Algal Filtration In Reef Aquariums

[Scrubber_steve]

Sorry wrong choice of words.
Im not doubting your honesty. To me it seems like everyone has an opinion/experience on the subject if you look up solutions for combating cyano. Nothing personal towards you.

No worries.
What I left out of my post you quoted was the proliferation of coralline algae that began after the scrubber screen had matured.
this is my bare bottom,,, no cyano

 

[Jason_1990]

Well I put a quick diy one in last night. Not the best looking set up. Needs improvement. But hopefully i see some results.

 

[SantaMonica]

Looking forward to the pics.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Well I put a quick diy one in last night. Not the best looking set up. Needs improvement. But hopefully i see some results.

What light are you using?

 

[Jason_1990]

Cheap led light i once had over the tank. Cheap flimsy air stone an some plastic that i roughed up.
The container isnt exactly cut perfect but has 4 holes in the bottom.
If you want more pics let me know. If you think there is a cost effective way i can improve from this let me know.
Hopefully ill see something growing by the end of the week. If not ill assume this isnt working.

 

[Jason_1990]

This is with lights on....
Ill probably run this 24/7 till i see something.

 

[SantaMonica]

Did you rough the screen, and are the bubbles on the side of the glass?

 

[Jason_1990]

Yeah i roughed it up a little bit. An no a mayjority of bubbles are stuck on or going through the screen.

 

[SantaMonica]

Looks like the bubbler is between screens. It instead needs to be in front. With just one layer of screen.

 

[Jason_1990]

It is between screens. My reasoning is cause i want to make sure while im trying to get this started i want as much surface area as possible. Then once i see something starting on either screen id take one out. That might be flawed logic.

 

[flowflezy]

So this is the first time I cleaned out my skinz algae reactor. I started with a golf ball size peace of chateo. I pulled all this out and put another little ball to see what happens. Is this good growth? Is this what it’s supposed to do or grow?

 

[SantaMonica]

Well, it is supposed to grow chaeto. The green slime is hair algae out-competing the chaeto. And the brown is either brown algae doing the same, or it's detritus caught up and causing the chaeto to be shaded die.

You need to harvest and/or clean the chaeto more frequently to get get it's filtration function. Leaving it in there so long to rot is just putting nutrients back into the water (nutrients being ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, co2; not amino acids). Chaeto needs to grow a very big size (compared to scrubbers) in order to do the required filtering.

 

[Jason_1990]

Any thoughts on the santa monica algae scrubbers? Thinking of getting the .5 one.
Besides that id love to see pics of someone else's custom diy scrubber.

 

[flowflezy]

Well, it is supposed to grow chaeto. The green slime is hair algae out-competing the chaeto. And the brown is either brown algae doing the same, or it's detritus caught up and causing the chaeto to be shaded die.

You need to harvest and/or clean the chaeto more frequently to get get it's filtration function. Leaving it in there so long to rot is just putting nutrients back into the water (nutrients being ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, co2; not amino acids). Chaeto needs to grow a very big size (compared to scrubbers) in order to do the required filtering.

Thanks so much for this information! So cleaning it out once a week or every other week should take care of the hair algae or limit it.

 

[TexasTodd]

How deep should the water be on top of the mesh in a river style scrubber? I saw 2cm total depth but just wanted a little more info on that. If it's too shallow does it limit growth? Just wondering optimal for growth and conserving alk.
Great threat, thanks!
Todd

 

[SantaMonica]

As thin as possible. No standing water, only rushing water. The water will rise up with growth thickness.

 

[TexasTodd]

Ah, okay, thanks. It's barely on top of it and maybe 1/3" running under. It's running strong.

I think I read where you said to turn the light off for 2 hours per day. Do you still suggest this?
Thanks!

 

[SantaMonica]

A good place to start is 18 hours on.

 

[TexasTodd]

Thanks so much.

 

[sil40sx]

So after moving my light about 4 inches away from the screen, and added more flow, this is what I got. What else am I doing wrong. LOL