Ruddy's 3rd scrubber

[ruddybop]

So I made my scrubber for my other two tanks and still needed to make one for my 55G. I cut all the 1/8" plexi in my table saw and glued it together with Weld On 16. Drilled .012 holes in a 1/4" OD black water line 3/16" apart and made a light guard for the bubbler. I also drilled holes across the bottom piece so the water can flow through the unit. I did not use a screen for this one, but I did rough up the plexi for algae to grow on. the whole unit just slides up and off of the suction cups. It's been two days and the algae is growing in the scratches that I made. Not noticeable in the pics. I didn't paint it so I could watch the progress, but I will paint it later.

The temporary one I had in there I left open for the pleco to munch on and he cleaned it off...

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[SantaMonica]

Bubbles are good, but you'll be very unhappy without screen for the algae to attach to. It will never get thick.

[kerry]

You really need to use a screen as SM says.

[ruddybop]

This experiment has been running for one month... I have cleaned it once full cleaning...
I have brown algae growing and green so far. The brown algae is about an inch long and the green ranges from 2 to 9 inches.
I have some more ideas up my sleeve to try...

This is the no screen algae scrubber running...
Notice the air bubbles that get trapped behind it...

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And here are some of the pics of the inside...

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The glass on the tank

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This is very similar to how my big scrubber in my 220G started out.

So far the green algae is growing great, but I want it to be more full.

When I had a test scrubber in the tank I had holes on the side for water inlet. The air bubbles caused the water to get pulled through the holes and algae grew better around the holes and the existing erea.

I may drill some 1/4 inch holes evenly spaced on the side of this unit ( like you would drill a drip tray) to see if it will help growth....

Oops... I forgot to post the Harvest

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[ruddybop]

Ok so I drilled my holes evenly spaced on the side of this unit... Oops I used a regular drill and broke it...lol.. So after I got done drilling the holes with a flat bottom drill on top of a piece of wood I glued it back together with some Weld-On 16. I have more plexi and this is just a test model now... Will have to make another one later... And the test continues....

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[ruddybop]

So I have drilled holes in the side of this unit just messing around and I came to a weird conclusion. I have a piece of black plastic I put in front of the scrubber so it doesn't blind me when I'm sitting in front of it.
(The 55G is right next to my computer)

The plastic piece is about 3/4 inches away from the scrubber. That way I can move it and see the progress.

Day zero... Cleaned the scrubber and drilled holes in the front of it.

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Day Four starting to see some slime on the plexi.

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Day 5 Algae growing the best around the holes I drilled.

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Day 5 I remove the black plastic piece and the pleco cleans off the algae on the outside of the scrubber... What?? It's growing better on the outside where the holes are.

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So why has the growth accelerated on the outside rather than the inside?

Are the bubbles slowing the process of growth when rubbing on the algae?

Seems the bubbles going up the plexi are drawing water in through those holes promoting algae growth on the outside of the scrubber by the holes....

I'll still let it go for a while and see what happens. Meanwhile the pleco is having fun.... :)

Ugh ... Questions Questions......

[SantaMonica]

If there is no canvas, the rapid bubbles will detach any gha that tries to grow.

[kotlec]

I was using plexi for my one sided waterfall initially for 9 month or so. Later exchanged it to canvas per SM recommendation. No improvement was noticed. Nor in growth or detaching (holding).

[Garf]

I was using plexi for my one sided waterfall initially for 9 month or so. Later exchanged it to canvas per SM recommendation. No improvement was noticed. Nor in growth or detaching (holding).

I have been down the plexiglas route, didn't work for me.

[kerry]

Same here, Plexiglas was a turd!!!

[ruddybop]

Sm, Garf, and Kerry ... You are correct... A canvas is needed... I guess I just had to drive down the road you guys had driven on... It does work, but not as well as the canvas does.

When it gets cleaned it scrapes it too clean and the algae grows back slower. With the canvas algae is left behind between the holes for faster growth. If you could drill a bunch of holes
in the plexi then you could probably get it to grow better, but I am not going to drill 1000 holes in some plexi glass....

Sorry Kotlec ... I find the canvas/screen works better.... :)

Just a short video of the scrubber before I change it over.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-TYEWxcZaY

[kotlec]

Algae was very hard to clean , when i was using plexi. I had to use steak knife to cut algae away. Algae was always left on screen in streaked pattern. May be thats why I had good results.

[ruddybop]

Ok I have the new 55G built.. Just have to run up and get some 1/4" water line to make an air bubbler.

10" x 10" canvas 3/4" holes drilled in the bottom. At a slight angle so the bubbles run up the screen. Light guard to keep the algae off the bubbler.
There will be two suction cups holding it in place. The canvas is mounted to the black plastic with nylon 8-32 screws. To clean the whole unit has
to be pulled out and taken to the sink by simply popping off the two suction cups.

Here are some pics..

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[ruddybop]

Well I found some 1/4" water line in the garage so I didn't have to go for a ride after all...

Installed and ready to go... 92Watts of CFL

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--234194tFE

[SantaMonica]

Now we're bubblin' :)

[ruddybop]

Now we're bubblin' :)

Uh..Hu... Yeah baby......

[ruddybop]

One week with a fresh screen/canvas...

My New algae scrubber with canvas after one week of growing. I had some advantage from the old one in the tank. I left it open to the Pleco and he cleaned it off. A lot of the pieces that broke away got sucked up into the new scrubber and caught on the screen. This made the growth of this fresh screen go really fast...



http://youtu.be/cfpZ271mOG8

[Garf]

Fantastic

[ruddybop]

Fantastic

Thanks Garf.... I'm gonna let it grow for another week and give it a good cleaning...

[ruddybop]

Ok first cleaning at Day 10 ... Looks good nice and green .. I didn't get that with a plexi screen...



Screen before cleaning.

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Screen after cleaning..

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[kerry]

That FW algae sure is bright green. Looking good, have you tested nitrates since you went to the canvas screen?

[alex leblanc]

I'm interested in you're nitrate reading to, my algae look different than yours...

[ruddybop]

I'm interested in you're nitrate reading to, my algae look different than yours...

Alex and Kerry

Yes ... I have tested and it's close to 80ppm running for 1 week. If it gets any higher I'm gonna do a water change. I kinda want to hold off on water change to see if it lowers....

55g Fresh Water

6 3" to 4"convicts and 1 - 5" oscar no gravel bare bottom.... 1 hang on the back filter and a fluval 305 ......

And my algae was like yours to Alex... It was short and dark green... I let it grow longer/more days and it got brighter and longer......

I have this 15G at work with algae everywhere and I can't get a reading for Nitrate on my strips.... I make one that grows algae and it just will not keep it down low.....

Only on my small tanks will it keep it low ppm

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[ruddybop]

I have 20PPM in the 10G with 28 square inches of screen..... I even added 18 feeder fish to the 10 to see if it could handle it and the algae grew faster and the feeders are still in there at 20ppm.

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So I have 80ppm in the 55G with 100Square inches of screen...

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If I can keep a 10G with 28 Square inches at 20ppm then would i need 28SQ. In. Per 10 gallons for the 55G that would come to 154 Square inches for the 55 to keep it at 20ppm..... I think...

Ahhhhhhhh.... I don't know.... This is frustrating with the larger tanks with Fresh Water... I have 126 Sq. In. In the 220G and my nitrates are at 80 also....So I would need 616 Sq. In to get it down to 20PPM... That's a huge scrubber .. Hmmmm....

[kerry]

Yes, I found the FW needing to have very large screens too.

[ruddybop]

Yes, I found the FW needing to have very large screens too.

If I'm correct on what I have this one I just built with 10x10 100 Sq. In. screen will work for my 29G high......I may set that up and see if my theory works....

Then I need to make another one 10x15 150Sq. In. for the 55G

So far I have

10G ---- 20ppm

15G with algae on all glass sides and growing on the sponges to the 2 hang on filters --- I can't get a reading --- 0 - PPM

55g climbs fast to -- 80PPM

220G climbs fast to -- 80PPM

[ruddybop]

It's been another week with this 100 SQ. IN. scrubber... It grew just as good as it did the first week after cleaning it. Nice and green...

Nitrates have not budged from 80 ppm. They haven't gone up and haven't gone down. So this means the scrubber is working, but it needs to be bigger from what I am seeing.

I am going to bring up my 29 High and take the water out of the 55G and fill it up. Put the 5 1/2" oscar in the 29G with this scrubber and see if it can handle the Nitrates in the 29G.

If I'm right this scrubber should keep the Nitrates down to about 20ppm in the 29G. lol I think...

[ruddybop]

Ok it's official. The 10 x 10 --- 100 SQ. In. Scrubber is in the 29G now with a 5 1/2" Oscar ... Time will tell ...

Took water out of the 55G and filled up the 29G and transfered the Fluval 305 to the 29G...


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[ruddybop]

When I transferred water to the 29G yesterday and put the scrubber in it there was no algae coming out the top of the scrubber. In one night it's growing out about 3 to 5 inches from the top of the scrubber.

This stuff grows fast.....

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[kerry]

Yes, my FW algae was like an out of control fire out West!!

[ruddybop]

Yes, my FW algae was like an out of control fire out West!!

Lol.... The only weird thing is that my water is fueling the fire.... :)

[kerry]

I hope to have more time now to do some tank projects. I was working 55 hours a week and had an hour drive round trip. I just stop working for someone else Friday morning and am officially self employed now. It been a long time building it up and its a scary leap of faith for sure. I have a manufacturer already making my product and will have it 100% operational in a week or so. So I hope to have a couple extra hours a week after about a month or so once things here get on a scheduled pattern.

[ruddybop]

I hope to have more time now to do some tank projects. I was working 55 hours a week and had an hour drive round trip. I just stop working for someone else Friday morning and am officially self employed now. It been a long time building it up and its a scary leap of faith for sure. I have a manufacturer already making my product and will have it 100% operational in a week or so. So I hope to have a couple extra hours a week after about a month or so once things here get on a scheduled pattern.


Excellent .... Congrats on your self employment...... Yes it is scary getting into your own buisness. All the questions you ask yourself if it's the right decision, finances, home, car, life, ect. Can I make it with this decision..... Good luck Kerry .... :)

[kerry]

Thank you very much!! I have done this part time for a few years so I know how to do it and its been working but its scary to go from trading hours for secure stable dollars to trading my performance for what ever dollars dollars I get for my efforts. It is very exciting though, this has been a plan for the wife and I for a long time. I will say it has my eyes wide open right now!!

[ruddybop]

Hmmm... Cleaned the scrubber 6 days ago... Still hovering at about 80ppm.. after 6 days the algae is growing out of the output again. Frustrating....

Water change tomorrow for my little bud... Been to long with 80ppm

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[ruddybop]

Well had an issue with my scrubber. Some how I bumped all the buttons down on my timer and it ran for a few days 24 hours... I noticed it was turning brown and was wondering why... Did a water change and put the Oscar back into the 220G.... Removed the Flowerhorn that has been growing and starting to dominate the tank and put him in the 29G... So back to the drawing board with the 29G 100 Square inch scrubber...... Still climbs to 80ppm Nitrate.

[Garf]

Brown ? - have you noticed more phos reduction compared to nitrate. Got this thing stuck in my head that sais brown is phos rich.

[ruddybop]

Brown ? - have you noticed more phos reduction compared to nitrate. Got this thing stuck in my head that sais brown is phos rich.

Garf :

I have never checked for Phos in my fresh water. The tank I am testing in is a bare bottom. Should I be testing my Phos in fresh water?
I am not familiar with all the testing in salt water....

[Garf]

Don't know, just assumed you would be, i'm sure the others will know.

[ruddybop]

Don't know, just assumed you would be, i'm sure the others will know.

Heyyyyy....lol ... Does anyone have an answer for me... :) Do I need to check my Fresh water for Phos?

I think they skipped over my post Garf.... :)

[alex leblanc]

I've buy a hagen phosphate test kit last week, hard to read but they're around 1 and 2.5. I never really check phosphate before in freshwater but somebody ask me on a cichlids forum here in Quebec to check it, so I test. I'm trying to get more people keeping cichlids to try algae turf scrubber as it work really well for me. I could not explain why but my fish have start to reproduce more and I have more babies per hatch. One thing for sure the guideline don't seem to work in freshwater...

[ruddybop]

Ok I picked up a test kit for Phos.... And it looks like a 1.0 to me... So now what ?

[SantaMonica]

If this is the tank with 80 nitrate, then it just needs some strong scrubbing. Also particles might be settling somewhere.

[ruddybop]

So my 15 Gallon at work with algae growing all over in it seems to keep the Nitrates at near ZERO. I don't even have a legitimate algae scrubber in it to specs... A 7x7 screen with just the main light above the tank (1 cfl 23w - 2700k and 1 cfl 13w - 6500k and a nice even layer of yellowish Green algae all around the tank. Except for the front glass that I keep clean. The screen has a translucent scum on it about 1/8" thick with a few hair algae on the top closest to the light. And all the glass has a layer of algae...I have two small hang on the back filters that i clean one every other week. That is the only maintenance I have done on this 15G besides top it off. Never have I done a water change because the (((((Nitrates never register on my test strips....)) 2 - Healthy 3 1/2" Angels

So I decided to try and duplicate by using a sump and just letting algae overtake it to see if I can have a successful scrubber for Freshwater 29G.... I have found that the guidelines for saltwater are not working for Over 15G freshwater. My 7x4 scrubber in my 10G keep it at 20 ppm no higher no lower. I even added fish (18 feeder goldfish) to see if I could make it go up or down and this hang on the back scrubber keeps it a constant 20 ppm. The scrubber grew faster with more fish, but still would not budge from 20 ppm. My Bristle nose pleco keeps it spotless so the hang on the back 7x4 screen is the only algae in this tank

So I'm at it again with my test 29G in the garage.... Hooked up an overflow and put a 20G long sump with 5 rows of 12x6 screens and some pvc that the overflow hooks to that pushes water and some bubbles up the screen... I'm going to just let it go for a while and see what happens... Here are some pics of the test 29G.... I am running 2 cfl 23w 2700k and 2 cfl 13w - 6500k for the above lighting to try and duplicte my 15G. Now I have the waiting and watching going on...

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[ruddybop]

Day 4 with some green starting.... So far so good...

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[kerry]

Looking good, is that a Jack Dempsey?

[ruddybop]

Looking good, is that a Jack Dempsey?

Thanks Kerry ....No it's a Kamfa Flowerhorn about 5 1/2".... I got 2 Jacks in the 220G one 9" and one 6"

[ruddybop]

Day 7 Filling in nicely... Starting to get some algae stringers floating off the screen