From Cheato Ball to ATS ?

[ADAM]

Currently I have a Trigger 30 with cheato ball in the middle section. The cheato isn’t quite keeping up with the “load” so I am trying an algae scrubber to see if it will work better and reduce the maintenance load. Main question, now that the ATS is operational (plumbed and water flowing) should I pull out all the cheato at once, or remove about half of the total cheato every few days and wait until the ATS starts show signs of growth to remove all the remaining cheato?

 

[glb]

I don’t have either one, but I’ve heard that ATS are more work. Maybe #reefsquad can help!

 

[saltyhog]

I don't think there is any reason you have to remove it incrementally. I would just take it out.

I don't really think ATS is more work once it's set up. You are still mainly just harvesting algae. I will probably go with a reactor if I ever need to go that direction.

 

[theMeat]

Ats is more work because it needs to be cleaned more often, but that is depending on how big and therefore how often your fuge needs to be trimmed back

Don’t see a reason to remove macro from fuge. Let them both run. If your cheato starts to die back naturally, great. If it keeps growing, great. If nitrates and phosphate start getting too low, lower light times on fuge and/or scrubber

 

[ca1ore]

I would leave everything as is and wait for the ATS to begin producing algae. At that point you can remove the chaeto .... or not, up to you. ATS can take a few weeks to get up to speed. I just built a bigger one for my tank, but will continue to run the old one until the new one is ready to take over.

 

[ADAM]

Don’t mind cleaning the pad 1-2 times a month if it will do a better job than the cheato was. Plus the light from the ATS will be easier to manage, being an Clear Water Scubber I purchased the light blockers that were available. I was constantly needing to move the light diffuser that kept the cheato’s light somewhat off the skimmer, and still had to break skimmer down every 1-2 months to clean the algae off the inside chamber. In a 92 gallon corner tank the sump space comes at a premium, there is not a lot of room to build much to separate the light from the fuge and skimmer section. For the ATS I built a shelf with PVC board for the scrubber to sit on which moves the light farther from the skimmer and sump which hopefully leads to less maintenance cleaning for the entire sump. My thought was that the scrubber may be more work than cutting the cheato in half from time to time but less overall cleaning of all the other sump equipment.

I pulled the cheato out completely and if levels start to creep up to quickly I’ll add a little cheato back from my sons tank. By the looks of his tank I can get a little GHA off one of the powerheads to seed the scrubber as well. (He was gonna clean that pump 2 weeks ago..... You can lead a horse to water....!)