dial. My scrubber is one of the first runs of Bud’s L2 rev4 scrubbers. I believe his more recent runs of his scrubbers have the potentiometer dial going in a clockwise direction now. Bud, please correct me if I’m wrong.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yup, you've got that all correct. I started referencing the knob position in more ambiguous terms due to the direction change.

25% intensity is the halfway point (arrow pointing straight down)
50% intensity is 1/4 of a turn toward the max intensity
100% is then most obviously the max intensity

Note that while most would consider the knob at 3/4 of max meaning 75%, this is indeed not the case (it's not perfectly linear). It's very important to note that you double the intensity from the halfway position to the 3/4 position, then double it again to the max level. It's easy to hit the screen with way too much light if crank the intensity up without it being mature enough to handle that intensity.

Also note that the maximum intensity of similar size off-the-shelf fixtures matches up with the 25% level of these fixtures. In short, these lights are at least double if not 4x as intense as most

[SantaMonica]

This is a good example of how FW growth is different and needs different attachment surfaces. Although this type of thin non-GHA growth can occur in SW, it's much more common in FW, and does not hold on well to screens.

[Scrubber_steve]

This threads gone quiet.

I'll make the first post for 2020

[HarrisonMG]

Adorable!
I hope the silence is a sign that there is so much info on scrubbers, people are making use of it, and not that people aren't making/using them as much! I sure love mine. (At least I don't think its the reason my corals are going through a rough patch. That might be alkalinity)

[Floyd R Turbo]

I think it's that everyone has started so many other threads rather than looking for the one mega-thread of conversation where all us scrubber nerds hang out.

There are many more people now with experience giving advice compared to just a few years ago....

[Scrubber_steve]

There is quite a few manufacturers now supplying stores like BRS with ATS.

Wasn't that long ago BRS didn't offer an ATS.

Although none of the suppliers are what your'd categorise as "one of the big boy manufacturers", like reef octopus or tunze.

I wonder if one of the big boys will attempt a industry take over in the ATS sector some time in the near future?

If I had their resources I would.

[Floyd R Turbo]

You've seen CoralVue's attempt at doing this, right? The IceCap scrubber?