Algae Scrubber 29 Gallon Biocube

Dec · Feb 7, 2016

Hey,
been reading around noticed a lot of talk about these did a little researcher and still have a few questions.
First- I have hair algae and all my phosphates, nitrites and nitrates are untraceable(Hair algae consuming it I would imagine). Will A scrubber potentially help with this problem?

Second- could I put in a algae scrubber in the second chamber of the biocube where where the water flows out of the tank and over bio balls?

Third- The standard lighting from the tank that runs does make its way into this second chamber pretty well towards the top where I want to put it, Will this suffice in the lighting requirements for the algae scrubber?
I run the day light 7 hours and actinics 8 hours(compacts)

Also I have a protein skimmer already that runs 6 hours a day

Dec · Feb 10, 2016

Seriously no one has any comments?

reefwiser · Feb 10, 2016

You would be best served by a Drop alage scrubber made by Santa Monica filtration.
http://www.santa-monica.cc/ I use the 1.2 drop in my IM Fusion 40

rjl45 · Mar 21, 2016

I just saw this thread and thought I would chime in.
1. Yes, an algae scrubber will help because the idea behind the scrubber is to create an optimum place for algae to grow and it will eventually outcompete the algae in your DT. The "catch" is, you need to brush the scrubber off on a regular basis. If you slack off, it does no good and algae will continue to grow everywhere.

2. I don't know the size constraints, but I image that you probably could. You may need to buy a small one from Santa Monica or make one yourself to fit the chamber. I have been running my scrubber for 5 weeks now and have completely removed all my mechanical and chemical filtration.

3. No, you will need supplemental lighting. Lots of ways to do this. Scrape off a patch of the black coating on the back of your tank and place a light there. Led or cfl. Lots of options. Dedicated "red" spectrum light is best, but white will do. Most scrubber lights will run 18-22 hours/day.

Here is a link to my build thread, if interested. I made a scrubber for my 24gal nano.
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/240710/