My Algae Turf Scrubber Build

labas39

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I doubled my water volume and my acros lost a lot of color. I even lost a few colonies. I started to read up on Algae Turf Scrubbers, ATS, and decided to pull the plug and build one yesterday.

From my research, I've found three designs: horizontal, vertical/waterfall and upflow. For me, the waterfall design made the most sense.

Then comes the sizing. I have approximately 100 gallons but the new way of sizing an ATS is by how many cubes of frozen food you feed per day. I feed one cube per day. They say to use 12 square inches per cube per day when lighting the screen on both sides. I'm lighting on one side because I want to hang the ATS on the wall so I need 24 square inches.

Next comes the lighting. They say 1 watt CFL per square inch so I need 24 watts. LED's supposedly can be 1/5 that amount and for me that's about 5 watts. Red LED's in the 660 nm range is supposed to be the best.

I read that you DON'T want to go less than the required amount but I haven't seen much about going larger.

With that in mind, I decided to build a 36 square inch ATS. Mine is 6" x 6". I ordered 3 3 watt red LED's from ledlight.com. They're 6 inches in length an will fit perfectly. I have no clue if they'll work but I'm willing to try. Since they'll only arrive on Thursday, I'm using an old shop light and a new soft white 23 watt CFL from Home Depot in the interim.

From the Container Store, I bought the container yesterday. It's approximately 7.5 x 7.5 by 3 inches. It's totally clear so I shouldn't have any loss of PAR.

You're supposed to get 35 gph per inch of screen length. My screen is 6 inches long so I need 210 gph. I'm feeding the ATS with an old RIO 2100; it's rated at 692 gph. The ATS is 4 feet off the ground so I don't know how much I'm losing. I put a 1/2 bulkhead in the side of that Container Store container. I made sure I made the hold VERY SLOWLY. This thing isn't acrylic so it's fragile. I used clear vinyl tubing from the pump to the 90 degree barbed male end.

The drain is 1". Again, I drilled that hole very slowly and put a 1 inch bulkhead in there. I used PVC to dump back into the sump.

I bought the screen yesterday from Hobby Lobby. It's 7 count. I scratched it up using a hole drill so that the algae can root. I used my table saw to make a cut down the 1/2 PVC pipe, shoved the screen up there and used zip ties to keep it secure. That was my second option after my first one, which I thought would be easier to clean the screen, was a bust because of how the water flowed.

After driving back and forth to Home Depot a few times after changing my mind, the final result is up and running.]

The light schedule is 18 on and 6 off. They'll be on during when the display lights are off to theoretically keep the pH more stable.

I ended up hacking some wood pieces to keep light out of my display tank but if this works, it's really only a prototype. I plan on making this all out of black and clear acrylic.

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miyags

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Nice job!! Is that a food container? and is that pvc pipe removable for easy cleaning?
 
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labas39

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Yes, that's a food container; it cost $12.99. It's a "décor Modular Storer System".

The 1/2 inch bulkhead on the side is slip/MIP. That 1/2 PVC just slips in. So far, the water pressure hasn't poped it out. If that does happen, I'll just rig something on the opposite end to press it against the wall.

The container is temporary. If this does work, I'm going to make a box out of black acrylic so that the light won't bleed into the room and have a clear glass separator so that the lights can stay in the dry side.

I'm going to post daily pictures of the algae growth. Time will tell.

I forgot to mention that I most of the stuff. Because of that, I only shelled out about $15 yesterday.
 

EW_Fish

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I will be following this thread I bought all my ATS supplies yesterday. I spent .67 cents(for the screen).. lol I had everything else laying around.
 

ReeferEric

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Nice build, it takes time to get these to work. If the screen is new then it takes a little longer but it will grow.
 

Bad Company

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Mine took about 6 weeks to get some decent growth. Be patient. My ATS allows me to use tap-water and I only do 5% WC every few months. I have a 9X9" with 500GP on the drain.
 

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labas39

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Mine took about 6 weeks to get some decent growth. Be patient. My ATS allows me to use tap-water and I only do 5% WC every few months. I have a 9X9" with 500GP on the drain.

Thanks for that tip! I will be patient.

Since ATS! The only reason why I didn't do it over the sump was because I didn't want to get any algae growth in it.
 

revhtree

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Following!
 

Company101

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I really need to build one of these. I like the idea of a stand alone unit. As room under my main display is next to none. I need to do some more research. What were the exact model number of the LED strips you got and what other parts did your along with it ? Power supply. Etc.
 
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labas39

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Disclaimer: I'm not sure they'll work but I decided to take a chance on them. There's expected to come in on Thursday so I'll have them hooked up by the weekend.

I bought three of these in red:

6 Inch LED Tube Light Low Voltage 12 Volt DC Plug & Switch - Low Voltage Led Lights - LEDLight

They're in the 630nm-780nm range and from my research, they should work.

I bought one of these power supplies:

Power Supply LED Light 12 VDC 25 Watt - Low Voltage Led Lights - LEDLight

... and one three way splitter:

3-Way LED Light Harness Cable 12VDC White - Low Voltage Led Lights - LEDLight
 

Bad Company

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I found that a 23W actual warm white CFL with a big reflector grows algae better than a 27W actual 4:1 red/blue LED PAR 38 grow lamp. This is with on each side:
 

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labas39

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Still the CFL. Note that I took that picture with the screen out of the container hence the blue.
 
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