Algae scrubber

Day 2 there is a small amout of algae starting close to the spray bar, but I can not get a good picture I will see if I can get one on day 3

well I found out that I can got to photobucket and copy and paste my pics from there so I will go up and edit my day 1 page

WOW $5.00 you must have had the lights and everythinbg Mine cost me $56.00 minus the pump that I already had

Home_Depot wrote:cost me about 5 bucks minus the pump I had an extra!!

just checked the scrubber again and algae is starting to spred down the screen it has been up and running for about 16 hours now

http://photobucket.com/algaescrubber

DAY 2

just go a email from the Guy that 1st made these and I guess you need to reough up the screen if it is smooth so if you are going to make one make sure you rough it up with somthing

DAY 3 , I can already see a difference, the glass seems cleaner and the brown algae on the sand bed seems to be getting better

any updates?

today is day 9 I leaned the screen today it had a good coating of brown algae on it,the tank is doing ood I have not had to clean my galsss at all for at least 4 days I did wipe it off because I did a water change the other day but otherwise nothing to clean on the glass I was cleanning the glass every day because it would have a good coat of green on it to the point that I could see the trail from my snails..
here are some pics

I can't get my computer to post my pics fo you will have to go to photo bucket

http://photobucket.com/algaescrubber

my tank looks WAY BETTER I still have the brown algae problem but I'm sure it will take a while to get rid of the stuff

when your in your photobucket left click on img that is under the pic then right click to copy then put on post and right click and paste.

This thread shows a kind of Algae Scrubber.

"lowest cost easiest way eliminate green hair,bubble,turf,slime algae"

I find this kind of post extremely annoying. Where was it when my tank was CHOCKED with brown algae? I do not have a sump but this convinces me my next tank should have one.

I'm sorry , I didn't see the date of the post.

I only read this post because I curious too much when i saw the pictures

Been running ATS + Carbon + Water Changes as my primary filtration on 180g show + Frag tank for 3 years now.  ATS replaced a Bubbleking 3000 external ( rated at 780g and $2800 ). Tank never skipped a beat.

ATS is water fall style gravity feed directly from the Herbie Overflow of the show tank. Approx. 800gph after head loss.  Total width is 24" but screen width is 18". Lighting is 4 X 24W T5 with parabolic reflectors.  Bulbs are 2700K T5 bulbs, I bought a case of 50 at net cost of $2.80 each after shipping etc. I replace them based on Algae production but averages out to about 6 months. Water flows to the sump by a 1.5" Bulkhead the ATS sits on the ground and water level is the same as the sump it just flows through and equalizes.  No bubbles, no salt creep to deal with. First ATS version sat on Top of sump and was really messy with saltcreep, bubbles etc. I experimented with LEDs, electricity costs were the same ( measured +/- 5w ) and algae didn't grow any better if anything slightly worse. So went back the 4X24W, may revist LEDs once my case of bulbs run out.  However, I have a softy tank also with ATS and LEDs and it does great as well. I think it's much more tricky because easier to burn the screen and don't even mess with blue leds as they are so much stronger and burn the algae, reds to well by themselves no need to add more headache trying to incorporate blues.

Supplements:  I had Triton water test done and showed a few elements diffecient so when I mix up a bag of Instant Ocean I add some Calcium, Magnesium, Vanadium, Molybdenum, Silicate, Iron, Mangenses. Everything else checked out just right include Potassium.   I had a second Triton water test done on just the freshly mixed after to be sure none of them were overdosed.    

No other supplements added except food and nori for the fish.  No KZ color me this or color me that stuff no Red Sea Part A thru Z.  I tried amino acids once becuase it was highly recommended, didn't do anything for me becuase Amino acids are produced by the algae and in food. I believe I must not have been difficient in aminos since I didn't observe anything but my wallet  $50 for cost of the KZ bottle.

Becuase of the ATS, I'm able to feed more in a day than I used to in a whole week. I go through 2 sheets of Nori per day, a whole 16oz flat of mysis every 10-14 days, plus feed pellets and some flake.  Average 3-5 feedings per day.

DIY ATS. Been running this version for about 2 years, The first version sat on top of the sump:



Harvest pics from 1/26/2015: Normally I would harvest one side at a time once a week ( so 1 side grows 14 days normally ) but growing so good that side B is just as large and only 1 week old so had to harvest both sides.  The screen was so heavy it tore the screen at the top corner.  

Side A 2 weeks old.



Side B, 1 week old:



Total Thickness:



Total Harvest, rinsed, sqeezed, and packed tightly:




180g show tank pic:

1/4/2015:



180g show tank pick from Oct 2014 becuase it's a nicer picture:

David's tanks are amazingly clean. Do you see the multiple tangs? How does he doooooo that? Anyway he certainly has me thinking about changing one of my tanks to this method.

Very nice!

Yes having the room for a large size scrubber, and a few years of experience and fine tuning with it, works wonders