Algae Scrubber Basics

[MaccaPopEye]

Thanks Floyd :) The scrubber is enclosed in an acrylic box, the grow space is about 50mm wide, I can only just get my hand in there to clean it out. The first time I stopped cleaning weekly and went to fortnightly I got some awesome 3D growth. But since then I can leave it for 2-4 weeks and no 3D growth. I assume there just isn't enough nutrients now that my algae issue is gone I am going to start upping feeding a bit again.

And usually I do clean every 2 weeks, just let it go for 4 weeks this time partly due to curiosity and partly due to being really busy the last week.

Thanks for the top about the rings. I will round them over a bit. Not sure why it is only ever on the one side though but it is worth a try.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

That detachment of thick growth has always happened on waterfalls. Does not happen on upflows; growth does stop if not cleaned but it does not detach.

Interestingly on waterfalls, even if it has not detached yet, if the growth is thick and hanging down when you pull the pipe away, you will often tear the growth in half anyway, leaving half in the box and half on the screen. My new waterfall design eliminates this.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

That detachment of thick growth has always happened on waterfalls.

Not always. 16 days growth, no detachment.

Interestingly on waterfalls, even if it has not detached yet, if the growth is thick and hanging down when you pull the pipe away, you will often tear the growth in half anyway, leaving half in the box and half on the screen

Why does this matter if you are harvesting the algae anyways?

 

[jason2459]

.... My new waterfall design eliminates this.

Is that the pipe? How does it eliminate detachment?

 

[MaccaPopEye]

That detachment of thick growth has always happened on waterfalls. Does not happen on upflows; growth does stop if not cleaned but it does not detach.

Interestingly on waterfalls, even if it has not detached yet, if the growth is thick and hanging down when you pull the pipe away, you will often tear the growth in half anyway, leaving half in the box and half on the screen. My new waterfall design eliminates this.

Yeah I really don't think it is just because I have a waterfall scrubber.

The growth only fell off on the most recent cleaning and I left it way longer than I should have. I am not even 100% sure it fell off, it just looked like it did, but it may have just grown like that.

Every time before that it hasn't been an issue of the growth falling off, there just isn't growth there and always on the same side in a similar spot. The other side grows really well, long, thick algae and never falls off, even though when I pull it out of the box it is always the good side that scrapes over the box edge it all remains attached.

I think Floyd may have hit it on the head with the ring causing a bit of an issue, next time I clean it I will be sanding the ring smoother and see if that helps. Other than that the only thing I could think of is it may be the duct tape light blocker in that spot? So if smoothing over the ring doesn't help I will remove the light blockers.

Also if the issue with waterfall scrubbers is that as algae falls off when you pull the pipe away then wouldn't your new design just have the algae fall into the water instead of into the box when you pull the screen out to clean it? Personally I would rather have the algae fall into the box where I can then get it out easily.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Is that the pipe? How does it eliminate detachment?

It will be clear when I post pics of it.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Is that the pipe? How does it eliminate detachment?

It will be clear when I post pics of it.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Based on the pics you have posted, I can see how this part...

if the growth is thick and hanging down when you pull the pipe away, you will often tear the growth in half anyway, leaving half in the box and half on the screen.

...would not occur, because of the nature of the design - there is no lifting of the substrate that would cause the "pulling away" effect. However detachment would still be an issue, if not worse than a standard 2-sided waterfall because the standpipe waterfall is inherently single sided. That is unless you make it out of acrylic tube, with submerged lights on the inside. But then you need a rough and translucent substrate bonded to the outside and that would only serve to allow attachment to be stronger over a longer growth cycle. Roughing up acrylic for use as a substrate doesn't work very well and i can't see PVC pipe doing to job either.

Now, if you took the standpipe design, added a flange on the top where you could transition to a hanging screen wrapped around the flange, clear standpipe, then lights around it and inside the pipe, you would have a 2-sided screen setup. But that's a lot of work vs the current slot pipe design which works just fine.

 

[rlugo113]

Would an ATS pretty much kill my thoughts of placing a display fuge with other "good looking" algae next to a display reef tank?

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Possibly. If the scrubber is strong enough, yes.

 

[b4tn]

So my scrubber seems to be growing green slime on the screen and chaeto on the bottom. Pulled this out after 2 weeks today. I had a ball of chaeto six months ago but it died off so I got a scrubber

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Remind me, what hours/day, intensity, when did you clean last, & how aggressively did you clean?

It's not unheard of to grow chaeto on a scrubber but not common

 

[b4tn]

I am running 10 hours of light at 8 position. Flow is 3/4 with the rio 1700. I may not get GHA but I am ok with chaeto. It seems to be growing fast. I have no bad algae in the display.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

You might knock the flow back a bit, increase lights to 6 o'clock, and extend the hours to 12-14.

Adding intensity and duration should get you a bit more growth, reducing the flow during the maturing phase seems to help reduce the slime when it is persistent initially

 

[bklynreef]

following

 

[b4tn]

So leave it or clean it out? Lol. Seems my scrubber grows chaeto algae the best lol. Keep in mind I have no nuisance algae in the DT. At the time this is strictly preventative.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

That's Ulva Fasciata, not chaeto, I believe.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

@b4tn i would let it keep growing

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Finally some new DIY styles, for those who want to fit waterfalls into sumps. Just use your own lights, and use a standard pvc coupler glued to a regular tray:

 

[brownsalt92]

I have a diy ats I made I don't know what size pump I should run on it. Tank size is 100 gallons total water volume. Screen size is 10"x10" light on both sides. Pump to top of waterfall is about 17"