What do you expect out of an algae scrubber and what difference has it made?

[Reef AquaCult]

I run a macro algae refugium currently. I built an algae scrubber for prior tank and comparing the two methods, there is much more biomass created per unit of time using chaeto or other macro algae than with my algae scrubber. So my thought process is more biomass = more nutrient removal. Any counter arguments?

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

@vetteguy53081

What scrubber are you using? You have a pretty large system and I am debating what scrubber to use for my newest build. Will be big bio-land FOWLR. Considered doing DIY like @ca1ore because few commercial size units are readily available.

How large of tank are you building? We do commercial units!

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

I run a macro algae refugium currently. I built an algae scrubber for prior tank and comparing the two methods, there is much more biomass created per unit of time using chaeto or other macro algae than with my algae scrubber. So my thought process is more biomass = more nutrient removal. Any counter arguments?

You will need about 4 times the space of a fuge to equal the nutrient uptake of an algae scrubber. The algae that grows in the scrubber is far more efficient at uptake than a macro like chaeto... plus the algae that grows in a scrubber like ammonia which most macros don’t and also will remove more heavy metals. It will grow in copper which macros won’t too.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

You will need about 4 times the space of a fuge to equal the nutrient uptake of an algae scrubber. The algae that grows in the scrubber is far more efficient at uptake than a macro like chaeto... plus the algae that grows in a scrubber like ammonia which most macros don’t and also will remove more heavy metals. It will grow in copper which macros won’t too.

Thank you for your response, where does the 4x space requirement information come from? I would be interested learn more about this.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Will be DT volume of 650 gallon with total system volume of about 800 gallons. Will be fish only.

How large of tank are you building? We do commercial units!

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

Thank you for your response, where does the 4x space requirement information come from? I would be interested learn more about this.

From the man himself... Mr. Sprung

 

[jlanger]

A little late to the party, but algae turf scrubbers are very efficient in managing nutrients.
When it comes to understanding scrubbers and how they work, listen to Josh; even I do.

When you can get your scrubber dialed in and find that sweet spot, the algae growth production takes off and you can harvest algae every ten to fourteen days that can look like this...

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

Will be DT volume of 650 gallon with total system volume of about 800 gallons. Will be fish only.

Ok. You would need one of these...

 

[jlanger]

From the man himself... Mr. Sprung

I just spoke with Julian at RAP Chicago and brought up this very video. Worth watching again; and again.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Is that essentially two CW 300s?

Ok. You would need one of these...

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

Is that essentially two CW 300s?

Yes

 

[Feet4Fish]

So is pricing comparable to two CW 300s?

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

So is pricing comparable to two CW 300s?

Yes because the plumbing has to be increased in size to accommodate the increased flow required. These also have to be airfreighted to an airport due to the size and weight. UPS or Fedex would break them into a million pieces so our delivery charges are a bit more but you get it within a day usually.

 

[secret_reefer337]

My 29 biocube have a small algae srubber. I feed 3 to 4 times in that tank. Used to house a lot of fish, more than what the size of the tank can handle. Having said that, the tank never had any HA and the glass doesn’t need a frequent cleaning.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081

What scrubber are you using? You have a pretty large system and I am debating what scrubber to use for my newest build. Will be big bio-land FOWLR. Considered doing DIY like @ca1ore because few commercial size units are readily available.

Clear water. very quiet and produces algae fast. I discard algae at cleaning

 

[revco33]

Why will someone need algae scrubber? You guys been here in this hobby of salt water and corals reef forums/shows /go to school about marine biology and everything. But look like you guys never heard about water change. Any time I got problems with my tank on anything.. gha/alk/cal/ nitrate/ph /well you get it anytime I do water change something more often depending on the problem but WC always fix my problems.. and I never worry about dosing or spending so much $ on equipment. only on salt soon another new more sofisticado Algae scrubber come out / or even worse the one you have just got upgraded or now is scrubber/2 better and improve. So the old one was not good from the beginning or what .. well my opinion I vote no

Dosing is nice.

 

[fredk]

The scrubber won't stop Cyano. Cyano is a bacteria. It usually thrives in clean water environments, as we have seen when customers are running a scrubber and it strips the water clean, they get an outbreak. It can be caused in dead zones, that's where the flow myth comes in, as food can mold in your tank and cause it. I would check to see if that is the case and make sure all food is eaten in the tank.

I just fixed a bad issue of it in my tank with some chemiclean but I didn't clean the powerheads so it might be coming back. Bad case of LAR on my part.

That has been my experience as well. I used to do experiments on my seahorse tank where I varied nitrates through dosing. As long as I kept nitrates at around 5ppm, my macro algae thrived. When it dropped down to 2 or 3ppm, the macro would start to disappear and the cyano would show up.

I ran my tank through five or six cycles where I would run high and then low nitrates and the change in algae growth was very consistent.

There is/was a guy on RC, plantbrain, that posted a very detailed explanation of why, and I think part of it was that cyanobacteria were able to preferentially use another form of nitrogen available in lower nutrient environments. I want to say it is NH3, but this is stuff I read a long time ago and my memory is not so good any more.

Macro/turf algaes are much more reliant on NO3.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

A refuge with Chaeto? Or another alga which is better as a food source?
It can be built very cheaply. A container and good light.
Will assimilate nutrients and all building materials and what is removed can be determined by the dry weight.
A better and safe nutrient and building material removal method, compared to the other assimilation method commonly used.
The removal rate is low. When harvested nutrients are exported, but the removal capacity is reduced accordingly. To remove a daily nitrate overproduction of 1ppm from a 1000l aquarium +- 250 grams of algae must be harvested, every day!
An algae scrubber, as all other methods based on assimilation, will not solve the present nitrogen and building material unbalance created by the skimmer as everything is removed in a natural proportion. By removing more essential building materials, in combination with the skimmer, the risk for nutrient starvation during periods of increased growth, induced by nitrogen imbalance and increased temp , is increased.
Modified f2 media ( no nitrogen and phosphorus) can be provided to accelerate the growth rate, assimilate nitrogen and phosphorus, without the risk for starvation by increased growth.
Needs supplemental light energy but this can be used to stabilize day and night pH.
Safe to use, depending on the algae used.

Another possibility based on assimilation is ABFT (Adjusted BioFloc Technologie). TOC is removed by harvesting the flocs, incl. nitrogen and phosphorus. Bioflocs can be used as a valuable food source.

In systems using a skimmer, which removes nutrients and building materials continuously but very selective, leaving most nitrogen, restoring the nitrogen:nutrient balance can be done only by exporting N2.

For removing TOC an algae scrubber is a good choice but it will not restore the nutrient balance which balance for me is more essential for healthy corals as a nitrate and phosphate level considered too high. How much is too high? Most problems may be caused by the temporary unavailability.

 

[mta_morrow]

@revhtree
For my tanks nutrient control I dose homemade NoPox, run a skimmer, have 6 liters of Seachem matrix and 1 Brightwell denitrate brick. I have recently converted a chaeto reactor to a “scrubber” and just harvested my 1st batch of GHA from it. My goal is to use the. Inverted reactor to eliminate dosing NoPox if possible, and mainly to control PO4. The Jury is still out. I have a lot of fish and feed very well. Current readings are NO3-6, PO4-.12,and everything is very happy.

Converting a Skimz algae reactor to a scrubber

Ok, I’m not sure if it’s really a scrubber, but it’s more along those lines than not. The purpose of this thread is to discuss the DIY conversion of the reactor, not the science of growing chaeto please. Thank you in advance. So every time I put chaeto in my Skimz reactor, it grows for a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Fishbob50]

I’ve been using scrubbers for over 15 years. I am currently using a CW 300 and a turbo aquatics L4 on a 400 gallon reef. I have a 300 gallon mostly sps reef where I use an older scrubber with 2 x 10 inch screens and I still use GFO. It has been successfully running for 10 years. IMO If you have a significant algae problem, one CW unit will not be enough.