Algae Scrubber Build!!

It looks good, just make sure your screen is really roughed up.

 

nice work. I enjoyed the video

 

Nice. and the rock you got at ACC looks good in there.

 

Looks great - like the idea of the plastic folder hanging box.

Question:

The light sockets/lamps appear to be exposed to the saltwater - at least the spray is not directly. Are you designing something to protect the electrical components or don't you foresee it being an issue?

Thanks!

-Eric

 

u could get a light defuser from lowes or menadrs and try that they are made for grid light lens covers

 

"got some water on the floor, better check that out" LMFAO

 

Waaay too much electricity exposed to saltwater for me. It might work for awhile but eventually salt is going to creep into those sockets and if your lucky trip the breaker.

Why not just make a refugium? You could have just as easilly used that tub as a refugium and grown cheato or some other macro algae which would have utilized the entire tub to grow algae in rather than that little screen.

Call me old school but a refugium that packs itself full of cheato has to suck more nutrients than some film algae growing on a little screen.

Just be careful with that thing. Hope it works for you.

 

I personal saw a tank with nice algae scrubber on it and that tank was awesome clean clear looking water and a ton of algae on the screen im personally trying the up flow algae scrubber just started it three days ago so we will see how it does

 

So what does that prove? I've seen tanks with algae scrubbers and they still had algae.

I just don't see how a little screen with what? 2 sq. foot of surface area can consume the amount of nutrients a tub completley packed full of cheato can.

Not only that refugiums require basically NO maintenence and grow more a diverse populations of lifeforms which are benficial to your tank.

IMO refugiums are far superior. There's a video in the video section by Mark Vera. I recommend watching it and then tell my why anyone would setup an algae scrubber instead of a refugium.

Algae scrubbers are a fad. Simple as that.

 

I started running one as my only form of filtration on a 75 gallon reef a little Over a year ago and I couldn't be more pleased. There are nicer looking tanks out there than mine but for the amount of work, and expense I put into it, I feel it can't be beat. No Skimmer, no gfo, no filter socks.
I top off with kalkwasser, dose alkalinity weekly and do Far fewer waterchanges than other people I talk with which saves a lot of money on salt.

When they start growing a nice green algae, they definitely work.

 

I'm not saying they work better than anything out there, there are many ways to succeed in this hobby and most have their merits.

 

Sorry wavers but I disagree and granted everyone has their own way but I doubt they are a fad. I had a refugium but still had to run Gfo and a skimmer. Long story short, me and many others are very happy with our scrubbers. To each there own. I read up a lot in keeping tanks and back years ago people thought that sumps were a waste of money. And the same with skimmers, LEDs etc.

 

I'm not arguing the fact that there are many methods of running a successful reef. So let me ask you this.

Why did you go with a scrubber instead of a refugium?

Again, I'm not claiming refugiums are better. Just curious why they are so popular all of a sudden.

What's next? The Cha Cha Cha Chia filter?

 

For me the desicion was made about 2 months after starting my tank. A coworker with a 200 gallon tank and I got to talking about filtration. He said he used one exclusively on his tank, up till that point I had not heard of an algae scrubber. I did some research, and figured for 20-30 bucks I would give it a try in conjunction with the skimmer. One day about 2 months later my skimmer cup ran over and spilled about a gallon of water and filth in my stand. I was pissed and figured I'd give skimmerless a try. It worked.

Working with my filtration being located in my stand creates space issues, an algae scrubber adds nothing to the footprint of my sump. The area under my screen also acts as a refugium somewhat, there are pods and worms in there, but they do not live in substrate as it is bare bottom. Currently I have 17 baby bangaiis living in there. I've been busy lately and have done no Maintanace on my tank for about 3 months except for topping off my fresh water reservoir, and giving a weekly scrape of my screen. I also gave a half assed effort to remove the coraline from the back glass. My tank looks as bad as I've ever seen it now. Here's a pic, notice there is. Algae growing on the powerheads, probably because my t-5s need replacement. I am in the process of getting ready to move everything over to a 110 hex front and you don't want to know when the last time I did a waterchange. The only filtration is an algae scrubber over a 14 gallon sump.

Again this is a worst case pic for me, please don't judge too harshly, and the lighting is under my day lights.
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