Mega-powerful Nitrate And Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium

[SantaMonica]

Yeah Gary!

Let's see some pics of what you have so far

 

[SantaMonica]

Builds/Designs Of The Week:



Aqualityplace on the UR site:

Nickq on the UR site:

Dave3441 on the UR site:

RentalDeceptionist on the UR site:

Workers99 on the UR site:

Bluespotjawfish on the RS site:

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Reefski on the MD site:

Christophe on the MD site:

Sharkey18 on the MD site:

Loveaneighbor on the MD site:

 

[SantaMonica]

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Dohn on the MASA site; not DIY-able, but good idea for manufacturing:

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Riaanp on the MASA site; this is on the back of a nano. The light is actually inside of the compartment, and he says it does not get wet at all:

Franske on the MASA site:

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Enatiello on the RS site:

GlaringToast on the MFT site:

Jan on the RP site:

IamFood on the SG site:

Johntanjm on the SG site:

 

[SantaMonica]

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Enatiello on the RS site:

GlaringToast on the MFT site:

Jan on the RP site:

IamFood on the SG site:

Johntanjm on the SG site:

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Juzzmarine on the SG site:

Nitschke on the SWF site:

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Todj2002 on the SWF site:

Worley on the AS site; this is for a high-power, very thin unit for HOB:

NoOne on the AS site:

 

[Jonny967]

Having read most of the posts now (which took a while ) i am coming round to the idea of this, i have a couple of questions though.
Would this method not be more expensive than buying? or is the main reason for this to have a better way of improving water quality?
Also i do not have the space to set one of these up inside the cabinet but i dont want it to look untidy on the outside, is there any solution?
And my final question is that would it be possible to build some sort of custom sump that incorperates the system?

 

[SantaMonica]

Would this method not be more expensive than buying?

Buying what? If you mean buying a scrubber instead of building one, there are none currently for sale by anybody. Hopefully someone will start making them. You could have someone build it for you, from the three people currently listed in the builder directory:

http/www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewto...hp?f=9&t=25

or is the main reason for this to have a better way of improving water quality?

Not sure I understand the question.

Also i do not have the space to set one of these up inside the cabinet but i dont want it to look untidy on the outside, is there any solution?

Then you definitely would need a low-profile one built for you by a builder; an acrylic one, like mine, which is only 6" tall (it's the black thing in this pic):

would it be possible to build some sort of custom sump that incorperates the system?

Yes, it's just more acrylic work. Since you'd need to have a builder build the sump anyway, you would just have them add the scrubber portion onto the top portion of it. This would be first (nobody has done it yet), so you'd want to have your builder post his design here before building it, so you can I could check to make sure it would fit your system, and work properly.

 

[SantaMonica]

Feeding update: I've begun increased feeding, because my clown tang is getting skinny, and also because I want to try to keep a variety of non-photo NPS corals. So in my 90g with scrubber-only filtration, I'm currently feeding 4 cubes mysis, 5 ml Reed's Shelfish Diet (phyto), 5 ml Reed's Rotifeast, and 5 ml Reed's Arctipods (copepods), and 2 krill (for white eel) daily. Also one whole silverside weekly (for blue eel). For reference, 1 ml is about 2 pumps from a typical phyto pump bottle.

Since I increased to this amount, I'm now getting my first detectable readings in several months (Salifert). Nitrate is a slight pink... varies between .1 and 1. Phosphate is a barely visible blue; sometimes I'm not sure if it's really blue or not, but it's definitely not the crystal clear it used to be.

Pink coralline is continuing to take over, and the last two square inches of nuisance film algae disappeared last week. Some spots of cyano are still trying to hold on, but the coralline is overtaking them.

So the goal now is to see how much I can actually feed while still keeping N an P low. I don't think they need to be undetectable; I think my goal is to keep nuisance algae from forming, while at the same time being able to sustain non-photo NPS corals. BTW I added a few SPS frags on my new frag tray, and they seem to be doing well.

 

[garybuk]

Hello me again! how do i seed the screen?

 

[SantaMonica]

Seeding is just that... rubbing seeds (spores) of algae into a new screen so it can start growing faster. Seeding spores is done with just any old algae/hair/slime you can get from your tank. It will save you two or three days of growing time. It's not a requirement, however; algae will indeed find its way to your new screen.

Start by washing your screen with vinagar and water (no soap) to get any oils off, then rinse it several times. Then take rough sandpaper and sand both sides well. Then take some algae (any kind) from your tank and rub it HARD into both sides of the screen. Then run some tap water over it, which will flush most of the visible algae off the screen. You don't need any visible algae remaining; the invisible algae spores will remain stuck into the small spaces created by the sanding. The reason you want to rinse off the visible algae in the sink is because if you don't, it will just wash off into your tank.

First visible green growth specs will be by day 3. And it will start pulling nutrients in a week or two.

 

[garybuk]

Seeding is just that... rubbing seeds (spores) of algae into a new screen so it can start growing faster. Seeding spores is done with just any old algae/hair/slime you can get from your tank. It will save you two or three days of growing time. It's not a requirement, however; algae will indeed find its way to your new screen.

Start by washing your screen with vinagar and water (no soap) to get any oils off, then rinse it several times. Then take rough sandpaper and sand both sides well. Then take some algae (any kind) from your tank and rub it HARD into both sides of the screen. Then run some tap water over it, which will flush most of the visible algae off the screen. You don't need any visible algae remaining; the invisible algae spores will remain stuck into the small spaces created by the sanding. The reason you want to rinse off the visible algae in the sink is because if you don't, it will just wash off into your tank.

First visible green growth specs will be by day 3. And it will start pulling nutrients in a week or two.

Kool i think i need more lighting or closer!! had it running since friday so 4days i did not seed it as i went away on holiday shud i leave it now and see what happends or seed it still? i got a little patch of brown growing!

 

[SantaMonica]

Just leave it. Yes more/closer lighting is better, but no need to seed now. Watch that brown!

 

[garybuk]

Just leave it. Yes more/closer lighting is better, but no need to seed now. Watch that brown!

How do i know when i clean it or what to do next haha

 

[Sea Turtle]

What do you use Vodka for?

 

[SantaMonica]

Who's using vodka?

Clean 1/2 the screen every week.

Reminder Of The Day: Number Of Lights/Screens

One-light between two-screens: Makes better use of the light, but leaves the other sides of the screens unused (in the dark), thus wasting half your flow. The big advantage is cleaning: You can clean one screen, and leave the other in operation, which give you more consistent filtering.

Two-lights on one-screen: Makes better use of the screen (both sides are lit), but can waste light if not reflected properly. Advantages are (1) redundancy of the lights: If one goes out, you'll still have filtering until you can buy a replacement, and (2) higher performance for its size, since each side of the screen gets hit by light from both sides, especially right after cleaning when the algae is thin.

Best of both worlds: Multiple lights between two screens. Uses the most flow and power, but is always filtering, and will never go totally "dark" unexpectedly.

 

[SantaMonica]

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Scrubber FAQ 1.0 is now complete, and will be updated periodically:

http/www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewto...hp?f=9&t=68