Show off your Turbo's Aquatics Algae Scrubber!

[Turbo's Aquatics]

It looks to me like you could add more time, go to 20 hours. As long as you have the bioload to support continued increases, alternate between adding hours and increasing intensity. For the intensity, depending on how much you harvest, you can dial back the intensity to 3 for a few days right after a harvest. I will do this when I let the screen go too long and almost all the algae comes off without even trying - I'll dial back to 3 and 2-3 days later go back to max

 

[seitzjh]

I changed things up. Found some PVC molding at Home Depot that will work as a bracket for my L8 scrubber. Had to modify it of course.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

I still need to track this stuff down, nice find! That's basically the same concept I was going for with my rails, notch them to "lock" on to your sump, so if you bump them my accident they will "bind" and stay in place

The only thing I might add is to get some "camper mount foam" which is about 1" wide sticky-backed weatherstripping, place a piece of that on top of each rail. The waffle pattern on the underside of the scrubber will "bite" into that, and now those rails aren't going anywhere.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Also, in case anyone hasn't seen it:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/time-to-spin-up-turbo-algae-scrubber-production.389448/

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Not yet ready for prime time, but it's what I got so far. Following...

Yo @Fin , looking very nice mate!! I am getting ready to PUT in my order with Synergy and grab there CL44 sump with out refgue and add Bud's Turbo Scrubber, go with model #L4 on my top like yours but I am going to see if Synergy can build me sort of custom bracket for my scrubber to sit on top!! Are you running two returns or 1? For my system I will be running two EcoTech M1s 1 for each return. Here are some pic of some of the gear i already have for my system. I am about a month or two out from getting water in this system, so close but yet so far!!! I have been designing this system for over a year and a half. I also will be doing a brane new tank build journal for the new one.... More info to come..

 

[Fin]

Yo @Fin , looking very nice mate!! I am getting ready to PUT in my order with Synergy and grab there CL44 sump with out refgue and add Bud's Turbo Scrubber, go with model #L4 on my top like yours but I am going to see if Synergy can build me sort of custom bracket for my scrubber to sit on top!! Are you running two returns or 1? For my system I will be running two EcoTech M1s 1 for each return. Here are some pic of some of the gear i already have for my system. I am about a month or two out from getting water in this system, so close but yet so far!!! I have been designing this system for over a year and a half. I also will be doing a brane new tank build journal for the new one.... More info to come..

Nice. I built my own tray for my scrubber. That is an old pic.

Two M1s for returns, through two SeaSwirls.

 

[seitzjh]

I changed things up. Found some PVC molding at Home Depot that will work as a bracket for my L8 scrubber. Had to modify it of course.

Picture of after it was painted.

 

[b4tn]

Looking for suggestions. I just finished 4 months of vibrant dosing. It has killed off my bubble algae yay!!!!! But my scrubber is near dead now. There was a tiny bit of gha on it but not much. My nutrients are non detectable right now. My plan is to run my skimmer but always overflowing in the sump and run my scrubber. Should I wait to turn the lights back on the scrubber? Or should I start off at 9 on the light dial and 8 hours of light?

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Just got my brackets from #Synergy so I can custom fit one of Buds L-2 Turbo Scrubber that will sit on top of my CL-44 #Synergy sump & matching 10 gallon ATO container. I am still a few months out before I place an order but I am getting there...
#NewBuild #SCACustomRimless #TUNZE #EcoTechMarine #ApexEL

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Looking for suggestions. I just finished 4 months of vibrant dosing. It has killed off my bubble algae yay!!!!! But my scrubber is near dead now. There was a tiny bit of gha on it but not much. My nutrients are non detectable right now. My plan is to run my skimmer but always overflowing in the sump and run my scrubber. Should I wait to turn the lights back on the scrubber? Or should I start off at 9 on the light dial and 8 hours of light?

Answered this in your other thread

 

[Bpb]

My L4 arrives in 2 days. Couple questions.

I currently dose 4 ml of vodka per day
Run a 3x “rated” skimmer
Dose 5 drops of phosphate rx LC every other day.

My goal is to completely eliminate all vodka and LC dosing, and even possibly eliminate the skimmer.

Heavy bioload 6 year old 90 gallon sps dominant tank, soon to transfer over to 150 gallon. Same stock same gear.

Should I ween myself off vodka over several weeks and just let the scrubber run until it is packed? I see people harvesting when there’s barely anything on the screen, and others harvesting fist fulls. Looking for advice on how to transition to algae vs bacterial nutrient management.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Whatever transition you make in a closed system, you have make small changes so the system can adjust over a drawn out period of time.

I would start running the scrubber, light dimmer at halfway (knob arrow pointing down) and lights on for 9-12 hours/day, reverse of the DT lights. Flow: just enough to cover the screen as evenly as possible (will be somewhere in the 15-25 GPH/in range, for the L4 that's 180-300 GPH).

Then leave it on those settings for at least a month. Cleaning should only be light; swipe your palm across the screen, maybe a light rub with fingertips, then a rinse. You can do this often, like 2-3x per week, as long as you don't get aggressive - and avoid removing any GHA. Diatoms will gather first, that's the slime. You need to rinse that away as diatoms are efficient at nutrient processing and they like the same environment, so they will inhibit algae from getting a foothold. After algae gets a foothold, the slime/diatoms will dissipate.

If you see zero GHA after 2 weeks, but you've got a brown diatom discoloration, back vodka off 25%. FYI from what I've gathered from others, vodka (and to an extent, vinegar) dosing do tend to inhibit algae growth. Not 100% sure why (or rather, I suck at explaining it). So that's the first culprit I usually point to. But cutting it off quickly is asking for trouble.

Generally you need to back off vodka dosing over the course of several months, IMO.

LC - this one you can back off faster, but just monitor levels and adjust as necessary. Algae from the scrubber should start taking care of phos as well, but you've got multiple mechanism in place for multiple things, and they are inter-related in how they work.

Run a 3x “rated” skimmer

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think oversizing a skimmer by more than about double what it's rated will cause it to run poorly, but I suppose that's not necessarily true for every situation. You have a 90, so if the skimer is rated for 250-300 and you're going to a 150 eventually, eh...might be fine, run it "dry". Regardless, my advice when running a scrubber + skimmer is to run a skimmer that is rated smaller than your tank. Again, a change that you want to make over time - in this case, adjust skimmer back to less aggressive, then when all the other systems have been balanced out (algae scrubber is producing, and you've backed off vodka and LC to much lower levels) then you might swap out the skimmer.

HTH!

 

[Devaji]

how about a bump for this thread. show off your system with turbo aquatics ATS