OMG, first post... aquaponics

[TonyMar]

Hi, this forum is great and you are good people, thanks for sharing all the great knowledge.
So, I had this 5 gallon clear water jug. I live in AZ, USA and we fill these with RO water because the water out of our faucets is icky. We got an RO unit inside our house but kept the 5 gallon jugs. So I hooked up a Taam Rio Plus 1100 Aqua Pump and Powerhead - 382 GPH extra pump. Before than went to Walmart, got 6 plastic canvas for $2. Had a bunch of PVC, we do Aquaponics. This was for my 140 gallon Ryukin Tank. Got 7 Ryukin, 1 Pictus Catfish and 2 Pleco's in this pond. Anyway, got it hooked up about 3 PM. Showed my son and wife the new, "Algae Scrubber" at 6 PM when we were feed the Ryukin and HOLY COW, got green on the canvas. This is a Sunlight driven system. I am STUNNED, in a good way. YOU PEOPLE ROCK. So much good info here. Thank you, thank you. The Ryukin tank was GREEN SOUP, ugly. How do I use the algae to feed my Otocinclus Cats and other algae eaters in my 10 gallon tank? Do we do something to make the algae inert or dead? I think my other fish will LOVE this algae. Again, thanks much.
TonyMar
Will post pictures of my zero cost, homemade, diy, scrubber. This is so cool.

[sklywag]

Cool! Sun lit should grow crazy. I have heard/read on here some time ago that someone dried out the algae and fed it to some type of fish. May have even been the fish in the display they were scrubbing.

[SantaMonica]

I think they will love the live algae too.

[TonyMar]

I read through all of SM's FAQ threads, that is a lot of great info. Answered many questions and got me to measure and modify my simple set up.

Modification to my ATS system. My screen was not a "pancake" and it was way too big for the per cube feeding, corrected both. Also my screen was longer than wider and read that wider is better so I modified the slit in my water tube and made the screen position so now the wide part is in the slit.
Checked my flow rate and found that I could reduce the flow from 380 gph to 245 gph. Based on 7 inch screen. (It takes about 15 seconds to fill a gallon jug) I was concerned that the high flow rate was knocking some algae off the screen, new flow rate seems good.

Question. In the FAQ, Other ways to reduce nutrients SM says that we can remove bio balls, foam/floss/socks. Will the ATS replace my 5 gallon bio-filter? Right now it keeps Nitrites at 0, Nitrates at 0 and for some odd reason my Ammonia has been at .25, but eventually Am should be 0.

My set ups:
All Fresh Water
Ryukin Tank 140 gals. water, 530 liters. This tank, it's EPDM has a cover, it's up 3 ft, but some sunlight does get in and so the water can get green. No water changes are done but top-off 2 inches every other day. Top off is about 20 gals, as I'm in Phoenix, AZ, USA and it is hot here and evaporation outside is killer.
7 Ryukin, 1 Pictus. Feeding 2.8 - 3 grams of pellet food per day. (Screen is 6"x4", 24 sq in, larger than required by cube feeding, but the fish are small and young now and are growing)
Flow is 240 gph onto my ATS screen.
Screen is pancaked and my system is outside and is Solar. Direct Sunlight from 8 am to 4 pm. Set up so sunlight on each side as the sun rises and sets.
Right now: 5 gallon bio filter. DIY, water directed to bottom and swirls, round plastic "scrubbies" then square scrubbing pads. Other than the small amount of Ammonia this thing seems to work.
BUT, if my scrubber will replace this filter, yaay! Does that FAQ mean I can shut down my 5 gal DIY Filter?

10 gallon tank
In process of setting up a UAS. Right now has an Aquaclear 20. It will have 3 African Dwarf Frogs, 1 Betta and 1 Bulldog Pleco, 1 Cory Catfish.
UAS screen will be 4"x3", 23 watt, 2750 K, one sided. Feed, less than 2.8 grams pellet food per day. (Pellets, flakes, some bloodworms, some algae wafers and the Frogs get shrimp)
HOPE the ATS/UAS will replace the Aqaclear. Do you think it will?

30 gallon tank
1 Betta, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 3 Zebra, 3 Rasbora, 1 Cory Catfish, 2 Ghost Shrimp, future may add some other fish.
UAS will be 4"x4", 23 watt, 2750 k, one sided. Feed approx. 2.8 grams pellet food per day. (Pellets, flakes, some bloodworms, some algae wafers)
Right Now: Aquaclear 50, 200 gph.
It would be great if the ATS/UAS would replace the Aquaclear. Will the UAS be the only filter it will need?

Pics: The black cube shaped thing is the bio filter. The Solar Scrubber is a 5 gal water jug. (I know I need to resize the 5 gal water jug, the other screen filled it up) Note about the tank, next payday will be putting Bamboo wood around the tank, should look much nicer.

This forum is full of informative nice people. Thanks SM for such a good place.

[SantaMonica]

Good to see you try several at one time.


I was concerned that the high flow rate was knocking some algae off the screen

It is the screen's job to hold on to the growth, no matter how strong the flow.


Will the ATS replace my 5 gallon bio-filter?

If built and operated correctly, yes. But if it's your only filter, then you'll still want a bio filter because your scrubber can't filter after a cleaning. Otherwise, you can try two separate screens and clean one at a time.


Screen is pancaked

If you mean two screen layered together, you need to un-pancake them and have just a single layer. Pancaked screens cause die-off in-between the screens.


HOPE the ATS/UAS will replace the Aqaclear

Yes, if built and operated properly. If possible, always make screen 2-sided; it doubles the filtering power just by illuminating the roots from the other side.

[TonyMar]

Turned up the flow 100% and nothing is leaving the screen. Screen is very rough, guess I was worrying over nothing.

Two separate screens sounds like the way to go so I can keep the system running and not worry about the bio filter. Will get that done.

Screens un-pancaked, single layer.

SM, thanks very much for your response. Great info.