Show off your Turbo's Aquatics Algae Scrubber!

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Bud,
How would using Reef HD Algae Buster effect a mature scrubber, 1 yr old,? If you could use for algae in your DT, how would you operate the scrubber with it?
Thx

So I had to google that product (which is fluconazole, best known for busting the chops of Bryopsis) and I found this interesting statement on their website:

https://www.reefhd.com/AlgaeBuster

The revolutionary reef fluconazole treatment Algae Buster's label is currently under review due to possibly falling under a pesticide classification by the EPA due to algae claims.

The revolutionary reef fluconazole treatment Reef FluX can be found here and makes no algae claims.

Algae Buster wholesale is currently suspended during this review.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, Algae Buster will return soon.

Translation here is that we all know exactly what it does. But apparently the EPA does things like the FDA does where you can't make a claim that ABC treats XYZ even though everyone knows that it does, which is why you see all those health supplements with the statement "this has not been proven to treat or cure any disease blah blah blah" = we haven't paid someone a bloated amount of $$ to say that is actually does so we can't say that it does. Kind of how you can buy pool filter sand at Menards for $5 a bag or the exact same stuff at Leslie's for $30/bag because that Leslie's stuff has been "certified". I just didn't know that the EPA got all freaky about this stuff like the FDA does. /rant off

Anyways, my guess is it would have some kind of effect on all algaes, and not just bryopsis. But I would think this question is better suited to be asked on one of those Fluconazole threads and ask if it just targeted bryopsis or if it wiped out all algae.

 

[IxTCxI]

Just did my plumbing tonight.

Harvest time.

 

[IxTCxI]

Deleted

 

[imustbenuts]

Oh dang you really scraped the heck out of that screen.

 

[Salty1962]

My 3rd weeks growth, 2.5oz of algae. Amazing!

10.18.17 update. Huge chunk fell off, that's why lower center doesn't have any algae on it. @ 4 o'clock and running @ 12 hrs. Pulling "Pounds" of algae off. Awesome device!

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Harvest time.

Oh dang you really scraped the heck out of that screen.

Not sue what you mean? As long as most of the holes are filled in, it will re-grow back quickly

 

[happyschneiders]

So I had to google that product (which is fluconazole, best known for busting the chops of Bryopsis) and I found this interesting statement on their website:

https://www.reefhd.com/AlgaeBuster



Translation here is that we all know exactly what it does. But apparently the EPA does things like the FDA does where you can't make a claim that ABC treats XYZ even though everyone knows that it does, which is why you see all those health supplements with the statement "this has not been proven to treat or cure any disease blah blah blah" = we haven't paid someone a bloated amount of $$ to say that is actually does so we can't say that it does. Kind of how you can buy pool filter sand at Menards for $5 a bag or the exact same stuff at Leslie's for $30/bag because that Leslie's stuff has been "certified". I just didn't know that the EPA got all freaky about this stuff like the FDA does. /rant off

Anyways, my guess is it would have some kind of effect on all algaes, and not just bryopsis. But I would think this question is better suited to be asked on one of those Fluconazole threads and ask if it just targeted bryopsis or if it wiped out all algae.

Can't speak for the EPA, but there are very good reasons why the FDA is doing it. Look into ICH and GCP (good clinical practices) and why they came into existence. Some companies did some pretty abhorrent things.

 

[Fence13]

Big fan of these units. I have an L2 on a 75g tank. I went away from one of these and it was a big mistake, got one back and have been able to stop doing water changes. The picture is what I pull out of it every week.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Good to hear your tank is back in shape! I still have to post your write up

 

[SteadyC]

Filtration pic for now, ATS microalgae, chaeto macroalgae, skimmer, dosing pumps, etc.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

I think you've got more salt creep on yours that I have on mine (and mine sits on top of my DT)!

 

[SteadyC]

I think you've got more salt creep on yours that I have on mine (and mine sits on top of my DT)!

Basement sump, that’s where the water comes into the sump from upstairs DT, lots of splashy right there. In fact, I have salt inside the lights themselves, but they keep on. The rails get tons of build up, until I clean them, I do need to think about controlling the splashing, and I need to take apart and clean out the light. But, your lights just keep working, and grow tons. I have to clean it for weekly, even with all that macroalgae.

 

[cincyfishguy]

Anyone using one of these on an AIO tank? I've got an Innovative Marine SR60 and I'm curious if I could get one under my stand and pump the water back up into the filter chamber. Any thoughts?

 

[Fence13]

Anyone using one of these on an AIO tank? I've got an Innovative Marine SR60 and I'm curious if I could get one under my stand and pump the water back up into the filter chamber. Any thoughts?

I was thinking you'd be able to sit it on top off the tank in the back. Have the pump in one chamber and the drains empty into another. It should be wide enough to fit nicely on top without taking up too much room. I just can't find any picstures of people doing this to show you.

 

[cincyfishguy]

I’ve seen pics similar to what your saying. I don’t think I’d go that route. Would take away from the clean look of a rimless tank I think. I might not even have enough room in the filter chamber to get a pump big enough to do what I’m thinking. The AIO is nice but I do miss having a sump.

 

[SteadyC]

I’ve seen pics similar to what your saying. I don’t think I’d go that route. Would take away from the clean look of a rimless tank I think. I might not even have enough room in the filter chamber to get a pump big enough to do what I’m thinking. The AIO is nice but I do miss having a sump.

Mostly because of the siphon issue, I wouldn’t run one under the tank. If the power goes out, a siphon would be maintained gravity wise to under your tank, and with no power to the pump pushing water back up, you will have a flood. You could look at check valves and such but yuck... Bud, Floyd R Turbo, maker of these, has his on top of his tank. I would go with safety, simplicity, and water quality over seeing it sitting on top.

 

[Armydogracing]

So not supposed to scrape completely clean? I run one but have always scraped clean when I harvest the algae.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

So not supposed to scrape completely clean? I run one but have always scraped clean when I harvest the algae.

Scrape yes, scrub now. It's kind of one of those "it depends" answers when it comes to how aggressive you clean the screen while harvesting - if the screen is very mature and when you scrape there is still algae stuck in the holes such that the growth kicks in again pretty quickly after you put it back in use, then you're fine with scraping all the growth off.

But if you're just getting the screen going, or it taking longer to get it to mature, then aggressive scraping will only prolong that. I've seen your vids though, you're fine

Mostly because of the siphon issue, I wouldn’t run one under the tank. If the power goes out, a siphon would be maintained gravity wise to under your tank, and with no power to the pump pushing water back up, you will have a flood.

I can't see a situation where this would happen - generally when you have one fed off an overflow, the overflow controls the amount of water that gets drawn down out of the tank on an outage. You're describing a situation where you would have a pump in the tank pumping water to the scrubber, then the scrubber drains to the sump, and a return pump bring it back to the tank. That's a "push-pull" situation, and you definitely don't want to do that. Same applies to someone trying to run 2 sumps where the overflow drains into one then pumps to the 2nd then pumps back to the tank. Bad design. But I don't think that's what anyone is talking about here

Bud, Floyd R Turbo, maker of these, has his on top of his tank. I would go with safety, simplicity, and water quality over seeing it sitting on top.

Yeah I guess you could say I run a 120g AIO!

 

[Armydogracing]

Scrape yes, scrub now. It's kind of one of those "it depends" answers when it comes to how aggressive you clean the screen while harvesting - if the screen is very mature and when you scrape there is still algae stuck in the holes such that the growth kicks in again pretty quickly after you put it back in use, then you're fine with scraping all the growth off.

But if you're just getting the screen going, or it taking longer to get it to mature, then aggressive scraping will only prolong that. I've seen your vids though, you're fine

Ok good had me thinking I may have been doing it wrong

Getting the scrubber up at the building put on by next week can’t wait

I appreciate the quick reply I know your a busy person

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

The difference with the mortar screen is that scraping it removes the mortar faster. It's a sacrificial layer, so that's expected, but there's no reason to make that happen faster so I recommend "dragging" the scraper instead of using it like a chisel, as you would with a regular roughed-up plastic canvas screen. The mortar will come off over time, but the "dragging" method will tend to pull the algae off without chipping the mortar away.

The mortar is like a "short term" attachment medium, algae attaches much faster to it. The canvas screen under the mortar is roughed up just like any other screen should be, so as the mortar gets removed, the canvas screen matures to form the "long term" attachment medium. On my L2, after over a year (I think) of use, I can still see specs of sand embedded in the screen actually. I never chisel the growth away, it comes off with the dragging method just fine.

Algae seems to adapt to what it needs for support. So an open-air screen, or one in an larger enclosed box, that growth will tend to be more firmly attached and you might have to chisel at it. When the box is small enough such that you get the 3D growth that fills the box and the algae is suspended for a good portion of the growth period, it tends to come off easier. My thought is that this is because the algae doesn't have to be strongly attached, therefore it does not devote energy to that attachment point.