Algae scrubber who uses one and why

[Hockeynut]

I’ve been wondering what I will do as my nutrient level grows in the relatively new system.
do I use the same method as most of my past systems, a big ball of cheato and occasional gfo.
or do I try my luck with a turf scrubber and if so which type, up flow or waterfall. DIY or store bought.
What do you all think?

 

[amado]

I like refugiums but if you don’t have space this is a good solution.

 

[Mark_C]

Running a waterfall on my 110. To be honest, if phosphates are under control it works a little bit for me and I'll clean it occasionally at best.
If phosphates are running high sure, the scrubber works, at the same time the rocks in the tank are working it too, so I have a scrubber and rocks to clean.
Perhaps I'm not using it right.

 

[Justin]

I run an upflow scrubber on my system , I think its way more effective than my fuge. I still have my fuge just for copepods and etc... but my scrubber is the one doing all the heavy lifting.

 

[Hockeynut]

Running a waterfall on my 110. To be honest, if phosphates are under control it works a little bit for me and I'll clean it occasionally at best.
If phosphates are running high sure, the scrubber works, at the same time the rocks in the tank are working it too, so I have a scrubber and rocks to clean.
Perhaps I'm not using it right.

I remember you saying you were running one. Is a commercial unit or is it a diy?

 

[Hockeynut]

I run an upflow scrubber on my system , I think its way more effective than my fuge. I still have my fuge just for copepods and etc... but my scrubber is the one doing all the heavy lifting. View attachment 28289

Wow that thing looks like it’s working. How long is that since you cleaned it?
what size system is it on?

 

[Justin]

Wow that thing looks like it’s working. How long is that since you cleaned it?
what size system is it on?

Thats an old picture so I cant really remember how long it was but I actually just cleaned my scrubber yesterday so i can give you a weeks worth picture next week so you can see the growth. But I'm running it on a 125 display + about 55 gallon worth of sump water. I love it, my chaeto growth has definitely slowed down because of my scrubber but thats fine with me, as long as the nutrients are getting exported lol

 

[Mark_C]

I remember you saying you were running one. Is a commercial unit or is it a diy?

Its a commercial that was built into the sump.
I send you a couple of pics if you want.
Maybe even some of the scrubber.

 

[ecam]

Tired of cheato strands clogging stuff. I’m leaning toward getting two of these. Any recommended brands ?

 

[DangerDave]

It’s a great tool, and the volume of nutrients it can remove is unreal. I used one on my last system for 10+ years. Every drop that drained from my display went through it (yes there way a bypass for emergencies).

I didnt have much for corals back then. But I was following the info that the guy who eventually started selling them under turbo aquatics. He was using his home made units on his service customers coral systems.

I would change water every 6 months or so. The glass stayed algae free...

The only reason that I didn’t build one into this system was laziness. I didn’t want to clean the screen each week. I’m about at the end of my rope chasing phosphates, and using copious amounts of GFO. I’m deciding how to use build one in. DIY algae scrubber is so simple. The prebuilt units are pretty, but the prices are really high....

 

[ecam]

I’m seeing that to @DangerDave. hey 300 plus. Geez

 

[ecam]

Same here with phosphates

 

[DangerDave]

I think I understand my problem. Curious of your take on yours @ecam.

What I think happened is i bound a ton of phosphates to my rocks. I couldn’t keep a fuge going, i didn’t have enough nitrates (dosing them now). I was lazy with my gfo, and I wasn’t using enough.

I’m now running 4-5cups of high cap gfo, and all is good if I change it every 8-12 days. If I don’t, I’ll get daily readings of zero, then I’ll start to see algae growing everywhere. Another day or two later and bam I’m at .16. My start corals look bad, some die. Seriously in just a couple days.

 

[ecam]

Interesting. What’s driving me nuts is. I’m running 5 nitrates and phos fluctuating between .07 to .30 in days to.
I want to dose nitrates but why go over 5

map right now I’m using biofuel to see if i can get the nitrates to drop and consume the phos

 

[DangerDave]

I think 5-10 nitrates is perfect, why lower? Isn’t that flirting with starvation?

 

[Hockeynut]

Edwin has a massive bio load, big fish and a lot of them. They poop a whole lot.
We just piled a whole bunch of corals into his tank to eat up some of that nutrient.
And given the right conditions his tank is going to explode and become a unbelievable tank

 

[DangerDave]

Edwin has a massive bio load, big fish and a lot of them. They poop a whole lot.
We just piled a whole bunch of corals into his tank to eat up some of that nutrient.
And given the right conditions his tank is going to explode and become a unbelievable tank

Well a huge fish bioload is the perfect use case for a scrubber!

 

[Sponge]

Just found a 3D printable alge scrubber on tinkerverse it will take a few days to print. But I’ll let you know if it works. May be a free solution or a piece of junk. Ya never know with these things.

 

[jgraz]

I've been using a bio-pellet reactor. I've used them in the past with success too, but they do have a limiting factor. Without Nitrates they no longer reduce Phosphates. I feed a lot, and 14 fish eat a lot, but not enough to keep nitrates high enough to keep phosphates a bit lower, my phosphates are at .06, not high by any stretch but when they were .03 things were better. I am now at that point and have been for several weeks now. With that imbalance you can get cyano popping up not horrible though. I just started dosing nitrates but I'm only doing dosing enough to raise my system 1 PPM per day, not sure how fast that is being consumed so I'm not even sure its working yet. I may have to start running GFO again, I really don't want to though. I've been thinking of getting back to running macro and ditching the reactor.
I've looked into the scrubbers and the Algea reactors that are around now, but to be honest they are just way to overpriced to warrant that route.

 

[jgraz]

Just found a 3D printable alge scrubber on tinkerverse it will take a few days to print. But I’ll let you know if it works. May be a free solution or a piece of junk. Ya never know with these things.

Free?..ish maybe
How much does the material cost to print it and then add all the parts needed to run it.