DIY top of sump algae scrubber.

[Mike in CT]

Well I was going to try chaeto in my sump but I was not having much luck with it, so I decided to take materials I had laying around and make some kind of turf scrubber.
I took some egg crate and put it up against each side of a chamber of my sump. I then cut a piece of egg crate and laid it horizontally just below the water surface of the sump chamber.(resting on the egg crate on either side)I then took some plastic canvas I picked up at the craft store, roughed it up and put it on top of the egg crate.
I have this sump chamber plumbed with water from my over flow. The pipe goes just below the surface into a tee so get some pretty good agitation on the surface of that dump chamber. I guess I am getting 200-300 gph going through this part of the sump, the rest of it goes to my skimmer section.
Right now I have 1 2700k 26 watt cfl flood light on it. I have about 100 square inches of surface for the algae to grow.
I known this is unconventional, but I figured I would give it a try and see what happens. I will try to update on a weekly basis.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[Reefing Madness]

No airline for the bubblers? I know that plays a key roll in growth.

 

[beaslbob]

I that is the drain that overflows to the skimmer area, IMHO all you need to do is add macro algae under the eggcrate.

my .02

 

[Reefing Madness]

I that is the drain that overflows to the skimmer area, IMHO all you need to do is add macro algae under the eggcrate.

my .02

He had Macro in the right hand chamber Bob, if you look in the first pic. He didn't like it. And I must add that being the small chamber that it is, it would not have helped a great deal anyways if it was full, its not big enough to do the job. ATS, would accomplish this by itself, given the size he is making it.

 

[Mike in CT]

The size of the sump is a bit deceiving. It's a 29 gallon that is sunk 4 inches below the stand floor to give me room for my lifereef skimmer. That chamber is about 10 g. An airstone would probably be a good idea, I just lamented having yet another pump to find a outlet for. Lol

 

[Mike in CT]

Well 2 weeks later, running 18 on 6 off with a 2700k bulb and a power head in the sump compartment to keep flow moving and I mostly ended up with red cyno in the scrubber.

I have read that 2700k is the best bulb, but just for the heck of it I am going throw in a 5700k bulb I have and see what happens over a couple of weeks.
I am vodka dosing right now..I don't know if that's affecting it.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Vodka will affect it some, as its eating nutrients out of the water.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Following!

 

[fyrfytr]

Following this as well. Great idea for those of is with small tanks

 

[Mike in CT]

So another week has gone bye, and still all I am growing is red cyano. Even where I had really good flow over the screen it is still all that grew. The cyano in the DT seems a little worse so I am stopping this experiment for now.

Could be a few things going on here:

I am vodka dosing and running a bag of purigen This could be taking out what the HA algae needs to grow.

I am doing the above because I had a nitrate spike that took out some of my corals. My nitrates seem to be at the 40-80 mark according to my API test kit ( that I do not trust....results hardly changed after 50% water change) I have a different brand test kit coming in the mail. Maybe my nitrates are not as hight as I think? Corals are definitely rebounding so something is improving.

If I saw any sign of some good algae on the scrubber, I would try to build a conventional vertical design scrubber, but I just don't think I will grow anything right now. When I test with my new nitrate kit I should have some better information to go with.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Sounds like a plan to me.