Algae scrubber vs. Chaeto algae

navillusii · Jun 13, 2015

Is one better than the other?
Can I run both?
What to I do with the Chaeto after its harvested?

Planning a 45-55 gallon long. Mixed reef and fish.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 13, 2015

After harvesting, you can either feed it to your fish, or toss it in the trash (or compost pile).

Both methods accomplish the same thing. Scrubbers claim to be somewhat more efficient, but in reefer reality, I'm not sure it is always attained.

I did find that Caulerpa racemosa is more efficient than chaeto, but easily becomes a pest in the main tank if you do not have suitable fish to eat it.

SchnitzelReef · Jun 13, 2015

Algae scrubbers can turn into a head ache, and can be noisy if not built correctly. If you have an area in your sump that you can add chaeto too, that's the way to go

Shallow Planet · Jun 14, 2015

I happen to know Bud of Turbo Aquatics. He makes a great scrubber. Built to last and these things really work. Seen it in action on several local tanks.

Wakerider52 · Jun 14, 2015

I was having a big algae problem in my tank, hair algae growing on my rocks. I would scrub the rocks every other week and had chaeto in my refugium. And it was just getting worse every week. I saw how to make a algae scrubber, figured it would be a great or experiment, it wouldn't hurt anything, had left over pvc parts and got a pump. Cost maybe $40 total, but my algae problem is practically gone. I have a little algae on the back wall but all the hair algae...GONE. I would have to say it was the best DIY addition I added. I have a 180 g display w/ a 50 g sump.

Reefing Madness · Jun 14, 2015

If you run a big enough Algae Turf Scrubber, according to the size of your DT, you would not have to run a skimmer.
Chaeto and other Macro Aglae are great to run, but need to be in large quantities to do what a ATS can do alone.

g6gang · Jun 14, 2015

Wakerider52 said:
I was having a big algae problem in my tank, hair algae growing on my rocks. I would scrub the rocks every other week and had chaeto in my refugium. And it was just getting worse every week. I saw how to make a algae scrubber, figured it would be a great or experiment, it wouldn't hurt anything, had left over pvc parts and got a pump. Cost maybe $40 total, but my algae problem is practically gone. I have a little algae on the back wall but all the hair algae...GONE. I would have to say it was the best DIY addition I added. I have a 180 g display w/ a 50 g sump.

Did you do waterfall or up flow style? Can you share details of your design with pics? How long did it take to kick in? I have had terrible luck with any type of macro..was going to try ATS but then decided to give Seachem DeNitrate and Matrix a try. I do have hair algae growing in refugium..so I am thinking to just let it grow in there with a scrubber

jeremy · Jun 14, 2015

I have one of Bud's scrubbers. Built to last. I haven't had it long enough to say it's better or worse than a fuge with macros yet but the growth is really good it's pretty quiet and we'll built. Only takes 10-15 minutes to get it mounted and running. It's starting to reduce some of the algae in my display. I have some problem rock that it's pulling the phosphates. Hopefully in a couple more months all algae in display will be gone.

I have run a fuge with chateo and culerpa but never really grew that fast. But that could have been other factors like light and fuge size. I guess it's more of what you have room for or what you can add to existing system.

g6gang · Jun 14, 2015

jeremy said:
I have one of Bud's scrubbers. Built to last. I haven't had it long enough to say it's better or worse than a fuge with macros yet but the growth is really good it's pretty quiet and we'll built. Only takes 10-15 minutes to get it mounted and running. It's starting to reduce some of the algae in my display. I have some problem rock that it's pulling the phosphates. Hopefully in a couple more months all algae in display will be gone.

I have run a fuge with chateo and culerpa but never really grew that fast. But that could have been other factors like light and fuge size. I guess it's more of what you have room for or what you can add to existing system.

Do uou have a link to this scrubber?

jeremy · Jun 14, 2015

https://www.algaescrubbing.com/

jeremy · Jun 14, 2015

There's a place with size description and order information. Or just email him. Excellent customer service. Check out you tube also. He has some videos on there.

Wakerider52 · Jun 14, 2015

Here's the link I used to start my build. I use the waterfall method with lights in both sides.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1977420&highlight=algae+scrubber

Wakerider52 · Jun 14, 2015

The design is actually pretty simple it took about 2 weeks for me to notice the algae fading away. About a month to go away quite a bit

TDTA1181 · Jun 14, 2015

I have a S.Monica Surf2s & if I run in conjunction w/ my skimmer w/ a 3-4 light off cycle I can't register phosphates or Nitrates. Kinda scary when u can't get a reading on anything. Lol

navillusii · Jun 15, 2015

This is what I was thinking of.

Is there harm in using both?

LouieP · Sep 13, 2015

I have a L2 Scrubber from Bud that I just set up in August and I have a thread that you follow click here. I use to run a Sulfur Nitrate reactor but I was still having problems w algae & PO4. Im just starting to notice the hair algae on the overflow is starting to disappear.

Oh, I tried growing macro algaes but most never did that well. The ATS is the way to go.

SaltyBiker · Sep 14, 2015

I run a DIY waterfall ATS along with chaeto/feather calerpa. Works great. Pods hang out on the algae mat that grows and I have zero hair algae in my tank. I decided to try it out little over a year ago and it takes about a month to really start seeing results and growing good turf algae on the grid. Does a great job of helping to keep my Po4 and Na3 in check and no need to use GFO and other phosphate control methods. I've become a true believer in it.
Remember though if you've had high Po4 and bad algae problems in your tank before, don't expect results overnight. Po4 could remain bound in your rocks feeding algae growth on them even if you aren't detecting it through water tests.

mocika · Sep 15, 2015

What abouth ATS in Acropora dominated tank? I have seen a lot of great Acropora tanks using chaeto but i cant say same for ATS users? Im not telling that ATS is not good for Acroporas tank but just asking coz i dont know

LouieP · Sep 16, 2015

My L2 ATS from Bud @ Turbo's Aquatics has been set up for 40 days and my system is 2 yrs old and is an SPS dominate tank. Here are the photos of my most recent cleaning which is 8 days of growth. I believe that the DIY scrubbers just don't get the same growth results. They use the wrong type of lights at the wrong wave length & their screens are too large.

PO3 = 0.05 ppm
NO3 = 0

Before I got my L2 Scrubber my PO3 has tested as high was 0.92 ppm but ranged from 0.3-0.5ppm with Phosguard & PO3 pad.

Before cleaning