DIY Simple Algae Turf Scrubber

[MicrobeMan]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to R2R as of today but not entirely new to online reef forums...
I'm posting here because I wanted to share the design for a pretty simple and cheap ATS that I made slightly out of desperation (my tank isn't in the best shape) and slightly out of boredom from being stuck at home.
My system is a 50 gallon cube with a roughly 15 gallon sump tank. I've got three fish and I feel a total of about one frozen cube every 2 weeks. In addition, I've got about 6 colonies of coral and hair algae. A whole lot of hair algae.
Over the past few months while I've been away and my tank taken care of by a friend, it's fallen into disarray and the nitrates tested about 40 on the API kit. I've done a few decent water changes and gotten them down to 20 ppm but I needed a good long term solution to keep nutrients in check which hopefully limits algae growth and keeps everything in my tank happy. Luckily, I'm back for a while to get everything back in shape.

The main component of my ATS is actually an acrylic magazine holder I bought on amazon for 16$ (Link below)
I drilled one 1/2 inch hole on the side about 1.5 in from the top for the inflow and two 1/2 inch holes in the bottom for the drain.
I then took 3/4 inch PVC and took a slice out of a piece cut to fit in the box.
For the inflow, I heated a bit of 1/2 inch acrylic tubing and fit it in the side hole. I then plumbed it to 3/4 inch pvc leading down to a RIO pump (~120 GPH) I then zip tied a bit of plastic canvas (4$ on amazon) I roughed up with a rasp into the slot.
For the drain, one drain hole is just 1/2 inch tubing and the other is a durso style 3/4 inch capped t joint for PVC
To be completely honest, tweaking the drains and flow so it was almost silent was a PITA but I did get it to be really quiet. My overflow has a slight gurgle that I don't mind too much that sort of drowns it out - this would be something to work on for folks who like a totally silent system.
The while box actually sits on a piece of glass on top of my sump so it takes up almost no room! I really like how it's positioned and I hope it works in the long run. Altogether, the whole thing cost about 50$ so worst case it's just an experiemtnt to keep me busy!

Overall, I've seen 48 hours of growth on the canvas and it seems decent! It looks like flecks of hair algae caught on the rough bits and have now started to grow which is great! My current light is just a classic 60 W CFC in a fixture but I may switch to LEDs for better growth (And more importantly, it's cooler in the summer)

The whole thing took a total of about 2 hours to set up and install and hopefully it does a good job of helping my nutrient problem. I've been battling hair algae for years in this tank despite water changes, a new RODI system and severely reduced feedings. I've even been dosing vibrant for 4 months now and have seen little improvement. I'll keep updating this thread with growth pics to document how it's going for interested parties (and to keep a journal myself)

Amazon product

 

[MicrobeMan]

Hi everyone!

I'm just over three full days in with my new ATS and I thought I'd post a growth update. Here's a top down view on what the scrubber looks like this morning. It looks like a good start and hopefully it keeps up! I've had to make a few adjustments to the flow in order to keep it even across the screen but it seems to be running well.

 

[MicrobeMan]

It's probably slightly overkill to add daily updates to this thread but in case anyone is setting up an ATS and they want to know what to expect, I figure I might as well post a few pics. DW, I'll lessen the frequency of updates as time goes on. My main tank is still reading between 15 and 20 PPM nitrates but so far this amount of growth is fairly negligible for nitrate reduction. My main display tank still has growing GHA but I hope this will outcompete. The algae in this ATS is certainly growing more quickly than most algae in the display.

One key move is that I hooked my scrubber light to my apex and programmed it to shut off when the tank water is above 81 degrees. I found that when the return pump is running, this is never an issue but when I shut off the return pump for feeding or a water change, the light almost always shuts off within about 5 minutes. It runs hot. If temperature is a problem in your system, this is a must! My sump is about 15 gallons and in a small system, I could imagine the sump water heating up to 85 and above. When you turn the return back on, this could heat up the whole system. This can be combatted fairly easily with LEDs or running a reverse cycle. I'm actually planning on running a reverse light cycle just for the higher pH benefits but I usually do water changes at night when the light would be on. Luckily, with the Apex it just shuts off before theres any problem!

Overall, I'm quite pleased with everything so far! I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Following. I've been thinking about making something like this too

 

[Reef-junky]

Not bad.

Here’s mine

 

[MicrobeMan]

@Reef-junky that's some industrial stuff! I really like the acrylic baseplate and light mount! Seriously, you could market that!

Out of curiosity, why the three drains? Just redundancy or is there a specific purpose? I figure since my system is all on top of the sump, if for some reason there was a blockage of both the drains (Like if a massive bit of algae fell off) it would just overflow from the top back into the sump and I'd get a low water level alert. Your pipe looks to be pretty wide diameter though.

Also, have you found any way to mitigate the drainage air sucking sound? The single drain on the bottom system really wasn't doing it for me since it sucked in a ton of air and sounded wicked loud! I added the second with a cap to do a sort of durso/herbie hybrid. Really a herbie with a durso redundancy kinda? I guess it all depends on how much water you having moving relative to the tube diameter.
If I'd have done it again, I probably have done it like you did but put a ball valve on the bottom tube and make the side one a size thicker tube. The full on herbie would run quiet as a mouse!

 

[Reef-junky]

At first I had the drains on the side but it was mentioned by turbo aquatics I might have problems with a drain like that so I added the bottom drain. As making the drain quite or not flush I would think the best thing would be to put a valve on the drain and add a second drain.

I made this ATS before you could buy one by the way.

 

[MicrobeMan]

@Reef-junky DIY is so much better than buying one! Cheaper, easier to mod and way more fun! I think a second bottom drain would be clutch if you set up a herbie drain. Quiet as a mouse!


I said I wasn't going to keep posting daily growth updates but it was a good day for growth! It's noticeably thicker than yesterday and doing well.

The real reason why I'm updating today is that I've had an interesting development with nitrate testing. As I've been doing a ton of nitrate testing with this ATS to see how it works, I'm getting low with my API kit. I hate how most of the colors are identical so I decided to upgrade to the NYOS kit.
I just got it today and followed the directions to a T and surprisingly, my nitrates which had previously been in the 20s read 5 PPM on the dot. I thought this was a tad sus because even though I've seen some serious ATS growth, dropping 15PPM in 24 hours plus a new kit is unlikely. I retested with my 1/4 full API kit (expires 2023) and got a reading pretty close to 20 PPM although they're hard to read. I've attached pics of both the tests to see what anyone thinks.

Even so, a difference of 10-15 PPM between the kits is substantial at these lower numbers, especially since I'm totally okay with 5 PPM but I really don't want 20. I wanna go with the NYOS kit because It was more expensive and seems more quality than API but thats also because it gives me a lower reading. Anybody else have experience with comparing kits?

Either way, the ATS seems pretty solid and while I can't say the GHA in my display is any better, It's definitely not growing faster. A net positive so far I'd say

 

[MicrobeMan]

(I forgot the photos, sorry!)

 

[R.Weller]

Well done! This is a great DIY project. Biological filtration is outstanding. Our system has few space constraints, so we built a waterfall. It's amazing & enjoyable to maintain as it doesn't smell near as bad as the skimmer.

Standing in the refugium:

Growth screens (last cleaned on the 30-Mar):

Cheap LED grow bulbs...no overpriced refugium lighting.

 

[MicrobeMan]

@R.Weller That looks pretty fire! I like the open side quite a lot as you don't catch as many drops and get evaporation on the sides like mine.

I decided to remove the screen and clean it after a week (las friday) and got a decent amount of algae. I would say not more than I pull out of my display weekly. I am taking a much more aggressive approach in my display at the moment which involves removing, scrubbing and rinsing rock.
I considered working with H2O2 to really get at it but i've decided against it for the time being.

Interestingly, it's been 3 days since I scraped off the first bit of hair algae from the ATS and what's grown back is a thin film of extremely green algae! We're talking neon almost food dye color. It's really quite interesting. We'll see what it really develops into I guess

 

[MicrobeMan]

Quick update -

While I was quite happy with the amount of algae growing on the ATS and the sustained lower nutrients, the evaporation from the system was nuts and I think that the amount of water running through and CO2 heavy air taken from the sump may have dropped my pH. I couldn't get it above 8.2 (and I use Kalkwasser) but two hours after I took it offline to do some work on it, the pH shot up to 8.3 and my apex has the graph to show correlation. Overall though, I was going through ATO water at least twice as fast! It was pretty crazy!

I typically claim to be a proponent of the "KISS" method but in all honesty, I almost always over-engineer things for the coolness factor. I therefor elected to break it down completely into its most simple components and go with the classic waterfall system. Because it's situated in the middle of the sump, I don't anticipate spray being a huge issue but if it is, I can easily put together a plastic spray shield on the non-light side.

In addition, the light is a classic CFL bulb and runs HOT! I'm probably going to grab one of those cheap LED grow light bulb things on amazon to get less heat and less energy. The CFL was mostly to see if it worked without spending too much on more expensive lights but if the LED bulb doesn't work, I might have to sink a chunk of change into a good fuge light.

I also added a bit of plastic mesh on top of the plastic canvas because while it will be an absolute PITA to clean, It adds a third dimension and I think that'll help with algae growth. Worst case I'll cut it off next week! I'll update on how it goes as time progresses!

 

[NS Mike D]

I'm very happy with this light in my fuge and waterproof, 5"x5" and $17. I assume it would work for an ATS

Amazon product

 

[MicrobeMan]

Nice! @NS Mike D The link appears to be broken but it looks great and $17 isn't bad at all! Do you by any chance have the name for it so In can search? Thanks!

 

[homer1475]

The evap issue is solved by using an enclosed box. Thats why all the new ATS's use an acrylic box.

 

[MicrobeMan]

The evap issue is solved by using an enclosed box. Thats why all the new ATS's use an acrylic box.

More so than just a box, a tightly fitting lid is the full solution to the evap. The trouble I had was that water would splash on the sides and as I didn’t have a great solution for an easily removable tight lid, it would sit there and evaporate.
In this current setup, any splashes of water just end up back in my sump since my ATS is smack in the middle and a few inches below the water line. I’ll rig up a downward tilting splash guard if need be. I’m quite confident that while I will inevitably have more evap than without the ATS, I won’t go through 2 gallons a day as with the open box.

 

[NS Mike D]

Nice! @NS Mike D The link appears to be broken but it looks great and $17 isn't bad at all! Do you by any chance have the name for it so In can search? Thanks!

ACKE-Glow-Light-Plants-Light for Indoor Plants,Growing Lamp for Greenhouse,Grow Light Fixture for Plants' Growing (RW)…
by ACKE

 

[NS Mike D]

edit. dupe

 

[homer1475]

I actually didn't realize you had put yours in a box. Thought I read the thread but apparently only scrolled half way up, and only saw the one in someones sump not in a box.

Silly me!

Anyways, I built one also, and just used 2 pieces of acrylic(found one just warped under the LED lights) set ontop of the box. Not tight fitting at all, and my evap is no different then before I used it.

I have just 20W el'cheapo spot grow lights off amazon. Works great!

 

[homer1475]

Apparently the lights I used 20W flood grow lights are no longer available on amazon, but very similar to what @NS Mike D posted.

Although what he psoted looks better then what I'm using as I have a single cluster of light which gives a hot spot. What he posted looks more spread out for even coverage of light.