Mega-powerful Nitrate And Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium

[SantaMonica]

On the pic that shows the whole sump: The pipe that the screen is attatched to, did you drill it to get the water to flow on the screen? Also, was this whole pipe setup already like this, or did you install the cross pipe for the screen? Lastly, are those two overflow pipes coming down to feed the sump?

 

[CFC]

There are holes drilled every 2mm in the pipe above the screen. Before the scrubber was installed the pipe just T'd off onto the floss, all i did was remove the bend and put a straight connector on to take the cross pipe for the screen. Yes there are two over flow feeds to the sump one goes straight to the wet/dry trays and the other feeds the trickle canister with the excess going to the wet/dry.

 

[SantaMonica]

Ok well why we are waiting for growth, that will give us time to get things for a setup that will indeed reduce N and P. You've done an exellent job so far, so this should be easy for you.

Can you start by getting some of this plastic canvas screen?...

[URL="http/www.everythingplasticcanvas.com/pc-...sh-12-x-18.aspx"]http/www.everythingplasticcanvas.com/pc-...sh-12-x-18.aspx[/URL]

...Online or at a local crafts/sewing place. They are cheap so if you could get 6 of them, that would be great.
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Today's N-and-P-lowering success are both from the UR site, and both of them were a build-of-the-day that I previously posted:

"Col" says: "Test results from tonight are N=7.5 & P=0.1 I've not had test results as low as this before. The lighting on side 2 of the screen is really making a difference. Thanks SantaMonica for all your help!

"johnt" says: "Tested today and nitrate has come down from 50 to less than 25:


Date------8/21--------9/7---------9/14--------9/20

Nitrate----60-----------*-----------50-----------<25
pH---------8.24---------*-----------8.23---------8.27
Mag-------1394--------*-----------1335--------1440
Cal---------500----------*-----------465----------460
dKH-------7.2----------*------------8.6----------8.3
SG---------1.026-------*------------1.026-------1.026
Temp-----26.3---------*------------25.3---------24.8
Phos------0.25---------*------------0.1-----------<0.1

* = Started Scrubber

"First a big drop in Phosphate and now an equally impressive drop in Nitrate"

 

[SantaMonica]

Results of the day:

jski711 on the RF site says: "Well i ditched my euro reef skimmer and have not noticed any side effects from doing so. i'm still doing water changes on a regular basis but i have increased feedings tremendously and have no adverse side effects from doing so."

keithqueef on RC says: "Update. Well i received my screen from inland (12x12) last friday. and since putting it into my system my trates have gone from red to orange to now dark yellow not quite orange, i lost my color card so i dunno numbers. the screen is dense with it."

 

[SantaMonica]

Ok here is a four-part video I made of the last scraping of the screen of my original bucket before I give it to the LFS to replace the tank-divider screen he's been testing. This video is low-light (with a 5 year old 2-meg camera), so you can't see the algae on the screen, but the purpose is to see the technique of screen cleaning/scraping:

Hi-res:

Part 1: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/Scraping1.mpg
Part 2: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/Scraping2.mpg
Part 2: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/Scraping3.mpg
Part 3: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/Scraping4.mpg

YouTube:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypgNfJV6gBo#
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9vlUorbooo#
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voo4mBWWuuQ#
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msQ4Nw0pYc#

 

[SantaMonica]

The Power Of Light, another example:

Reader "varga" on the RS site just did a cleaning and sent in these pics; here is before the cleaning... it looks like the screen has an even coverage all across it:

http/www.radio-media.com/fish/UserVargaS...RS&RF-3.jpg


But here is after:

http/www.radio-media.com/fish/UserVargaS...RS&RF-4.jpg


Notice that the center area has a tougher, stiffer algae that holds on stronger because it is made up of less water and more fibers (i.e., more N and P, less H20). Now why do you think that the stronger algae formed in the middle of the screen? Here's why:

http/www.radio-media.com/fish/UserVargaS...RS&RF-5.jpg

Yes, because of the lights. The screen may look evenly covered in light when you look at it, but your eyes can't tell the high power areas from the low power areas. Also, when you double the distance of the light, you would think the power of the light would be reduced to one-half; but it's actually reduced to ONE FOURTH of what it was. So when optimizing your design, you want the lights as close to the screen as possilbe, all the way across the screen.

 

[SantaMonica]

Many folks asked for pics of the jski711 no-skimmer tank whose test results I already posted, so here they are along with an update he posted:

"Well first i'll start by giving you a little background of my tank. its been up for 2 years now and am running t5 lighting. in the past i have had algae issues and phosphates tested above .1 from overfeeding. (i'm trying to fatten up my clowns and hopefully get them spawning). i've also got a 15g tank plumbed into my system that has a pair of mandarins in it which i am also trying to get spawning. i had a sick mandarin and dosed my tank with Maracyn to try and save him. after dosing this for a week i was unable to turn my skimmer on because it would just overflow from the medicine. after doing numerous water changes and about a month later i still was unable to turn it back on, thats when i saw [the scrubber] thread. I also had to turn off my calcium reactor because the co2 was dropping my ph too low; the bubbles from the skimmer were really helping me keep my ph up but with my skimmer not running, it had to be turned off. thats when i decided to give [the scrubber] a try. i purchased a pre grown screen from inland and off i went. since adding the "scrubber" i have noticed a major increase in ph which allowed me to turn my calcium reactor back on and get things stable again. the reactor has only been back on for about 2 weeks now and im "re dialing" it in. my ph fluctuates between 7.8 at night and 8.0 during the day. I have over 30 different types of sps in my tank, just did a quick count, and i have noticed no ill side effects at all. i have also been overfeeding a ton, especially to my mandarins! i have also noticed that the green film of algae i would get on the glass every few days has gone. I don't even remember the last time i scraped it, although in the pics you will see it needs to be done soon cause i have a ton of coraline algae on it. So IMO this "scrubber" has done wonders for me. I have been skimmerless for over 3 months now and still do my normal water changes, sometimes i do go 2 weeks but normally every weekend i do one. the turf that was on the screen from inland is still there but it doesnt seem to be spreading but not receding either. below are some pictures from today, they were just quick shots so sorry if they are blurry but you will see the colors i've got are great and like i said earlier i have had NO ill side effects at all."

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[SantaMonica]

Growth Sequence of New Acrylic Screen

The new acrylic scrubber is up and kicking. These pics were taken while the original bucket was still operating, so the growth is slower than it would have been otherwise. I'm running 3000K on one side, and 6500K on the other, as a test. It probably won't make much difference until the holes in the screen are sealed off, but here are the daily pics. The T5 light on the front has been removed so you can see the screen:


Day 1

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay01.jpg


Day 2

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay02.jpg


Day 3

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay03.jpg


Day 4

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay04.jpg


Day 5

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay05.jpg


Day 6

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay06.jpg


Day 7

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay07.jpg


Day 8

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay08.jpg


Day 9

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay09.jpg


Day 10

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay10.jpg


Day 11 (a huge growth increase):

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay11.jpg


Notice that it takes several days before you can see any growth at all. And yes, I did seed the screen. Going back one day to Day 10, here are some closeups:

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicCloseup1Day10.jpg

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicCloseup2Day10.jpg

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicCloseup3Day10.jpg

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicCloseup4Day10.jpg

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicCloseup5Day10.jpg


And here is a closeup from Day 11:

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay11closeup.jpg


And what it looks like out of the stand. Note the algae coming out of drain; it was almost 2 feet long before I pulled it out for this pic:

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay11heldup.jpg


Here's the growth on the 3000K side:

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay11out3000K.jpg


And the 6500K side:

Hi-Res: http/www.radio-media.com/fish/AcrylicDay11out6500K.jpg


Instead of following the rule of cleaning only one side at a time, I had to do both in order to measure the algae of the 3000K side versus the 6500K side. Here is what was pulled off, like pulling a rope:

Here are the algae amounts removed, after a cleaning:

And here's the screen after cleaning; this is why you don't clean both sides, becuase it leaves left nothing on the screen for filtering:

A few notes:

o The screen is only 1.5 inches from the acrylic wall, and thus some water does get on the wall. But this unit is currently not setup for airflow with a fan, and it has a lid, so the water never gets a chance to evaporate. As a result very little saltcreep forms. I think I wiped it twice during the 11 days; however it did not do anything, just redistributed the droplets. On day 11 there was a small amount of creep; when I pulled the screen out I just reached in an splashed some water on it and it came off.

o There was a great increase in algae between day 10 and 11. I've seen this many times: once the hair algae gets to a certain point, the next day it covers everything.

o When the screen get covered, algae start flowing down the scrubber and out the drain. Not a little, but a lot. It easily reached the botton of the sump 18" below. I just grabbed it and pulled it off. This might be a way to feed tangs, if the unit were placed on the hood of the tank.

 

[SantaMonica]

Reminder Of The Day: Flow...

The basic rule of thumb for flow for a standard pipe slot is 35 gph (US gallons per hour) (140 liters per hour) per inch (2.2 cm) of screen width. Thus a screen 2" wide would need 70 gph. This should cover the entire screen with a swift flow on both sides, and leave you with a little room for adjustment. The more flow, the better, but this amount has proven to work well. How tall the screen is does not change the gph, however; only the width does. Here is the chart:

Screen Width-----Gallons Per Hour (GPH)

2" 70
3" 105
4" 140
5" 175
6" 210
7" 245
8" 280
9" 315
10" 350
11" 385
12" 420
13" 455
14" 490
15" 525
16" 560
17" 595
18" 630
19" 665
20" 700

 

[SantaMonica]

CFC.... how's it coming along?

 

[SantaMonica]

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Well this one takes the cake. Not only is it the biggest, but it's also the first one to use halides for lighting. "Reefski" on the MD site has a 700g tank and 800g sump, and had the entire garage to use for fish stuff, so he spared nothing in building his scrubber:

By the way, if this weren't enough, his entire back yard is a koi pond
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[SantaMonica]

Well I'm trying to get caught up with the posts; gonna have to combine a few here to get them out without postponing anymore. Seems to be a lot of interest in scrubbers that are unique, like the giant one, and the solar one. Well today is another unique one, but first here are some results feedback:


"Pong" on the RF site said "i had a lot of green hair algae growing on my screen. noticed that the red algae in my DT has lessened dramatically."

"Johnt" on the UR site said "I've always used phosphate remover. I've tried most makes but always ended back using Rowa. since running the scrubber I've stopped the phosphate reactor and despite the scrubber not yet being at the Turf Algae stage the phosphate readings are dropping."

And "thauro77" on the SWF site said "Here are my test results, the dates are the water changes dates as well:

08/28
Calcium 660mg/l (when I first used the filter)
Carbonate 196.9 ppm/kh
Phosphate 0.5
Nitrates 20ppm

09/04
Calcium 500
Carbonate 214.8
Phosphate 0.5
Nitrates 10ppm

09/09
Calcium 440
carbonate 143.2
phosphate 0.5
nitrates 10ppm

09/23
calcium 440
carbonate 214.8
phosphate 0.25
nitrate 5.0ppm



And now for the first screen on any thread to use LEDs! "Snailrider" on the AC site built it:

He knows that the part of the screen underwater will not contribute, so he made sure the part above the water had enough size to handle things. We'll see how LED's work!
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[SantaMonica]

Reminder Of The Day:

Lighting Duration: Set up your scrubber lighting on a timer for 18 hours ON, and six hours OFF. The scrubber itself won't care when those hours are, but if you want, you can have them on when your display lights are off, so as to help balance pH in the system.

 

[SantaMonica]

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Here is a note to skimmer manufacturers, as well as manufacturers of acrylics/plastics, lighting, and pumps. One way to benefit from scrubbers is to start building them, so as to make life easier for aquarists. There is no patent, and I have no interest in building them, although designing them is fun. Promoting them is fun too. But manufacturing is not my thing, so hopefully some folks will start making at least a simple version (like the Santa Monica 120) available. Look at it like this: Manufacturers of skimmers currently make an expensive product that has pumps and acrylic/plastic parts. Manufacturers of lighting currently make an expensive product that has bulbs, ballasts, and frames. Neither of these products has all these parts in one unit.

Scrubbers, however, do. Instead of viewing scrubbers as a make-at-home rig that stops people from buying skimmers, manufacturers should instead view scrubbers as a piece of aquarium equipment they can manufacture which includes acrylic, plastic, lights, pumps, timers, fans and complex parts, all woven together. Imagine the designs that could be achieved which would allow the most water flow, the most air, the most light, all in the least space possible, and for the best price. It's a designer's dream. Sure, many folks will continue making their own scrubbers, but at some point these folks will upgrade their tanks and will not want to hassle with building larger versions. So, here are some things I thought of that manufacturers could offer:


o A simple low-cost design; just an acrylic box, preferably with a mirror inside finish. The customer would add all other parts. This is what I built.

o Complex designs that would be needed to fit into the many different places that aquarists have: Above a crowded sump, behind the tank, vertically next to tank, next to a tank in a stand-alone furniture finish, or on the wall as a decorative item.

o Skimmers designed to work with scrubbers, by having one connect/feed the other.

o Scrubber lights with built-in timers, for nanos.

o Ultra small scrubber boxes for nanos, possibly with self-contained LED lights, the size of a cell phone.

o Nano hoods with scrubbers built into them.

o Sumps with built in scrubbers, instead of built-in wet/dry's.

o Display lighting-fixtures with scrubbers connected to the back of them, such that the scrubber uses the same light.

o Tank options, such as scrubber-on-backside.

o Auto-cleaners that clean/scrub/scrape the screen automatically.

o Hand/electric tools specialized to clean the screen.

o RODI sprayers that give the screen a FW spray periodically (to kill pods), possibly doubling as a top off.

o Non-destructive pumps to get pods from the sump to the display.

o Self-priming pumps built in to scrubber, for placement on top of displays with no sump.

o Quick-disconnect waterfall pipes.

o Double and triple thick screens, which allow algae to stick better during cleanings.

o Multiple screens, with large areas for large tanks.

o Ultra thin LED powered flexible screens, which could weave around obstacles.

o Fan on a temp controller, to keep water temp preset.

o Uniquely shaped T5 panels, such as 12 X 12, to perfectly fit a screen.

o Safety switches that cut off the lights and/or flow during certain conditions.



A great first model could be targeted to smaller tanks (SW and FW) that may not have sumps, and thus would include a self-priming pump inside the scrubber. It would sit on or near the display and would pull water up to it. It would drain right back to the display, and would give the customer the option of letting the algae grow out the drain (and into the tank to feed the fish), or removing the algae as it comes out of the drain, before it gets to the display.
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[SantaMonica]

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Results of the Day:


"darkblue" on the RP site says, "Been running a 4"x10" OHF [over head filter scrubber] version on my 15g for almost 2 months already. My Nitrate reading started dropping after around 3 weeks. I've had 0 Nitrates for a month now. I'm using Seachem for my tests. The screen is just partially covered with what I think are patches of brown turf."

And "jfdelacruz", also on the RP site, says "I recently implemented this on my tank. I [originally] had an overhead filter to try and filter out a lot of detritus, and changed out filter foams every week. nitrates and phosphates were high and I had brown algae (kinda like cyano) on my sandbed already too thick to fight. I did the 2 days lights out and it took out the brown film algae. I bought a 10watt fluorescent light from carti and then cut a right fit cross-stitch cloth as my screen and layed it flat on my OHF and took out the foam. lights are on 24/7 [temporarily]. I'm on my 5th day and algae is basically non existent in the tank, while the whole cloth is covered in the same brown film algae that covered my sandbed and is starting to grow the green algae. 10,000K ung fluorescent and after day 2 it already had algae on it. on day 3 the whole cloth was lightly covered. im still waiting for day 10. also Im going on a 2nd week no water change just to try it out and so far everything's doing good. coral's are happy and clam is happy. inverts and clownfish is also happy and eating lots of cyclopeeze everyday!


Also, I'm putting together a little series on how nutrients work in our aquariums. It will hopefully help folks better understand what affects what, and how we can make things work their best. Here's the first one below. I use Salifert for my testing, so I'll just refer to them:
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