Lowest cost and easiest way to eliminate green hair, bubble, turf and slime algae from your aquarium

Turbo's Aquatics

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I personally would not use cheap knock offs. I use only Philips Luxeon ES 660nm Deep Reds and 440-450nm Royal Blues from Steve's LEDs, because he carries specific bins that are the highest output and always consistent on Vdrop and bandwidth. I bet I've ordered over 1000 660s from him in the last 6 months. Every other source, including Rapid, is basically a grab-bag of random bins. You get what you pay for.
 

WesF

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I personally would not use cheap knock offs. I use only Philips Luxeon ES 660nm Deep Reds and 440-450nm Royal Blues from Steve's LEDs, because he carries specific bins that are the highest output and always consistent on Vdrop and bandwidth. I bet I've ordered over 1000 660s from him in the last 6 months. Every other source, including Rapid, is basically a grab-bag of random bins. You get what you pay for.

True but turf algae isn't very picky about bins. I've had great growth with the cheap Chinese led "grow lights".
 

Turbo's Aquatics

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I've had people report that the cheapos like Satis LED or "exotic" LEDs have a drop-off in intensity after a few months of use. That's why I stopped using them.

plus I don't know if it's just symantics but "turf" algae is not what most people grow, GHA is what you want. Scrubbers nowadays are not "algal turf scrubbers", just Algae Scrubbers. I scrub off any red turf algae that manages to grow. It grows too slow, does not filter as effectively, and inhibits growth of GHA on the screen (by taking up it's space)
 

WesF

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None the less. Hair algae doesn't care that you use cheap LEDs either.

There are tons of people using the cheap Chinese led "grow lights" to grow plants, flowers, vegetables, hydroponic you name it indoors with these lights.

They have no problem growing hair algae. Cost/benefit analysis says to go cheap for algae and spend the money on the coral lighting. But that is just this guy's opinion.

This UFO grow light only cost me about $60 shipped from the motherland and she grows algae like crazy.

46921E67-5CD5-4573-B5CB-850F516E7D0B-524-00000034DE6B036A_zps4e4d4415.jpg


The par 38 led grow lights are even cheaper.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10w-...g-plant-and-hydroponics-system/720414343.html

Or bigger

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/36w-...g-plant-and-hydroponics-system/690567734.html
 
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SantaMonica

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Air Pump Recommendations for UAS® upflow algae scrubbers®. Having bought and tried all of these, here are the best ones:


Flow (highest to lowest):

Coralife Super Luft... TONS of flow for multiple outlets or multiple scrubbers
Tetra Whisper 300... High flow if both outlets are combined into one
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... High flow if both outlets are combined into one
Tetra Whisper 150... Good flow for one outlet
Coralife Luft (regular)... Good flow for one outlet


Noise (most to least):

Coralife Super Luft... (Loud; vibrates)
Coralife Luft (regular)... (Vibrates)
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... Slight vibration
Tetra Whisper 300... Silent
Tetra Whisper 150... Silent


Size: (big to small):

Tetra Whisper 300... Large
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... Medium
Coralife Super Luft... Medium
Tetra Whisper 150... Medium
Coralife Luft (regular)... Small


Cost (most to least):

Coralife Super Luft
Coralife Luft (regular)
Tetra Whisper 300
Tetra Whisper 150
JW Aquatic Fusion 700

Overall winner for a single UAS scrubber used at home: JW Aquatic Fusion 700 (also is the only one with adjustable flow)
Overall winner for multiple UAS scrubbers if noise if ok: Coralife Super Luft
 

gmoney243

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I have a tetra whisper forget which one but it has adjustable flow and dual outlets that can be combined into one for crazy bubbles. Altho i still prefer the waterfall style scrubbers.

Also would like to give a big thanks to Santa Monica and all the guys on that forum that has introduced and made advancements to algae scrubber over the years.

0305132019c_zpsfba88831.jpg


0305132020_zps3cfc35b0.jpg
 

Emac909

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I've been running an ATS on this my recent tank. When I first set the tank up I got a bad GHA out break
zesa6a5u.jpg

After the screen got broken in the tank went to this in a month
ysyqe3yg.jpg

Now 6 months later my tank is still algae free so much so that I have to feed my tank twice a day so my tang don't kill each other.
edaze2y6.jpg


Cleaned my screen last Sunday this is what I got

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-y-_sJ2RM

The vid is a little over 7 min long but wanted to show how much junk I am getting out of my tank with the ats.
 

SantaMonicaHelp

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Air Pump Recommendations for UAS® upflow algae scrubbers®. Having bought and tried all of these, here are the best ones:


Flow (highest to lowest):

Coralife Super Luft... TONS of flow for multiple outlets or multiple scrubbers
Tetra Whisper 300... High flow if both outlets are combined into one
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... High flow if both outlets are combined into one
Tetra Whisper 150... Good flow for one outlet
Coralife Luft (regular)... Good flow for one outlet


Noise (most to least):

Coralife Super Luft... (Loud; vibrates)
Coralife Luft (regular)... (Vibrates)
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... Slight vibration
Tetra Whisper 300... Silent
Tetra Whisper 150... Silent


Size: (big to small):

Tetra Whisper 300... Large
JW Aquatic Fusion 700... Medium
Coralife Super Luft... Medium
Tetra Whisper 150... Medium
Coralife Luft (regular)... Small


Cost (most to least):

Coralife Super Luft
Coralife Luft (regular)
Tetra Whisper 300
Tetra Whisper 150
JW Aquatic Fusion 700

Overall winner for a single UAS scrubber used at home: JW Aquatic Fusion 700 (also is the only one with adjustable flow)
Overall winner for multiple UAS scrubbers if noise if ok: Coralife Super Luft
 
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Turbo's Aquatics

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IMO this is not completely true, IME the turnover rate is still a factor that needs to be considered as the tanks get larger. With waterfall scrubbers and the old tank-sized based calculations, you had larger pumps for wider screens, now you have smaller screens/pumps and this results in a lower rate of turnover across the screen. So you may only feed 1 or 2 cubes/day on a 300g tank for instance, but a 3" or 6" wide scrubber with only 100-200 GPH across it, by itself, might not cut it. A wider screen would mean higher turnover rate. Not an exact scientific conclusion, but I am of the opinion that turnover rate does become a factor.
 

hung

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Thinking about adding on to my Biocube 29. If I use an airstone/screen in the second chamber will that cause too many air bubbles to come into the diplay?
 

SantaMonicaHelp

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1982: The original dump-bucket style algae scrubber (works, but very hard to build, install, operate, and harvest)


2008: Waterfall style algae scrubber (works good but hard to build and install; must be removed to harvest)


2011: Upflow style scrubber (work goods, easier to build and install on the glass; must be removed to harvest)


2013: ??? (work great, all 3D growth, easy to build, and instant in-place harvesting without needing to remove anything or turn anything off).
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 50 48.1%
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  • None.

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  • Other.

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