DIY Algae Scrubber

9975 · Jul 29, 2021

I'll get some pictures after work tomorrow but roughly how long do algae scrubber take to get the first signs of life?

saturn13 · Jul 29, 2021

A couple weeks is when I saw some brown starting, careful mine zapped my phos to 0.

PooseReefer · Sep 17, 2021

My simple algae scrubber. Basically a channel for water to cascade down. Entire part is tilted toward camera at about 15% water flows out along where my hand is in picture. Uses only the fuge light (which is pretty strong) but no enclosure. 3d printed on ender 3 in two parts as it was too wide. Bracket underneath slips onto one of the glass baffles but could be attached to anything.

I have a pump feeding it into hole in top left, but would like to get some of the overflow directed over to eliminate the need for the extra pump.

Anyway, I seeded it, took about a week, and then TOOK OFF. Clean about every week but not to the bone, leave a little on there.

My nitrates are around 6ppm (digital checker). I attached a autodesk fusion and obj file if anyone wants to try and print.

G Santana · Sep 17, 2021

One of my favorite DIY projects, inexpensive and effective!!!

Borat · Sep 22, 2021

G Santana said:
One of my favorite DIY projects, inexpensive and effective!!!

The thing with ATS is it's one of the units that will serve you for a long time.. It's best to invest time and effort of building a good enclosure - that will be easy to clean, waterproof and noise-proof..

You can build an algae scrubber for $10, $100 or $500.. I prefer the middle ground which will give you a solid device. I have a thread on another website that shows the step-by-step build (that will cost about $100 US&A coins).

https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/diy-ats-build-complete-guide.889304/
As for how long the screen takes to establish - in my experience quite a long time (3 months+). Yes, you may start seeing some growth after 2-3 weeks, but that will be GHA and not turf algae.

You can really call your screen "established" when you start having a carpet like this, it's about an inch thick on each side of the screen and grows to that thickness in 7-10 days (this screen is very heavy!):