Algae scrubbers, who knew...

[trmiv]

I remember obsessing about saving up for an algae scrubber in the mid 90s when I was in college for the 100g Fowlr I had then. I was convinced it would solve all my filter issues. Never did get around to buying it.

flash forward to now and I’ve been tempted to switch to a turf scrubber from a macro algae reactor that I currently use. Been eyeing the Santa Monica Rain 2 or the drop 1.4x.

 

[Gogol_frag]

I made a passive scrubber using a penguin 200 hob filter and lit by my display led light. It’s been up 4-5 weeks now, So far it’s been growing, but I think it’s too small to make a real difference, but I don’t have issues with high nutrients either.

here’s it today, I did clean the screen on Saturday though

Great job on the DIY, Ef4life!

 

[Gogol_frag]

I remember obsessing about saving up for an algae scrubber in the mid 90s when I was in college for the 100g Fowlr I had then. I was convinced it would solve all my filter issues. Never did get around to buying it.

flash forward to now and I’ve been tempted to switch to a turf scrubber from a macro algae reactor that I currently use. Been eyeing the Santa Monica Rain 2 or the drop 1.4x.

Feel free to ping us at any time. Mine's been up for only a month. So far no complaints, but its too new to actually recommend it.

All I can say is that my tank has no hair algae, and the scrubber has significant amounts inside of it. Customer Service from the company is also solid. I get responses to emails within a couple of hours - weekdays or weekends.

 

[ca1ore]

i heard that there was some sort of patent on them that recently expired and that’s why they weren’t widely used before the last couple years. No idea if that’s true - I’m sure someone can verify...

Don't believe that is true .... and doesn't really pass the common sense test. Cannot patent the concept anyhow, just a particular design; and filing a patent isn't an inexpensive preposition so unless you're EcoTech or Neptune probably not. I wonder if they really ARE more widely used now (as a percentage of reefers) than in the past. If so, its almost certainly a function of commercially available units rather than having to go the DiY route.

 

[ReefHog]

I made a passive scrubber using a penguin 200 hob filter and lit by my display led light. It’s been up 4-5 weeks now, So far it’s been growing, but I think it’s too small to make a real difference, but I don’t have issues with high nutrients either.

here’s it today, I did clean the screen on Saturday though

I did this exact same thing over 20 years ago to quiet the water dumping into my display tank from my HOB filter. Siliconed the quilting fabric to the filter. That thing would fill up fast with algae.

 

[Mark]

Don't believe that is true .... and doesn't really pass the common sense test. Cannot patent the concept anyhow, just a particular design; and filing a patent isn't an inexpensive preposition so unless you're EcoTech or Neptune probably not. I wonder if they really ARE more widely used now (as a percentage of reefers) than in the past. If so, its almost certainly a function of commercially available units rather than having to go the DiY route.

I did hear that Adey had a patent on the dump bucket design and allowed Inland Aquatics to build and sell. I suspect the waterfall design didn't violate the patent for that reason. I have an Inland Aquatics model sitting in a closet, and two copies of Dynamic Aquaria on the shelf. I think they weren't as popular back in the day because some of additional methodology that was pushed with it. They had a bad rap for yellowing the water, since folks avoided carbon/skimming/water changes based on the romanticized notion of a self contained ecosystem that was advocated by the book and Inland. They also advocated corkscrew style pumps over impeller pumps to protect micro critters. The nice thing about a waterfall scrubber is that it fits in well with current sump designs and takes up little space. Running it with a skimmer and carbon seems like a great approach. The dump bucket scrubbers took up a ton of space and were quite loud.

 

[Rize2]

I’ve been running one for over two years now and it is amazing!!
New users, PLEASE be careful and do not run 24/7. I did this in the beginning and stripped my tank of all nutrients and killed a bunch of corals. These things are powerful, so just take it slow.

i heard that there was some sort of patent on them that recently expired and that’s why they weren’t widely used before the last couple years. No idea if that’s true - I’m sure someone can verify...

This is true, someone local to me had the patent. He built some early on, but then never really did anything with it.

I got the Santa Monica drop .6x about two weeks ago. Still waiting for it to break in. Right now I’m just getting a little bit of dark color on the white growing surface.

 

[JayStro81]

This is true, someone local to me had the patent. He built some early on, but then never really did anything with it.

I got the Santa Monica drop .6x about two weeks ago. Still waiting for it to break in. Right now I’m just getting a little bit of dark color on the white growing surface.

That's the one I have. It did take a little while to really start producing. What helped speed it along was wiping the back wall clean as it started producing that blackish slime. It honestly took over 2 months until it kicked into high gear. It's working great now.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Anyone else running an algae scrubber with success? I've been using the Santa Monica drop 6x for a few months. It took a little while to get started but once it took off my nutrient levels are almost non existent. I have an overstocked 40 gallon (7 nano fish) and I've recently switched to bi weekly 10% water changes in an attempt to raise nitrates a little. I feed reef roids once a week, mysis/brine daily, and dose aminos every other day. I also cut back my skimming to 18hrs a day instead of 24hrs. This thing is incredible!!

I am glad you posted this!!!! I am considering the drop 1.2 for my 25 gallon Lagoon.

 

[JayStro81]

I’ve been running one for over two years now and it is amazing!!
New users, PLEASE be careful and do not run 24/7. I did this in the beginning and stripped my tank of all nutrients and killed a bunch of corals. These things are powerful, so just take it slow.

i heard that there was some sort of patent on them that recently expired and that’s why they weren’t widely used before the last couple years. No idea if that’s true - I’m sure someone can verify...

Very sound advice. My Display has no algae present, it's all in the scrubber. I may have to cut the lighting period if my nutrients drop too low. Currently running it 18hrs a day. I'll definitely keep monitoring.

 

[JayStro81]

I made a passive scrubber using a penguin 200 hob filter and lit by my display led light. It’s been up 4-5 weeks now, So far it’s been growing, but I think it’s too small to make a real difference, but I don’t have issues with high nutrients either.

here’s it today, I did clean the screen on Saturday though

Great DIY!

 

[JayStro81]

I am glad you posted this!!!! I am considering the drop 1.2 for my 25 gallon Lagoon.

I have a 20g AIO as well as the 40g I posted about. I have the drop .2 ready for this tank. I don't want to add it just yet as the tank is only a few months old. I'd say go for it. Santa Monica makes a great product and their customer service is top notch.

 

[Garf]

Here’s my scrubber from nine years ago. It definitely was not mainstream then;

howdy from the uk - day one - Page 12

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

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I have a 20g AIO as well as the 40g I posted about. I have the drop .2 ready for this tank. I don't want to add it just yet as the tank is only a few months old. I'd say go for it. Santa Monica makes a great product and their customer service is top notch.

Went ahead and bought the .6 just now. After looking into it a bit more, this will be a good size.

 

[ca1ore]

I did hear that Adey had a patent on the dump bucket design and allowed Inland Aquatics to build and sell. I suspect the waterfall design didn't violate the patent for that reason. I have an Inland Aquatics model sitting in a closet, and two copies of Dynamic Aquaria on the shelf. I think they weren't as popular back in the day because some of additional methodology that was pushed with it. They had a bad rap for yellowing the water, since folks avoided carbon/skimming/water changes based on the romanticized notion of a self contained ecosystem that was advocated by the book and Inland. They also advocated corkscrew style pumps over impeller pumps to protect micro critters. The nice thing about a waterfall scrubber is that it fits in well with current sump designs and takes up little space. Running it with a skimmer and carbon seems like a great approach. The dump bucket scrubbers took up a ton of space and were quite loud.

I remember the Inland stuff. Always built my own, so you may be right on the Adey patent ..... Here's mine in 1994 .... well, the box at least.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Are these things efficient enough that with an appropriate sized unit one could use a scrubber in place of a skimmer?

 

[LardLad]

DIY Updraft Algae Scrubber for Fluval EVO 13.5

I wanted to share with you my DIY Updraft Algae Scrubber that I have created for AIO Nano Reef tanks. This particular one is for the Chamber 2 mod for a Fluval EVO 13.5. It has a second stage behind the first that can't be photographed. The second stage can be filled with polypad, floss, carbon...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Gogol_frag]

Are these things efficient enough that with an appropriate sized unit one could use a scrubber in place of a skimmer?

I'll be very interested in the opinions of more experienced users of the Algae Scrubbers on this question.

Having said that, I have used a skimmer for 3 years, and still use it now, and can note that a skimmer provides some advantages that are just not in the Algae Scrubber's wheel-house.

1. The skimmer does things (like gas injection to the water column) than an Algae Scrubber has no means of doing ... depending on your setup that "gas" in the skimmer could be Ozone, air in your room, or air in your room stripped of carbon dioxide. Each of these can have dramatically different impacts on your aquarium.
2. Some skimmers (like mine) have built in media chambers - which almost negates the need for a seperate media-reactor.
3. In case of an accidental organic/inorganic increase in aquarium - fish-death, introduction of undesirable chemicals etc, a skimmer is your most efficient route to extract these. An ATS has no mechanism to help you.
4. Finally a skimmer and ATS combined introduces redundancies (fall-backs) which lowers the risk in your aquarium-system if/when one of them fails.

Hope this helps. Finally, I am a bit of an old-school - so if you are considering a skimmer you may want to look at Deltecs. - Battle Corals - an SPS-exclusive coral shop sells them in US, as does Deltec USA. - both have solid customer service. Deltecs are built like rocks, are quiet like a Whisper.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I'll be very interested in the opinions of more experienced users of the Algae Scrubbers on this question.

Having said that, I have used a skimmer for 3 years, and still use it now, and can note that a skimmer provides some advantages that are just not in the Algae Scrubber's wheel-house.

1. The skimmer does things (like gas injection to the water column) than an Algae Scrubber has no means of doing ... depending on your setup that "gas" in the skimmer could be Ozone, air in your room, or air in your room stripped of carbon dioxide. Each of these can have dramatically different impacts on your aquarium.
2. Some skimmers (like mine) have built in media chambers - which almost negates the need for a seperate media-reactor.
3. In case of an accidental organic/inorganic increase in aquarium - fish-death, introduction of undesirable chemicals etc, a skimmer is your most efficient route to extract these. An ATS has no mechanism to help you.
4. Finally a skimmer and ATS combined introduces redundancies (fall-backs) which lowers the risk in your aquarium-system if/when one of them fails.

Hope this helps. Finally, I am a bit of an old-school - so if you are considering a skimmer you may want to look at Deltecs. - Battle Corals - an SPS-exclusive coral shop sells them in US, as does Deltec USA. - both have solid customer service. Deltecs are built like rocks, are quiet like a Whisper.

It’s on a 25 gal aio. I have enough space to run a skimmer and a scrubber. But if I can simplify, I will. It’s a ok so an up flow scrubber that uses air drive so it will get oxygen in the water. Probably not as well as a skimmer.

 

[Rize2]

That's the one I have. It did take a little while to really start producing. What helped speed it along was wiping the back wall clean as it started producing that blackish slime. It honestly took over 2 months until it kicked into high gear. It's working great now.

Good to know! I appreciate the tip. I’ll try that. How long did you keep the black screen in it?