SoundUser - LED Horizontal Algae Scrubber

[SoundUser]

18251822182318211824


Just joined so hi all.

Here ive made a Hotizontal Scrubber that fits on top of my sump, hooking on to the glass devides. At the moment its got 12 Cree leds. half cool white and half 3000k warm white.

I made it because my chaeto was getting covered with cyano and dying. Ive got green hair in the tank, but the scrubber seems to have seen the cyano off.

Just wondered what you all think / would change.

Cheer Jimmy

[kerry]

How much do you feed per day and how close it the LED's. Are you using lens's on them? The red 660nm work better then the white do. It looks like a good solid build!!

[SoundUser]

I had the leds very close with lenses. This seemed to kill the algae so i moved them away.
I was wondering about red leds. Cree don.t make 660nm leds and i can't find another brand that make 3watts.
I feed the tank 1/2 - 1 cube per day and flake food.

[kerry]

Here is the place I get them from. http://www.ebay.com/itm/3W-x-6-PCs-High-Power-Red-660nm-LED-Specialist-plant-DIY-item-/110813286301?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19ccfc8f9d . There are places on ebay that ship from china as well. Lenses are to acute to be close the the screen. 1-2 inches is usually the right distance for the LED's without a lens.

[SoundUser]

Quick update on the ATS. Here is one of the screens, ive pulled it out for its first cleaning. Im thinking ill clean them on alternate weeks.
1831
Here is my rock now. Its still got a lot of Green Hair Algae on but fingers crossed it'll get better. The other thing is i dont have any clean up.. so i really need to get off my ar** and get some snails in there.
1832
Here is the cyano 3 weeks after using chemiclean. It got rid of it but it came back. This is all clear now!!!
1833

[SantaMonica]

Nice that it's moving in the right direction...

[SoundUser]

Do you guys run skimmers and GFO with your scrubbers? Or do they take over in the end??

A live rock / scrubber only reef would be amazing.

[SantaMonica]

There are many LR/scrubber tanks. Mine is one.

[kerry]

All I run is a scrubber and LR.

[sklywag]

That's all I had, and running again.

[SoundUser]

Im cleaning one screen a week. So each screen gets scrapped ever other week.

Not getting loads off of it. But its keeping everything in check and doing the business.
Really starting to think there is something to this Algae Scrubbing.
1985

Do you guys think its better to clean every week, like ive been doing? or allow it to get really thick first?

[SantaMonica]

Basically as thick as you can get it, with as little die-off as possible.

[kerry]

That looks real good!! I never clean my horizontal before 7 days.

[SoundUser]

Little update. Im slowly winning the war on Algae. Im still skimming and running GFO for now. Ive turned the skimmer right down to a dry skim though. Hope to be running them on a timer soon.

23762377

[SoundUser]

Oh, and I haven't done a black out or anything funny. Ive just left it all to get on with itself. 10% water change every month. There has been some algae die off and the CUC is just eating it faster than it grows. There are some small patches of Algae strong hold though :)

[sklywag]

It'll take time. The rock itself holds phosphate so it needs to leach out which the scrubber will do. All I get now is the Cyano on my sand bed only. I am convinced that it comes with a tank too warm and the light reflecting off the sand. Not not enough water flow. Because it comes and goes every evening and on coolers days stays somewhat abated till the tank warms from lighting.

I'm not the sterile tank type, but with algae free rocks it looks a little too pristine in there. I should take some new pictures of my current temporary set up.

If I were you I'd shut down that skimmer and yank it from your set up. Sell it and buy something for your display to look at. GFO the same. Skip the water changes and start enjoying your tank.

[SoundUser]

If I were you I'd shut down that skimmer and yank it from your set up. Sell it and buy something for your display to look at. GFO the same. Skip the water changes and start enjoying your tank.

Thats sounds too perfect :) You've got the right idea though. My old tank was a 250 litre without a sump. was a nightmare to look after. a water change and new gfo every week just about kept the algae at bay.

I don't think I could ever sell the skimmer. I like to keep it there in case something dies its there to put on full blast.

My plan is to have the skimmer on a timer maybe two days a week and then the GFO one or two days as well. Whatever it takes to keep the tank looking good, I dont clean the back glass or anything. I know what you mean, some tanks look too clean.

[SantaMonica]

I don't think I could ever sell the skimmer. I like to keep it there in case something dies its there to put on full blast.

Won't help at all. Skimmers don't remove ammonia.

Instead, you'd want to add some Amaquel or Prime (ammonia reducers). Of course, if your scrubber was already growing, you wouldn't have to do anything since the algae would just grow more (ammonia is the favorite food of algae). I have a 3" fish die in my tank every week: a silverside to feed the eel.

[sklywag]

I haven't had anything die in my current setup yet. I'd like to see a blue fin/domino damsel die since I can't catch it. But my old system yes. And I'd leave them in the tank for my clean up crew to clean up.

Once that scrubber starts working(matures) or you fix it or build a better one and it starts to work(mature). You'll never regret it. When people come by/buy for something and they see all I have for filtering and haven't done any water changes, fish are fat, corals are healthy and see my little water test kit paperwork with a month or so between tests. They start to research ATS. Some build and some get sucked back in to old ways or afraid because of peer pressure. Am I talking about walking with Jesus or scrubbers?. Either way I have faith in both to save life.

[SoundUser]

Im slowly getting the faith.
Chaeto was working well for one of my old tanks. When i upgraded the Chaeto with killed off / stopped from growing by Cyano growing all over it.
The funny thing is I came across the idea of algae scrubbing from LA Fish Guys videos. Its working fantastic for me. But he doesn't seem to be having too much success with them.

Im also running bioballs I know they've gotta go.

[sklywag]

Imagine that. A guy in the UK watching LA Fish Guy. He is pretty interesting to watch. I enjoy his clips. I think the problem he may be having is he continues to run other equipment along with the scrubber. Might have to do with client wants and desires of equipment. Makes him money too to sell product. No harm in that. It's his living.

[SoundUser]

Imagine that. A guy in the UK watching LA Fish Guy. He is pretty interesting to watch. I enjoy his clips. I think the problem he may be having is he continues to run other equipment along with the scrubber. Might have to do with client wants and desires of equipment. Makes him money too to sell product. No harm in that. It's his living.

Hes built one that looks a bit dodgy to me for one of his tanks. (skip to 7:45)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ep1vC1_E0I&feature=g-user-u

But he says in the comments that hes got a type 1 scrubber on his tank at home, but still has a lot of GHA in his tank. He thinks there is nutrients locked in his LR. But i dont know what other stuff hes using.

I love his youtube channel. Id rather what it than tanked. :rolleyes:

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah he's been running an SM100 for over 6 months now and still battling the algae. I've been chatting with him on a few things I think he was missing, like changing the lamps, and running the DT lights like 13 hours/day...

[SoundUser]

Okay. so algae growth is slowing to a crawl. Should I stop the skimmer or the GFO or ween off them/one or the other with a timer?

Cheers

[kotlec]

As SM likes to say - skimmer removes food for corals before it becomes food for scrubber :)

[WAK]

Yeah he's been running an SM100 for over 6 months now and still battling the algae. I've been chatting with him on a few things I think he was missing, like changing the lamps, and running the DT lights like 13 hours/day...

he's selling 700nm red led strip lights now , maybe you should tell him to give them a go on the scrubber.

[SoundUser]

I think I need more light over the scrubber?
Okay so over my tank Ive got 2 T5s 50 watts each. And 28 Cree LEDs. My scrubber growth was slowing down. So as a test I turned my Cool White leds down to 25% (14 whites)
And my scrubber is growing like crazy again.

So more light on the scrubber? Its a one sided screen (25cm x 45cm total) with 12 leds so 36 watts.

[SoundUser]

Skimmers going off for a week or some. see what happens....

[chrisfraser05]

Hello Buddy, fancy seeing you here? LOADS of Ultimate reef guys on here now lol

Any updates?


Also, I have been watching LA fish guy for over 2 years, awesome vids! He used to be pretty stuck in his ways but he's been opening up to new ideas alot more lately.

Chris