LED Turf Alge Scrubber (WEEK 3 photo added)

[RUNAS]

Hi there guys and gals I thought I would throw up a post regarding my Turf Algae Scrubber I made over the weekend.

I did copy some ideas from the “santa monica” brand that is becoming more popular in the US.

Total cost will be around $200 including the little Aqua One 1300 pump driving it the ,LEDs were $50

The unit has only been running since about 4 pm today with the LEDS starting a 6pm and will turn off at 7am tomorrow morning.

Here’s some pics to get idea what ive done.

Surface roughed up for the algae to get a better seed

Hopefully I should see some growth on the screen within a week,and start to increase from there,

which in turn given time,reduce my Nitrates etc.

RUNAS

[F15hguy]

wow really good build quality,

[RUNAS]

Thanks Fishguy, im pleased the way it came out.

I got the Acrylic cut by PSP in Hamiton which made waaay easier,I rang them with a cutting list and it was done in around two hours ON A FRIDAY! great service.

The special glue cost more than the acrylic :roll: but it didnt leak! cost of glue and plastic was $35.

I will take a photo a week of the screen and post it so people can see the results...I Hope :dunno:

RUNAS

[RUNAS]

Hi, well week one done no leaks or dramas with unit, I have increased its light hours to 16 now, see what that does.

This is first weeks alage, typically what Im getting sick of in tank, Brown/Black Alage!

I have not scraped off any at this stage, I will leave as is and see what week two brings, also got a RO-DI unit coming,which should make a difference.

Doing more research on these it seems protein skimmers are being removed if a scrubber is being installed, this is the first week my skimmer has hardly produced anything,so there maybe some merit in it not being there, it would certainly make my sump tidier.

Regards RUNAS

[RUNAS]

Scrubber still scrubbing ! As you can see, a significant amount of black/brown algae with shades of green in there too,which I have scraped off this week. Unfortunatly this seems to be more of a bacteria than a algae close to red slime :facepalm:

SO I have had to use a additive to control this,as much as I have not wanted too I had it under good advise that there really no other option. &c:ry

RO-DI unit is currently en-route, so should hav that in a few days.

Water parameters are stable with the Nitrates between 5-10 ppm all others zero,the only thing I havent tested for is Silicate which I believe is the source of the issues,it can be the only other thing.

Oh well, keep on keeping on !!

Before cleaning

After cleaning, ready for another week.

RUNAS

[GrahamC]

What were your nitrates before you added the scrubber?

[RUNAS]

Ooooh a question :slfg:

For months Nitrates have been up around 80 ppm,three weeks ago I removed 50% of sand from tank and the coral rubble in sump which had to contributing to Nitrates, they halved over night. :thup: but still too high.

I then built and installed scrubber and Nitrates have been slowly been going down about 10 ppm per week so far, I dont think its 100% scrubber but time will tell.

So far Im pleased with scrubber from a "no problem" point of view, I dont expect it to be a alage silver bullet, but over time I hope it proves itsself, but also a interesting project as well.

Thanks for interest. :happy2:

RUNAS

[GrahamC]

I've read about these projects a while ago and they seem to scrape heaps of green algae off ... but yours seems to be producing much less ( or I remember this stuff all wrong ). They were using incandescent lighting I think. I wonder if it'll help to use direct sunlight on the scrubber?

And also since the algae is supposed to be removing the nitrates for you, shouldn't you only clean one side at a time so that you have a mass of algae still working for you?

[RUNAS]

Yes you are correct Graham, the brown is not good, an indication of high nutrients, green is forming on the right hand side of the screen slowly, I should add that my skimmer has once again produced nothing, when it normally has done consistantly since I set up the tank. :dunno:

As I understand it the lights run should opposite to your display tank,eg at night,sooo sunlight maybe a problem.

I used the LEDs simply for running cost savings,no heat produced and the correct light for growing plants/aglae over incandesent lights.

This is an experiment/trial,if I was to rebuild it I would increase size of screen and light from both sides,but I had to work around the space I have where my sump is located.

As for scraping both sides, I will try only doing one side next time see what happens.

RUNAS

[GrahamC]

My neighbour was just running the tank water down across his tank lid which was sloped at an angle so that the water flowed right across from one end to the end and back into the tank. The tank was sat right next to a window and the glass was thick with green algae which he cleaned off occasionally. Same principle but for a fresh water tank.

[RUNAS]

There are many ways of doing these, and its not certainly not "new" idea. Ive seen the way you have described GrahamC, its still being done,however with the inclusionof the "mesh" over the glass for ease of cleaning and for the alage to get a good hold, but it seems to hold on to glass just fine in my tanks :slfg: .

For me,I like and understand the theory behind these, alage is a nessesary evil in a fish tank, so let it grow in a controled enviroment and let it work for the well being of the system by removing phosphates, nitrates etc, just as as refugium does but alittle more aggressively so to speak. .

Im convinced one I get a good mat of healthy green algae on the screen I will see a significant change, it wont happen over night but I sure it will.

RUNAS

[Ira]

For me,I like and understand the theory behind these, alage is a nessesary evil in a fish tank,

I don't know if that's true. Other than a bit of dark algae in cracks and crevices of rocks and wood, I don't have any algae in my tank. Not even above the water line where it's went but the plecs can't reach. I haven't cleaned my glass literally in years.

[F15hguy]

in a well balanced tank algae will exist but very rarely be visible, its all about finding the balance, in truth i'm having trouble getting algae to grow in my tank

[RUNAS]

Yes agreed, if you need some alage let me know aye! :lol:

I suppose what I mean is even in small amounts it will still happen, visible or not its still present all I want it growing in one place.

I mean this sencerly, well done on not have an alage problem

Interested to know if either of you are running refugiums ?

This is my first marine tank, and even now 6 or so months down the track I wish I knew then what I do now,like the huge importance of using RO-DI water.

Im 100% sure things would have turned out different if I had been using RO-DI water from the get go.

Belive it or not Im enjoying having problems and learning to slove them and hopfully one day passing on knowledge to people of what NOT to do.

If people are interested I dont mind posting a weekly photo of screen to see how it changes over time.

Thanks for feed back IRA and fishguy :thup:

RUNAS

[F15hguy]

refugium???, lol mines a 21L NZ mudflat tank, the refugium would be bigger than it, it was an experiment that worked and is here to stay (plus all the fish and shrimp and 2 snails are named)

[RUNAS]

refugium???, lol mines a 21L NZ mudflat tank, the refugium would be bigger than it, it was an experiment that worked and is here to stay (plus all the fish and shrimp and 2 snails are named)

Sooo in essence it is a refugium :slfg: sounds cool, mines a NZ coldie, I had shrimp and snails,hermit crabs oh and some speckeld triple fins but sadly they became lunch for a rather agressive little fella I have, the blennys on the other hand are literally stauch and dont give fish X an inch, hence why they have survived.

RUNAS

[GrahamC]

I've had some of this plastic mesh under the outflow of a HOB ( to suppress the waterfall noise which SWMBO doesn't like ), so it's exposed to ambient lighting over the last half year and pretty much no algae has been growing on it. So, it has failed to work as an algae scrubber for me. Perhaps strong lighting is the key.

[F15hguy]

you cold place a small strip of LED's aimed directly at it to make a mini scrubber, shouldn't affect the tank lighting too much

[RUNAS]

Have a look here http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthr ... e-Scrubber

You may see some similarities with mine :roll: , I was going to copy it excactly but for a trial etc the heat sinks, power packs bla bla made it price prohibitive,and a little messy in the wiring department for a trial,

The LEDs I purcahse were $50, a 2m pre pluged flex for $5, screw wires into terminals on back of LEDs,set timer, plug in, job done!

No worries about "correct lighting" either being specific colours for growing plants it cant be too far wrong.

I got it from here http://ledstuff.co.nz/, really nice people,it was a demo product but they told me they can get more if required, hench why I posted the pic of the label for reference.

What you have described GrahameC is another way I was thinking, It sure would good for not having another pump in the sump, I didnt quite follow through on a tidy design for it, but it would still have used the box system on top of sump style with emergency over flows etc similar to mine, just waaay bigger holes to deal with water flow.

You maybe a lucky one too GrahameC with no algae

RUNAS

[F15hguy]

got me thinking now, might find a small LED lamp and sit it againts the back plastic of my hang on filter, turning the bio grid into an algae scrubber, don't think I need it just yet as the live sand de-nitrifies the water.

p.s. found some awesome red algae yesterday, its already clung onto the ground and looks like its growing. found it in a low light area too. hopefully it can out grow what the snails eat

[RUNAS]

If it aint broke dude! hopefully you know the rest.

I too have some red algae, its little tufts of it, not a slime at all, just spotted around the place, size of a pin head.

Not Coraline,wrong colour, I think its quite attractive, but Ive learnt becareful what you wish for in this game.

RUNAS

[F15hguy]

i'll just keep fiddling and hoping. this tank has taught me heaps so far, didn't even know about the denitifiying bacteria you get in anaerobic conditions in salt water till it started working and im like "why???" now im working on algea growth, think my chitons might have reproduced cuz theres a couple of tiny ones now.... all good signs so far

[Phantom]

Until you posted these photos, I'd never heard of algae scrubbers. I don't have a sump on my 400L tank as it is a Jewel with the default stand, so no refugium. However, I now want to make one of these algae scrubbers after spending a few hours reading about them.

Did you do your own design for the acrylic case? Just been hunting in my garage and found an unused 2 x 22" T5HO unit that was on a pre-quake tank and think it would be great for this, so think I'll try to design something about 600mm in length that can sit on the ground behind the tank. Put a tube each side.

Any tips or things you've learned while making your one?

I've just fired up AutoCAD and will see if someone local would be willing to cut the pieces for me.

[RUNAS]

Hi Phantom, I did really copy the L2 ,just modified it to suit what I had.

I suggest watching the last episodes of LA fish guy on youtube, he trials the santa monica scrubber for over a year, which is almost exactly what you want to build, its pretty flash as you would expect, slidey bits n all. BUT it has no emergency over flow which I strongly suggest incorporating in the design if possible

Im a little perplexed about no sump however I have a cunning plan which may work

The first place I started was the lights, just work out the over all lenght including fittings, being t5s I couldnt imagine it being too wide, but bear in mind the HOs do generate heat which can cause the acrylic to warp so you may need think about small fans being installed at one end.

Honestly once you get your head around that side of it the rest is fairly straight forward. its just a rectangle box,clear acrylic to form the channel with a hole in the bottom,however its this simple when its over a sump, you dont.

I would guess your total width would be 160mm wide,40mm for each section for the lights either side and 80mm for the water channel down the middle.

Over all lenght will be at a guess close to 700mm, and you will be looking at around 210-230mm in height, this will give you enough room for your spray bar and a good size screen actually two about the same size as my one each.

Because you have no sump,the cunning plan will be pump water from tank through scrubber,make another box under it to catch the water and house another return pump to send the water back up to tank,Im aware this could turn into a siphon in the case of a powercut which may need another thought or two to over come this but nothings impossible.

Basically a mini sump! all done in cool black acrylic. :thup:

This is just an idea.

The acryilc is 4.5 mm thick,handy to know when trying to workout cuts, the guys at PSP cut my pieces to 0.125mm tolerance very cool,so my 291mm pieces were EXACTLY that, because they had to fit inside my box and be glued to be water tight!

The holes in the sides were made with a 25mm hole saw which is perfect fit for the 15mm PVC fittings to snug fit into.

I made the slit in the 15mm PVC for the spray bar with Angle grinder with a 1mm thick wheel, very easy but it took me a few goes to get it straight.

On my design the elbows are 20mm Hanson and has a fitting to step it down to fit the 15mm PVC,with a "mac union" fitting,if you want I can post those parts.

It also has a 25mm male bulkhead fitting in the bottom for the drain,I hope the emergency overflow is self expalinatory

I hope this helps, feel free to PM me for any more questions or bounce round ideas, however watch LAFG very carefully when he is setting up and cleaning scrubber changing tubes etc its a very good design and very light tight!

RUNAS

[Phantom]

Did you put slots into the acrylic at all? This is as far as I got with my design last night. I was thinking that the slots would help hold the base and I'd run silicon along the edges after it was glued in place. Maybe that is just overkill and not really required at all. I got the idea off my Deltek HOB skimmer which does this.

That design has internal dimensions of 600mm long, 140mm wide and 200mm tall. I designed it with 3mm acrylic in mind, but I'll go talk to some plastics companies to see what they think. I allowed 45mm for the lights and that leaves 44mm for the middle section. Do you think it needs to be wider than that? I have heaps of small fans that I use for cooling LED lighting, so I can throw a couple in there to keep the lights cool.

The screen could then be at minimum, 50mm x 15mm which is the recommended size from that algaescrubbers forum FAQ.

I thought that it might be a good idea to have removeable panels on the inside to give better access to the light fittings. I figured they only really have to be splash proof so it should be OK like that.

I think to start with, I'll just place the unit on top of the tank. Then once I see how it performs, look to get some valves and work out how to make it siphon / overflow safe for mounting on the ground. That will be a good phase 2 and also means I don't have to invest a lot to see how it goes. If it works well, I may end up making a sump to go into my cabinet and plumb it all in.