The good the bad and the ugly. Whos running one. Whos built one. And most of all IS IT WORTH IT??
I run one and love it. I gave a presentation at the March meeting going over all this, PM me ur email and I’ll send it to you. Look at the sources slide for lots of good info.
I had one,took it off a while ago,I didn’t need it any more(75g fuge) but they do work
same as beadlocked i had one and it did too god of a job and my corals were pale i still have it but its laying in the sump very efficient i would say thats all you would need for nutrient removal. I may have made mine too big but it really works.
Do they do anything for nitrates??
yes they remove nitrate and phosphate, I don’t have nitrates but have phosphates and the algae grew weird if you have both it will suck them down nicely, if you notice the algae turning from green to light green or brow iron addition will help it grow. If you want to build one you could check out reef central under do it yourself they have a huge write up about it. you have to clean them once a week so making it easy to remove is a must i used a union.
I have nitrate issues. Ive done everything possable. Ive cut my bioload. Cut feeding. And done tons of water changes. So ill build a scrubber and start from there
Yes it’s a good idea. There’s some measuring and thoughts to do to make it. It is cheap and easy I used the aluminum reflector lights from lowes and did two bulbs in each with an adapter. Worked good
Ill check reef central tomorrow. Thank you!!
Good luck any questions let me know
Will do. Ill figure materials tomorrow i guess
Used scrubbers for yrs since the late 80’s…They work great on fish only setups.as for reefs if you properly size the scrubber (don’t overscrub) it can control excess nutrients very well…As some have observed too much removal of nutrients results in loss of coloration in some corals.
They are a very useful alternate form of filtration when used the right way.
Inland Aquatics uses dump bucket scrubbers for their 40,000 gallon grow systems.
3 great tour videos of their facilities.
I bought perforated canvas scratched it up real good. Took 1" PVC and cut a slit longways and inserted the canvas there secured with zip ties and lit both sides mine was 2 sheets together I thing 20x25 for a 300g system too much for me I had lights on for 8 hrs at night and it stripped my nutrients within a month. So take that into consideration. I also was using denitrate Gfo a big skimmer and mangroves. I still want to tweak it so I can remove the need to buy media and go natural but I’ll save that till after the swap lol
If I ever redo my setup, I’m going to run a ATS for sure. Bryant’s presentation has good information as far as area and flow if you’re considering a build.
On the topic of Nitrates. Jeff I can’t remember are you running RO/DI water for your WC’s? I know here in Elkton MD I have 40ppm nitrates right out of the tap on my well water.
I run RO/DI…I did have a nitrate issue early on in my build…tried bio-pellets, but what worked best was running cheatomorpha in my fuge with 27/4 lighting from a CFL bulb and a Home Depot clip on light fixture. (I would consider running a reverse light cycle on it, but apparently I’m too lazy to hook up a timer, so I just leave it on 24/7. The cheato never browns out, it just keeps growin’ and eating nitrates / phosphates.)
You should lookup algeasrubbers.net. I found a lot of good info there. gave me the knowledge and design to build one myself. using stuff out of my fish closet, like powerhead and light, I was able to build one for less than $10.00. one of the cheapest upgrade I ever did to my tank.
Nobody asked the obvious question. Are you using ro water? If not that could be your problem
If NITRATES are your only problem : you might want to consider this :
My :TWOCENTS I’m not sure why anybody would want to add chemicals that you can’t test for? If your having a water problem you need to look at everything. Like I asked are you using ro?well? Or straight from the tap? If your not using ro this is likely the problem as most of us have done the same thing and had the same issues.
No. I havent been useing ro. I live in dover and last time (2 months) i checked my tap water everything was good. So i didnt see the need to but an ro/di. Am i totally wrong?