How strong is the flow running through it? Do you think a pump use 4GFO or carbon would provide sufficient flow? Thanks.Here is the algae reactor I made out of an aquamax I wrapped a red and blue Led strip around the outside of the reactor then covered that with black Vinyl. It's pretty small so it fills up quick, I put in around 1 inch of chaeto at the bottom and it will be completely full in a week. I turn it on whenever my tank lights are off so about 14 hours a night.
This reactor is enough to give my 120 gallon system stable no3 and po4. I no longer need to dose carbon or run GFO. Obviously mileage may vary.
Inside
One week's growth
Do Algae Reactors Work, And Worth It?
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medusala
Active Member
I was referring to a DIY one. I'm looking for the cheapest media reactor in the 2 to 4 liter range.
I looked at the two phosban sizes. Phosban 550 (the larger one) is under 1 liter.
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
This is the reactors I plan to use when I set mine up... Geo's Universal Reactors. The middle size holds 2.8 litres of media (3/4 of a gallon), the biggest one holds 7+ litres (2 gallons of media).
These are the best and easiest approach imo because they have no center tube, can be used either upflow or downflow, comes with a flow regulation knob, and has both screens and foam pads for the top and bottom if you want to use them.
The middle one is the desired amount you wanted and is much cheaper than the big one.
medusala
Active Member
Still reading through all the pages. Lots of good info here.
Anyone have issues with the chaeto stripping other elements from the water, e.g. mag, potassium, iodine, manganese, etc?
So, what is the consensus on which LEDs to use?
Anyone have issues with the chaeto stripping other elements from the water, e.g. mag, potassium, iodine, manganese, etc?
So, what is the consensus on which LEDs to use?
NefTunzReef
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Pacific Sun now has their version of the algae reactors coming soon...
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
That is the only problem we couldn't figure out in this whole thread. Basically people buy a strip of lights from Amazon and it's hit or miss because they aren't the correct spectrum lights, are sometimes too hot and melt the reactor if put against the plastic, aren't resistant enough to a saltwater environment, or are cheaply made and die out.
The lights are the one thing we haven't nailed for a DIY reactor. There's been no one that bought lights and came back 6 months to a year later to say they work well. We only have short term results and those are linked to throughout the thread, mostly from Amazon.
People who have used the lights from Marine Depot have reported good results, but the strip is too short. The lights are made by Accel Aquatics and are only 3ft.. Six ft. is really what's needed. I can't find any info to contact Accel Aquatics to see if they make a larger led strip. I can't even find a web page for them or who owns them.
So basically it's try your luck with any lights that have been posted in the thread, Amazon, or the Accel lights. No guarantees
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
Pacific Sun now has their version of the algae reactors coming soon...
I just read about it on their site. Seems like the large one will be more expensive than the Skimz model, but less than Pax Bellum.
It also says it uses green led grow lights, that's it. That's the first time I've seen just green used as a light source by itself. Going by looks, seems it needs to be hard plumbed. It says "in stock" on their site, but doesn't give many details about using the unit.
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
Sorry, couldn't edit the previous post... The Accel lights are 6ft, light strip should be around 10-12 ft. to cover it completely.
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
Algae don't use hardly any of these, except iodine which is in the nori you feed. Algae use iron, but that's also in nori.
Algae mostly use ammonia. When that's not available, it uses nitrite. Then nitrate. And of course phosphate.
EmdeReef
2500 Club Member
I overfeed by a lot and while my nitrates and phosphates are pretty stable 5-10NO3 and under 0.1 PO4), I can’t say anymore that it’s due to Skimz. I don’t dose carbon or run gfo and my skimmer isn’t too oversized.
I’ve also gone through a lot of cheato, the first batch generally grows well then after trimming it gets overrun by green snot. I’ve been troubleshooting trying all sorts of stuff to a point where it was taking more maintenance than most other equipment. I played with the photoperiod from 5 to 23hrs, dosed iron, trace elements and other RS ABCD. Based on my Triton tests my system was depleted of a few elements that potentially could be limiting cheato growth...I tried target dosing, no improvements. I don’t like the idea of dosing something I can’t test and moreover to grow algae that’s supposed to take out nitrates and phosphates that in my experience don’t cause that many issues. I have a CO2 scrubber on as I never saw a good pH effect with the skimz alone.
Until mid January I just let it run and I’ve noticed less need to clean my glass, but I’d just throw away pretty much all the snot and leave a bit of cheato with it. Then the snot browned and I took Skimz offline about 2 weeks or so ago, I was running it for 6hrs at the time so doubt that was due to too much light.
To date I’m not seeing any issues and no nitrate or phosphate change. I know it works for some but at this point I’m unsure...I’ll probably give it one more try and mix cheato and ulva, although not sure it’s worth the trouble.
Anyone else experienced issues with Skimz and successfully fixed? I’ve heard some people try only ulva, any luck?
Edit: found a pic of it running
I've experience something similar with my reactor. At this point, I'm just letting the snot grow though. A snot algae reactor still does a pretty good job of keeping nutrients down despite my massive overfeeding.I bought Skimz mbr157 in September and can’t say I’m overly impressed with cheato growth vs an improvised fuge I ran with a random amazon LED. I will say that it’s much cleaner and there’s no light creep, maybe that was in the initial versions. You can’t see anything outside the black tube other than the light on top. Also I don’t see clippings of cheato in my sump and I don’t think a sponge or any kind of filter would work honestly. The pump isn’t too strong, so even on max I don’t notice that much flow on top. The pump is also much louder than my skimz return pump.
I overfeed by a lot and while my nitrates and phosphates are pretty stable 5-10NO3 and under 0.1 PO4), I can’t say anymore that it’s due to Skimz. I don’t dose carbon or run gfo and my skimmer isn’t too oversized.
I’ve also gone through a lot of cheato, the first batch generally grows well then after trimming it gets overrun by green snot. I’ve been troubleshooting trying all sorts of stuff to a point where it was taking more maintenance than most other equipment. I played with the photoperiod from 5 to 23hrs, dosed iron, trace elements and other RS ABCD. Based on my Triton tests my system was depleted of a few elements that potentially could be limiting cheato growth...I tried target dosing, no improvements. I don’t like the idea of dosing something I can’t test and moreover to grow algae that’s supposed to take out nitrates and phosphates that in my experience don’t cause that many issues. I have a CO2 scrubber on as I never saw a good pH effect with the skimz alone.
Until mid January I just let it run and I’ve noticed less need to clean my glass, but I’d just throw away pretty much all the snot and leave a bit of cheato with it. Then the snot browned and I took Skimz offline about 2 weeks or so ago, I was running it for 6hrs at the time so doubt that was due to too much light.
To date I’m not seeing any issues and no nitrate or phosphate change. I know it works for some but at this point I’m unsure...I’ll probably give it one more try and mix cheato and ulva, although not sure it’s worth the trouble.
Anyone else experienced issues with Skimz and successfully fixed? I’ve heard some people try only ulva, any luck?
Edit: found a pic of it running
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
You can put air bubbles under the growth and get even more slime, and GHA too.
Hello everybody this is my first post here en reef2reef, here at my country the algae reactors are not popular but some friend started with his algae reactor the last year with a TLF 550 and the amazon cheap leds so i decided i will give it a chance.
I bought everything from amazon but when i was testing it the lights started to blink, after that they overheat and finally die, well i used the TLF reactor with phosban and i left the proyect, somehing like one month ago my friend asked me how i was going with the reactor and i told him why i left it, he asked me to invert the wires and told me he had the same problem, i did it and the lights worked perfecto!!! Now i am on my second week with it, searching on the internet i found this tread with tonz on info, i will give a try to the PVC idea it sounds great.
I will keep you posted about my light performance and if they fail or not, my lights dont get hot but the power adaptor get real hot, if they burn i will give the ledenet light a try.
Alex
I bought everything from amazon but when i was testing it the lights started to blink, after that they overheat and finally die, well i used the TLF reactor with phosban and i left the proyect, somehing like one month ago my friend asked me how i was going with the reactor and i told him why i left it, he asked me to invert the wires and told me he had the same problem, i did it and the lights worked perfecto!!! Now i am on my second week with it, searching on the internet i found this tread with tonz on info, i will give a try to the PVC idea it sounds great.
I will keep you posted about my light performance and if they fail or not, my lights dont get hot but the power adaptor get real hot, if they burn i will give the ledenet light a try.
Alex
Ted_C
Active Member
As I was reading through this excellent thread - I had an idea for an algae reactor on both my 150 gallon frag tank and my 300 gallon display:
I already have a Waveline DC 10000 running from my sump to feed my UV, my Chiller and keep sump water circulating. It's sort of a closed loop (from sump / through equipment / Filter sock / back to sump )
I could plumb in a 20 inch BRS RO Reactor canister (I'd have to modify it so that instead of a canister inside - I'd just have a piece of PVC pipe glued to the inside of the lid that pulls the water from the bottom or pushes the water to the bottom if I were to reverse plumb it). I could wrap that canister in LED lights and I could wrap it in White Vinyl so I dont get the light bleed. It could be mounted to the stand and be hanging from the ceiling of the sump area.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-canisters.html - 20" canister filter - I already have two of these (I was planning on a CO2 scrubber but didn't implement)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0AR9O9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A10111992WJRYRFBZH9IS&psc=1 - 2 of these to cover the external LEDs so I dont have any light bleed into my living room or bedroom
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y27QP1Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3SY4WN81ZEM06&psc=1 - 2 of these to light the canister effictively
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PFT5T02/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3SY4WN81ZEM06&psc=1 - 2 of these to power the LEDs
I'd mount this towards the end of my re-circulation line - so it's the last thing before the filter sock.
I dont really need to worry about chaeto clippings - these would be captured and exported to the filter sock. It's more expensive than other solutions in this thread - but since I already have the canisters on hand - I thought this might be a possibility. I'll have quite a bit of turnover in the canister - something like 600 GPH running at 1/2 capacity - but I think that wouldn't be a problem.
What are your thoughts?
I already have a Waveline DC 10000 running from my sump to feed my UV, my Chiller and keep sump water circulating. It's sort of a closed loop (from sump / through equipment / Filter sock / back to sump )
I could plumb in a 20 inch BRS RO Reactor canister (I'd have to modify it so that instead of a canister inside - I'd just have a piece of PVC pipe glued to the inside of the lid that pulls the water from the bottom or pushes the water to the bottom if I were to reverse plumb it). I could wrap that canister in LED lights and I could wrap it in White Vinyl so I dont get the light bleed. It could be mounted to the stand and be hanging from the ceiling of the sump area.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-canisters.html - 20" canister filter - I already have two of these (I was planning on a CO2 scrubber but didn't implement)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0AR9O9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A10111992WJRYRFBZH9IS&psc=1 - 2 of these to cover the external LEDs so I dont have any light bleed into my living room or bedroom
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y27QP1Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3SY4WN81ZEM06&psc=1 - 2 of these to light the canister effictively
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PFT5T02/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3SY4WN81ZEM06&psc=1 - 2 of these to power the LEDs
I'd mount this towards the end of my re-circulation line - so it's the last thing before the filter sock.
I dont really need to worry about chaeto clippings - these would be captured and exported to the filter sock. It's more expensive than other solutions in this thread - but since I already have the canisters on hand - I thought this might be a possibility. I'll have quite a bit of turnover in the canister - something like 600 GPH running at 1/2 capacity - but I think that wouldn't be a problem.
What are your thoughts?
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
I remember this thread extensively. The problem we had was that there were no good IP68 (full waterproof) lights in the correct spectrum. It looks like Amazon finally has some, though with my experience, 6500k-ish does better for chaeto. I'm not saying these lights won't work at all, just going by my experience. At least they have IP68.
Quick question... Why would you put the pvc inside the canister? Is it so you can stick the lights inside of it? Because they may not stick well in saltwater after a while. People where putting the pvc over the outside of the entire canister to both reflect the light and stick the led's to. Then to also dissipate the heat.
So if you're putting pvc inside, then why would you need to put the vinyl outside to block light? Wouldn't the pvc already do that? Or are you using a thin pvc pipe to go down the center as the water pipe?
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Forsaken77
Valuable Member
Do air bubbles contribute to all types of algae, or just snot and GHA? And what is it about the air bubbles that makes GHA grow faster? Does it carry more nutrients through the algae?
Ted_C
Active Member
As a water pipe only (only to push the incoming water to the bottom to create an upflow reactor)
mta_morrow
Of course I have room for 1 more fish!
My Skimz works great.
30 days worth.
30 days worth.
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
Bubble create the most air/water turbulence, and therefore remove the boundary layer around the algae to allow for the most nutrient transfer, the fastest. It just so happens that GHA and Ulva are the types to utilize nutrients the fastest, so they overgrow everything else, including chaeto.
Details are in a book called Dynamic Aquaria.
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