jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Psh, this is my skimmer on a daily basis.
Algae Scrubber Vs Refugium -- Do you have a Nitrates issue?
- Thread starter zemuss
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Fragmatic Jr.
Community Member
I'm all ears on this one!
OP
OP
Okay.. I will need to take some photos of my current scrubber. Like another setup I use a acrylic shield with some PVC connectors and the screen is between. Only draw back is my current stand which is made by Current USA for the Solana and lacks space!
Pictures to come and I think I finally have some hair algae growth YAY. LOL, never been excited for hair algae.
Pictures to come and I think I finally have some hair algae growth YAY. LOL, never been excited for hair algae.
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
Little late to this thread so sorry if this comment does not seem to fit in or repeats stuff.
To my and in my experience there is a single overarching bottom line on all my tanks both FW and marine. And it applies to any closed environment maintaining animals.
it it simply
Take care of the plant life and the plant life will take care of the aquarium.
With marine systems that means algae and the "plant life" in clams/ corals and so on.
so to me the particular method is not what is important. What is important is the health of the plant life.
But that's just me and my
.02
To my and in my experience there is a single overarching bottom line on all my tanks both FW and marine. And it applies to any closed environment maintaining animals.
it it simply
Take care of the plant life and the plant life will take care of the aquarium.
With marine systems that means algae and the "plant life" in clams/ corals and so on.
so to me the particular method is not what is important. What is important is the health of the plant life.
But that's just me and my
.02
creefer
Valuable Member
Great thread. I've been thinking of an ATS for the simple reason that I can't seem to determine what will outgrow HA. Well.....that and the fact that I lack adequate space in my sump for a fuge large enough to make much of a difference. Great post by beaslbob as well. Following along!
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OP
OP
beaslbob you are not late to the party and I agree.
Creefer there are a few pictures on here which will give you ideas on how to run the scrubber.
I will post some pictures of my scrubber in the near future.
Creefer there are a few pictures on here which will give you ideas on how to run the scrubber.
I will post some pictures of my scrubber in the near future.
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
Does that mean you agree I'm late or I'm correct?
Or both?
:squigglemouth:
And a general
:xd:
One of the advantages of a refugium or algae truf scrubber is you can control lighting independantly from the display tank/area.
Which allows you to kill the display lights while still maintaining the algae in the refugium or scrubber. And then adjusting so both thrive.
my .02
Or both?
:squigglemouth:
And a general
:xd:
One of the advantages of a refugium or algae truf scrubber is you can control lighting independantly from the display tank/area.
Which allows you to kill the display lights while still maintaining the algae in the refugium or scrubber. And then adjusting so both thrive.
my .02
Lacktaters
Active Member
I run both a small 5 gallon fuge with chaeto and a turf scrubber. The turf scrubber seems much more efficient at removing NO3. So much so that it really slows the growth of my chaeto.
OP
OP
beaslbob.
I don't agree your late. I agree that if you take care of the plants then you have a healthy tank. However, this means that your tank husbandry needs to be detailed and consistent. So just doing water changes is half the battle. Add in vacuuming and other steps to ensure your tank is in pristine shape.
Lacktaters yes and in my opinion soon the turf scrubber, depending on the size, might take over and the Chaeto might die because of lack of nutrients. Why? well your turf scrubber is out competing the Chaeto for nutrients as it is exporting it in algae growth.
I don't agree your late. I agree that if you take care of the plants then you have a healthy tank. However, this means that your tank husbandry needs to be detailed and consistent. So just doing water changes is half the battle. Add in vacuuming and other steps to ensure your tank is in pristine shape.
Lacktaters yes and in my opinion soon the turf scrubber, depending on the size, might take over and the Chaeto might die because of lack of nutrients. Why? well your turf scrubber is out competing the Chaeto for nutrients as it is exporting it in algae growth.
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beaslbob
2500 Club Member
Funny my plant life does just fine with no water changes.
But I guess either way the plant life is thriving and so is the tank. So my original statement applies to both.
my .02
OP
OP
Update. Nitrates are 2 now. I did two big water changes of 30 % and vacuum the sand bed. The ATS has been keeping the nitrates down and reduced them from 5 to 2. I just fed some of LRS Reef Frenzy which the fish went bananas over.
Hoping the nitrates go to zero soon.
Hoping the nitrates go to zero soon.
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Actually, the opposite is true. An inefficient scrubber will still outperform the most efficient refugium.
I also should add that I used an algae scrubber for my full sun 200g garden pond in my old house.
The way it was designed, the surface skimmer sucked the water in, pumped it up to the hydroponically planted host plant and blasted it with water @1400gph. The flow was mostly aimed towards a waterfall into a pool which I let fill with hair algae from the river.
About 1/8th of the flow, or Mini-Flow, went down a stream that wrapped the whole pond into another waterfall that went to the main pool.
The main pool had crystal clear water and no algae. I had 3 giant koi and a bunch of craw dads and frogs. Water changed were purely rain. Lol. It was awesome. Better than my dads 1600g pond with uv and a huge filter. Beast.
The way it was designed, the surface skimmer sucked the water in, pumped it up to the hydroponically planted host plant and blasted it with water @1400gph. The flow was mostly aimed towards a waterfall into a pool which I let fill with hair algae from the river.
About 1/8th of the flow, or Mini-Flow, went down a stream that wrapped the whole pond into another waterfall that went to the main pool.
The main pool had crystal clear water and no algae. I had 3 giant koi and a bunch of craw dads and frogs. Water changed were purely rain. Lol. It was awesome. Better than my dads 1600g pond with uv and a huge filter. Beast.
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
They're perfect for small spaces. The simplest are just plastic mesh submerged in a sump chamber with a good light shining on just one side, but if you want to get fancy (and get much more efficient, as well), then waterfall scrubbers are better, especially if lit from both sides.
Do you guys prefer a surge over your scrubber or straight flow?
Squishie89
Glub Glub
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
A surge flow would be difficult - you'd pretty much be looking at something like Dr. Adey's original dump-bucket design.
A PAR38 would be a simple way to light it. You can get cheap ones on eBay (make sure they use 660nm and 450nm), that's about the only thing that knockoff LEDs are ok for. If you made your own out of Luxeon Rebels, you could use around half the LEDs, but it's also more money.I may need to try this. The trick will be lighting it.
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