Algae Turf Scrubber

[ReefFreak@]

ATS wo has them, who likes them, who hates them? Looking into a water fall type design. Currently i dose NOPOX and skim. Nitrates stay at 5ppm and phosphate has dipped to zero but dosed kh2poh recently to bring up to 0.01-0.02 for now. Will a ats let me stop using NOPOX? I like NOPOX but i like the thought of the added benefits of a ats. More oxygen in water, less ph swing, free food for tangs. Are all these acceptable demands for a ATS?

 

[theMeat]

Ats or big fuge will help with nitrates. Big fuge is less fussing and less frequent cleaning of the algae. Plus more water volume but needs more space

 

[ReefFreak@]

Ats or big fuge will help with nitrates. Big fuge is less fussing and less frequent cleaning of the algae. Plus more water volume but needs more space

Space is limited hence no refugium and carbon dosing. There is fussing with a ATS?

 

[theMeat]

Gotta keep cleaning the screen, and making sure the growth doesn’t redirect flow into a flood situation
Much better than water changes tho

 

[ReefFreak@]

Gotta keep cleaning the screen, and making sure the growth doesn’t redirect flow into a flood situation
Much better than water changes tho

That does not really bother me. The two ATS im looking at have to bulk heads in case one clogs up. I dont really do water changes not, but i wanted to make sure ATS actually do a good job of removing excess nitrate and phosphate before buying because they are a bit pricey. Do you have a ATS?

 

[PmCarbrey]

I have a clearwater scrubbers ATS, I love it. I feed heavy, extremely heavy, and still have nitrates <1 and undetectable phosphates. I clean my screen once a week when I change my filter socks, takes all of 30 seconds. I'm putting one on every tank I set up from now on. they really do make a huge difference in water quality from what I've seen.

 

[ReefFreak@]

I have a clearwater scrubbers ATS, I love it. I feed heavy, extremely heavy, and still have nitrates <1 and undetectable phosphates. I clean my screen once a week when I change my filter socks, takes all of 30 seconds. I'm putting one on every tank I set up from now on. they really do make a huge difference in water quality from what I've seen.

One of my concerns is that nitrates and phosphates will be unstable due to removing the algae and letting it grow back. Do you only harvest one side of the algae to compensate this?

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

One of my concerns is that nitrates and phosphates will be unstable due to removing the algae and letting it grow back. Do you only harvest one side of the algae to compensate this?

As long as you don’t completely clean the screen, you won’t have swings in your nutrients. It’s similar to cutting your lawn. When you cut it to the dirt, it won’t grown back. Same is with the screen. If you overclean it, you are starting back at square one. That’s why we recommend just scraping it. It leaves some growth to kickstart it again.

 

[pelphrey]

I’m running the @SantaMonica RAIN2. 100% waterproof, and it’s aorking great for me!

 

[Justfebreezeit]

I run an upflow design the drop 1.2 from @SantaMonica and it took a month to get going but now its great. I removed all other forms of filtration and its been keeping my nitrates around 3 and phosphates around .018-.028 (Hanna ULR)

Just a 20gallon AIO but still!

 

[Maacc]

I have a Turbo aquatics scrubber. Bud's scrubbers are top notch, I still have it back at 50% intensity for only 10 hours a day with very heavy feeding to not bottom out nitrate and phosphate. I also run a deltec skimmer from Adam, no gfo or carbon dosing.

 

[ReefFreak@]

Thanks for all the info guys. After doing a bunch of research i think im going to pull the trigger and get one. I was looking at the brands 302 aquatics and the clear water. Any pros or cons to either? There both the waterfall type which seems to benefit my application the best. Also and pointers on weaning the tank off of carbon dosing? I was thinking let the ATS grow i then monitor nutrient levels and slowly back of carbon dosing.

 

[Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers]

Thanks for all the info guys. After doing a bunch of research i think im going to pull the trigger and get one. I was looking at the brands 302 aquatics and the clear water. Any pros or cons to either? There both the waterfall type which seems to benefit my application the best. Also and pointers on weaning the tank off of carbon dosing? I was thinking let the ATS grow i then monitor nutrient levels and slowly back of carbon dosing.

302 doesn’t use a slot pipe. It’s holes drilled into it so they plug all the time. Also he only uses white light which isn’t the spectrum algae uses to grow. Only us, Turbo’s and Santa Monica use the correct spectrum. Us three also all use the slot pipe where an actual slot is cut into the pipe and the screen is inserted to provide more even flow and reduce a chance of algae blocking the water flow.

 

[SlvrZ]

I've gone from ATS to carbon to fuge to carbon and staying there again. the hassile of cleaning the screen every week was annoying to me compared to draining my collection cup once a month (dry skim, neck cleaner) the fuge was nice since that actually did increase my PH, but the constant strain of HA finding it's way into pumps or overflows was what killed it for me.

 

[KenO]

I had a clear water scrubber that was running for about 8 months. It took awhile to get going, and did a great job at lowering NO3 and growing pods. It also eliminated the hair algae I had in my display tank. I also had another algae called Caulerpa verticillate which went on a rampage covering all my rocks and was spreading to the sand. This algae was worse than Bryopsis. The only way to kill it was to do 2 rounds of fluconazole and H2O2 on the second round of fluconazole. Well, the algae on the scrubber did not survive so I removed the ATS and cleaned it. I have another tank which has cheato in the sump, so I decided to just do cheato in the sump on the system that had the ATS on it. I didn't mind cleaning the screen each week. Unfortunately just as the scrubber was hitting its prime the Caulerpa verticillate had to be dealt with.

 

[ReefFreak@]

302 doesn’t use a slot pipe. It’s holes drilled into it so they plug all the time. Also he only uses white light which isn’t the spectrum algae uses to grow. Only us, Turbo’s and Santa Monica use the correct spectrum. Us three also all use the slot pipe where an actual slot is cut into the pipe and the screen is inserted to provide more even flow and reduce a chance of algae blocking the water flow.

Thanks for the details. clear water scrubbers are available at brs correct?

 

[ReefFreak@]

I've gone from ATS to carbon to fuge to carbon and staying there again. the hassile of cleaning the screen every week was annoying to me compared to draining my collection cup once a month (dry skim, neck cleaner) the fuge was nice since that actually did increase my PH, but the constant strain of HA finding it's way into pumps or overflows was what killed it for me.

The hassle of fug maintenance, and not enough nutrient removal is what caused me to switch to carbon. Did the ATS remove enough nutrients? Right now with carbon i keep my nutrients steady at 5ppm nitrate and ~0.01-0.o5 for phopshate in a all acropora/montipora reef. My one concern with ATS is i won't be able to keep those levels or that they won't be steady?

 

[ReefFreak@]

I had a clear water scrubber that was running for about 8 months. It took awhile to get going, and did a great job at lowering NO3 and growing pods. It also eliminated the hair algae I had in my display tank. I also had another algae called Caulerpa verticillate which went on a rampage covering all my rocks and was spreading to the sand. This algae was worse than Bryopsis. The only way to kill it was to do 2 rounds of fluconazole and H2O2 on the second round of fluconazole. Well, the algae on the scrubber did not survive so I removed the ATS and cleaned it. I have another tank which has cheato in the sump, so I decided to just do cheato in the sump on the system that had the ATS on it. I didn't mind cleaning the screen each week. Unfortunately just as the scrubber was hitting its prime the Caulerpa verticillate had to be dealt with.

That is something to take into account. It seems that a few people seem to kill there ATS algae some how and there nutrients fluctuate. So it took ~8 months for the ATS to mature?

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I have a DIY waterfall style ATS and absolutely love it. I was also carbon dosing with vinegar until my ATS became efficient. I feed relatively heavily and my Nitrates stay around 2.5-5ppm and phosphates are undetectable, sailfert test for both. IMO ATS is one of the greatest things that have happened in the last few years, and the theory behind it makes perfect sense. One thing that initially helped turn my ATS into being very efficient was lighting. I bought 2 -45w LED hydroponic LED from Amazon initially, which were good but not great. I wish from the beginning I had invested in a nicer hydroponic light. I stopped carbon dosing after I upgraded my lights. I probably have around 'advertised' 400w through my ATS and refugium and the growth is incredible. Always remember with a refugium and ATS you are competing with your DT. If you setup correct lighting at the correct spectrum for the correct photo period, then your system will run itself. Pods will be in the millions, and your system will be very stable. Also algae is capable of absorbing impurities from the water, like certain metals.

 

[ReefFreak@]

I have a DIY waterfall style ATS and absolutely love it. I was also carbon dosing with vinegar until my ATS became efficient. I feed relatively heavily and my Nitrates stay around 2.5-5ppm and phosphates are undetectable, sailfert test for both. IMO ATS is one of the greatest things that have happened in the last few years, and the theory behind it makes perfect sense. One thing that initially helped turn my ATS into being very efficient was lighting. I bought 2 -45w LED hydroponic LED from Amazon initially, which were good but not great. I wish from the beginning I had invested in a nigher hydroponic light. I stopped carbon dosing after I upgraded my lights. I probably have around 'advertised' 400w through my ATS and refugium and the growth is incredible. Always remember with a refugium and ATS you are competing with your DT. If you setup correct lighting at the correct spectrum for the correct photo period, then your system will run itself. Pods will be in the millions, and your system will be very stable. Also algae is capable of absorbing impurities from the water, like certain metals.

Pods produce on ATS? Do you run any carbon? Passively or through a reactor?