Algae issues? Why dont more people use algae scrubbers?

[VintageReefer]

Better be careful. You might be accused of not being objective

My favorite is when people who never used one or owned one before tell us how it doesn’t work on our tanks

I’m going to laugh to myself everytime I harvest and tell myself how it doesn’t work. Or every month that goes by and I don’t have display algae, I’m going to complain about how my scrubber is useless

 

[Subsea]

I give mine a 5 star also and I’ve been keeping reefs for 23 years and using scrubbers for 8. My experience is the scrubbers work remarkably better than anything else I’ve done and tried and I have the most success with the least amount of manual work on tanks with scrubbers

Cheateo was basically useless for nutrient control. Gfo solidified and would need to be changed every few days. Chemicals had side effects on my corals. Water changes got old because small ones would make no impact and then doing 15+gal water changes weekly was a pain. Pulling algae by hand was like pruning weeds - no thank you. H202 was very effective and I still use it if I need to quickly spot treat a frag.

But installing a scrubber is like having a 24x7 helper at my side keeping my numbers low, stable, and tank algae free. I am 10000% convinced my tank is the way it is because of the scrubber. And I have more proof

About 6 months ago I started having some hair algae pop up in the display. I didn’t understand why. I went to adjust the timer on the scrubber to make it run a little longer and realized my air pump died and the scrubber was basically out of commission. I ordered a pump, and over a few days the hair algae continues to grow more and more. Pump arrived, installed, and in about 2 weeks the algae reversed and went from growing to dying and it vanished and didn’t come back

Zero work from me besides replacing the scrubber air pump. I don’t know how long my pump was broken for before the hair algae started to grow, but I can conclude that scrubber broke - algae came back. Scrubber fixed - algae died and left. Still have not done a water Change (2+ years) and my skimmer has been unplugged for a year

Kudoes to your consistency.

There are many ways to manage nutrients in a reef tank. I also partner with ornamental seaweed in my display. When it needs harvesting, I prune & sell it.

 

[VintageReefer]

I tried ornamental algae in my display on a different tank (flames breath or dragon breath) I forget the name. It looked great. And then my snails figured out one day that it’s delicious and ate it all

 

[VintageReefer]

I typically have 2-4 reefs running at once and I have also had success with the traditional skimmer and water change method. I’ve run 6-7” deep sand beds many years ago and had success with that also. I understand there are multiple approaches for nutrient and algae control.

From my experience, this is the least work for me, and personally I regret wasting time energy and money on other methods - even if they were successful for me

I have a 2 year old Waterbox 15 with a algae issue, I’m ordering a scrubber next week, I’ll document the progress with no changes other than adding a scrubber and waiting

 

[Subsea]

I tried ornamental algae in my display on a different tank (flames breath or dragon breath) I forget the name. It looked great. And then my snails figured out one day that it’s delicious and ate it all

That is the balancing act of Reefing. I enjoy the finesse of mixing consumers & competitors In my display tanks.

Check out this Red Macro Algae from the Gulf of Mexico. I have it in tanks with Hippoes and it provides a red matrix sanctuary for a shy Matted Filefish.

Eucheuma Spinosum ​

A beautiful and unique species of red macro algae that has a striking appearance in the aquarium. This species can be difficult to keep in the aquarium and is best kept as a smaller size. Eucheumarequires a very stable environment with good water circulation and moderate to high lighting. It's collected in fairly shallow water attached to hard bottom in the tidal zone. This species features stiff, rubbery, spiny branches that extend into irregular branchlets. The coloration varies between yellow, orange and red. We ship a portion that is approx 6-8" tall. Use the drop down menu below to add multiple specimens to the same bag to save on shipping costs.

1 specimen $10.00 USD 2 specimens $20.00 USD Out of Stock​ $10.00 ea​

 

[VintageReefer]

The model scrubber I want for my nano has almost no reviews so I started hunting and heard of an a owner of a aquarium service company over a thousand miles away from me who runs this model on their personal Waterbox. I blindly emailed them and asked them how they like it. This is their reply and pictures. That’s all I need to hear - unsolicited review from a knowledgeable person whose running it successfully with pictures as proof. I’m buying the Slip.7 next week

 

[VintageReefer]

The algae looks nice but I feel my display is out of room for anything larger than a frag plug lol and somehow next week I need to squeeze this in

 

[VintageReefer]

@Regmanabq see post 86 - positive mention of the drop scrubber from a aquarium business owner

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My favorite is when people who never used one or owned one before tell us how it doesn’t work on our tanks

I’m going to laugh to myself everytime I harvest and tell myself how it doesn’t work. Or every month that goes by and I don’t have display algae, I’m going to complain about how my scrubber is useless

An ATS is just one of many ways to export nutrients. No one is going to tell you it does not do that. You believe it is the best. You believe it prevents algae in the display while allowing corals to thrive (I presume). Other people have different experiences and opinions about what works best or fits their tank needs. I don't think that's a cause to mock them just because they achieve success in a different way, or have a different opinion on what is best, or even failed to achieve your success with an ATS.

A reef tank consists of a myriad of different husbandry practices. Picking out any one of them and claiming that is the key seems to miss the big picture.

There are plenty of folks who were not as successful as you are when they used an ATS, and plenty of folks were algae free without an ATS. An ATS is not a panacea for algae.

 

[VintageReefer]

I don’t feel I’m mocking anyone for their success. That’s certainly not my goal or intent. Rather I feel we should not be told it doesnt work when in our experience it does.

Rather, Im mocking them for saying or implying the scrubber isn’t the reason for our success when I have my own experiences and have clearly documented and proven my situations and solutions

I wouldn’t tell someone moonshiners is stupid, biopellets don’t work, Carbon dosing is ineffective. I’ve never used or tried any of these things so how would my opinion matter on it? Yet people who never used a scrubber want to chime in and say it doesn’t work. Or Comparing it to weeds in a yard. Come on. Does the yard dirt have mechanical pumps circulating all the dirt around the property thousands of times a hour. It was a poor analogy to throw out to this conversation that’s suppose to be educational.

Anyone keeping a refugium, at heart, understands the concept of a scrubber. What they don’t understand is how a scrubber can be more efficient at doing the same job.

Those that used them and didn’t have success - I’d love to hear more about this. Most likely a issue with number of hours for the leds, flow, etc.

Randy - big fan of yours by the way, used to be on R2R with you many many years ago and always (still do) love your articles.

 

[Garf]

Can people post pics of their home made ones?

howdy from the uk - day one

thought i would chip in and let you comment on my effort so far. Backgroung of display- 5 x 2 x 2 with 240 ltr sump containing skimmer (massively inefficient), DSB in display (silica play sand), approx 100 kgs live rock. Most corals are 7 years old and all fish but 2 of the tangs, are of...

algaescrubber.net

Since installing my ATS my skimmer actually works better.

Algae release sugars, feeding bacteria, both goodies and baddies. May also be a reason that lots of scrubber users relay the idea of less film algae on the glass (bacterial growth preventing attachment). Or a release of reactive oxygen species, allelopathy, increased microfauna herbivory.

 

[exnisstech]

What they don’t understand is how a scrubber can be more efficient at doing the same job.

I think this is what Randy was hinting at A scrubber can be but isn't always more efficient. Your comments sound like your mindset is ats is superior to other mothods period and you can't understand why more people don't use them. That just isn't how things work in this hobby. I have 3 systems running and they all have different requirements. But I will say none require an ATS to be successfull. I run three fuges. That works for me but may not work for everyone.

 

[VintageReefer]

when I say or imply it’s better or more efficient - what I mean is in terms of volume. I replaced an entire section of my sump that had cheato, and the algae in my scrubber is about a 4x3x1 rectangle and it does a better job than a basketball of cheato. In fact, my scrubber killed all my cheato. That tells me the scrubber is more effective/faster at absorbing excess nutrients than a standard cheato fuge.

Maybe some people don’t have that need, but there are lots of people here failing at keeping algae at bay that could benefit from a scrubber. Could other methods work also? Of course! I’m just trying to open people to the idea of this method and explain the benefits and show what I’ve learned in the last 8 years of owning them.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It seems relatively clear to me that just lowering nitrate and phosphate (in any fashion) is not, by itself, typically a good answer to algae problems in the display tank, because if there is an N and P level that restricts algae growth substantially and which also permits corals to thrive optimally, then it is a fine line that is quite hard to maintain. That opinion is based on reading many hundreds of reefers experiences attempting to do so.

If, in fact, folks are more successful in this goal when using an ATS than when using other methods, it may be for one of two reasons, and understanding that reason may well help folks who report not being successful with an ATS.

1. An ats, when properly sized, may be able to maintain that tricky nutrient balance better than some other methods. That tricky balance level may be variable depending on which pest algae are present, but the harder ones to eliminate will be those that seemingly thrive at relatively lower N and P than others (caulerpa racemosa, valonia, bryopsis, etc.).

2. The ATS may be removing something else that algae need, for which corals are a bit better able to attain than algae. I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but i think it bears repeating as most folks assume the effect is from N and P export. If anyone thinks an ATS is restricting pest algae growth when nutrients are otherwise in reasonable ranges (say, 5-10 ppm nitrate and 0.05 to 0.1 ppm phosphate, then it seems highly likely this is the explanation, rather than #1, since many folks have pest algae while in this range.

Further, if #2 is the reason, then folks might fail with ATS if they are dosing whatever that needed material is to levels sufficient for pest algae to still thrive. Iron, manganese, zinc, etc. There's a fairly long list of possibilities of trace element limitations that may restrict growth of algae.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy - big fan of yours by the way, used to be on R2R with you many many years ago and always (still do) love your articles.

Thanks!

Bear in mind I'm not dissing the concept of an ATS or a refugium, just trying to give some alternative thoughts to flesh out the discussion.

 

[VintageReefer]

There could be a missing element here. Clearly people are successful with both higher and lower nutrients. That can’t be the only factor - it’s more complex than p and n

Maybe there is an element consumed or produced by the scrubber that contributes to its success

My numbers are low. Phosphate many months is zero. But usually .02-.05. Nitrates measure 0-5 for me. My corals are growing and thriving. Not starving

 

[Thales]

I really don't care

Ah. Never mind then. Happy reefing.

 

[VintageReefer]

I think Randy needs to setup an experiment tank with a scrubber and start doing some tests and observation to figure out the voodoo behind this method lol

 

[exnisstech]

I think Randy needs to setup an experiment tank with a scrubber and start doing some tests and observation to figure out the voodoo behind this method lol

He'll ask for volunteers Just kidding Randy you are awesome

 

[Garf]

I think Randy needs to setup an experiment tank with a scrubber and start doing some tests and observation to figure out the voodoo behind this method lol

He'll ask for volunteers Just kidding Randy you are awesome

Here’s something a little different, lol

Algal ORGANIC uptake of C,N,P in INORGANIC N&P limitation.

Like everyone else on here, I've been led to believe that algae (good and bad) only uptake inorganic forms of C,N&P. This is wrong; http://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/thesis/A_C_Tyler_Dissertation.pdf page 141

algaescrubber.net