algae scrubbers - who uses them and what kind ?

tinman

tinman

Well-known member
as the titlee says, algae scrubbers - who uses them and what kind ?

im looking at the santa monica hog1 algae scrubber but at $149 plus 15 bucks shipping..it better be good haha

so advantages and disadvantages of the algae scrubbers ?
 
grow algae in your ATS, not your display tank! plus ATS has the added bonus of reintroducing zooplankton back into the system. the amount of zoos that proliferate in the turf algae is astonishing...every time i clean my tank and scrub out the algae, i see little babies and larvae...i try to pick out as much as i can to throw them back into the tank

downside is it's yet another piece of equipment to clean
 
I have mine offline at the moment. Will be introducing it on my upgrade.

I had a diy overflow ats on a pvc ball valve into the sump...worked great to keep the algae off the rocks on the DP. As said the pods are nice. I also ran chaeto. I will be deciding to keep the ats once its established. Its on a union for quick removal and toss away the screen.

With the ats and gfo my water glass and rocks look great. I will be experimenting with possibly running the gfo in quarters one week per month as it cleans way too much on my previous system
 
I have a hog 1x. It took a few months to grow gha. I still have to use gfo to keep phos low. One thing about the hog, it will grow gha on the glass and when you brush it clean it floats into the water column which I don't like. I suggest going with the larger drops or surf if you have the space. Also I'm pretty sure there is more growth area than the hog.
 
Irsug1 said:
I have a hog 1x. It took a few months to grow gha. I still have to use gfo to keep phos low. One thing about the hog, it will grow gha on the glass and when you brush it clean it floats into the water column which I don't like. I suggest going with the larger drops or surf if you have the space. Also I'm pretty sure there is more growth area than the hog.
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thanks :) thats good info for deciding between drop and their hog ones :)
 
I threw together a DIY ATS in a couple minutes for my Nuvo 16 and it works pretty well. JBJ nano-glo refugium light with some slotted airline tubing zip tied to some scuffed up plastic canvas. Since its out of sight I didn't care how it looked and because it's in the rear chamber I didn't care about light spill.

I just converted the referenced Nuvo 16 to a coral qt/observation tank so had the ATS offline for a bit, but here are a pic I have of the scrubber when I first started getting growth. (I believe this was the 10 day mark)

10b3a27a4267dbc117cf4cf4368cbdfd.jpg


I cut it to snugly fit into the back chamber.

cefbaa066e72b0bae4ed345c962754c6.jpg
 
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Tin I have two drop 2 from SM. They work good easy to clean, I also have to run a little gfo to keep phosphate at a low range I like. The one disadvantage of the drop2 is the door on the oldest one I have not staying shut, I have to use a plastic wire tie lol. Here's a current picture of both of them [MENTION=1277]jrpark22000[/MENTION]
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I ran one with santamonicas original design and it grew massive amounts of algae.








As you can see I had a massive amount of sps and fish and i loved it.

 
I've been doing some reading and if u can get light on both side of the screen then a 10x10 screen will cover a 100gallon tank. If u can only have light on side, then it's 50% less. So a 10x10 will cover a 50 gallon tank. I have roughly 35-40 gallons so I will b trying an 8x8 screen. If I can find a way to light both sides I will b doing a 5x8
 
just ordered one off of ebay ;) will be getting this thursday i think ... i have a maxijet handy so will set it up before the weekend ..

will be slowly decommissioning the biopellets ,,,, lets see....

also might order leds from rapid led to make a red/warm white combo 4 led to light it up .. incase the home depot one doesnt cut it ..
 
Why decommissioning biopellets, has your experience been that the Ats will completely make bp's pointless?
 
Mjl714 said:
Why decommissioning biopellets, has your experience been that the Ats will completely make bp's pointless?
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Not essentially .. I dont want to run a ulns ..,biopellets , chaetho , ats, skimmer all work on nitrates and phosphates where as biopellets is big on nitrates only causing an imbalance .. Also id like to keep some nitrates with out feeding too high. Once ats takes over biopellets wont be of any help i think..




Sent from my iPhone
 
FLIPthaCLOVER said:
Save your money bro and just make one of using pvc.. if u have a sump and the space.
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Sourcing all the elements needed for the build, gas to go back and forth, time to put it all together, and then wondering if we did it all right or not .. i dont mind paying some instead of DIY if its cheap enough.

Time is money a friend texted me today ;)
 
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