I recently set up an algae turf scrubber. Just wondering if anyone else is running one. How do you like it?
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Anyone Running an ATS?
- Thread starter dirtycontour
- Start date
I thought you were asking about an Automatic Transfer Switch (for a generator)... lol. But, since I'm here I'll throw my 2 cents in.
I've heard a few people around here have experimented with scrubbers and from what I've read they do work but only about as well as chaeto does. Therefore, most will just throw a ball of chaeto in the sump and trim it every now and then without having to setup the whole scrubber contraption.
If you have a basement and/or fish room where you have the room for an elaborate system and can hide it from the wife/girlfriend... it can be very effective. I've even heard of some people just using a shallow trough on the drain to the sump (with a very slight slope to allow a slow flow) with some lighting to inhibit algae growth... which is both out of site and out of the display. This is easy to clean as you can just swipe it out every week or so.
Like I said though, it's much simpler to just put some macro algae in the sump than to come up with a design for an algae turf scrubber.
I've heard a few people around here have experimented with scrubbers and from what I've read they do work but only about as well as chaeto does. Therefore, most will just throw a ball of chaeto in the sump and trim it every now and then without having to setup the whole scrubber contraption.
If you have a basement and/or fish room where you have the room for an elaborate system and can hide it from the wife/girlfriend... it can be very effective. I've even heard of some people just using a shallow trough on the drain to the sump (with a very slight slope to allow a slow flow) with some lighting to inhibit algae growth... which is both out of site and out of the display. This is easy to clean as you can just swipe it out every week or so.
Like I said though, it's much simpler to just put some macro algae in the sump than to come up with a design for an algae turf scrubber.
I did a ball of chaeto in my sump and was happy with it, but I felt the need for a project. It's been up and running for a few days now. I was just wondering if anyone was running one "long-term" and what their results were.
Paul B ran one in his DT:
http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?67483-Algae-trough&highlight=algae+scrubber
http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?67483-Algae-trough&highlight=algae+scrubber
I ran one on my first system for about 1.5 yrs and it worked very well keeping nitrates and phosphates very low, water very clean and cleaning the glass was less frequent. When I upgraded my system I had a new LED scrubber built but it was too big and was taking too much out of my tank so I took it down because my bio load at the time wasnt that big. The 3 keys to a scrubber are light, flow and food. Now that my bio load has increased and I am feeding in the range of what my scrubber was designed for, I am thinking about hooking it back up. There is an extensive thread about them on RC in the advanced topic section. I have seen designs as basic as a 5 gallon bucket and then I have seen some that are pretty elaborate.