Garfs Horizontally Opposed Scrubber Test

[Garf]

G.H.O.S.T.

First day of my paint roller horizontal scrubber. Screen is 13 x 10, ranging in depth from 1 inch to 2 inch. Lighting and flow provided by the aerated waterfall. May up grade lighting depending on how things progress. Putting a DIY bubble bar in the deep end to stir the flow up a bit;

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/13cdf903301c9eb39207f9ab9a2611ec_zps31061f93.jpg

[Floyd R Turbo]

Nice acronym incorporation

[Garf]

Nice acronym incorporation

Fortunately my first choice (Turbulent Water Algae Treatment) was declined by my common sense :)

[RkyRickstr]

Lol!

[Garf]

4 days in and the screen has started to float, even being attached to a plate of thick Perspex.

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/bbd385816089c24d6cc104b0679f5a4e_zpscf7b5f90.jpg

[Garf]

6 days in, gonna be chopping it tomorrow (and anchoring the screen down somehow);
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/4c15abeabc6d0c63d9b84abdf01f8250_zps3400b115.jpg

[Floyd R Turbo]

So how does the water actually change direction? Not following that part...

[Garf]

So how does the water actually change direction? Not following that part...

It doesn't yet Floyd. Tried a bubbler bar thing, it was rubbish.

[Garf]

7 days, LED UFO left, CFL 46watt right (waste light from vertical scrubber only). I think, properly lit, this thing would grow well. Got loads of mysids roaming around and under the screen (must be eating the pods). Carrying on with the waste light for now;
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/a2773c3a950eae622c62930d58eade6c_zpsf46cf934.jpg

[sklywag]

So that tray is suspended from the side of your sump under your scrubber. Statement. Not a question.
Question. Is it noisy having the water shallow under the screen? I don't have an ATO. I just fill it up when it gets to a certain level. Of course the more emersed the screen is the quieter it is because the water isn't falling as far.

[Garf]

So that tray is suspended from the side of your sump under your scrubber. Statement. Not a question.
Question. Is it noisy having the water shallow under the screen? I don't have an ATO. I just fill it up when it gets to a certain level. Of course the more emersed the screen is the quieter it is because the water isn't falling as far.

No noise at all. The waterfall screen is holding down the horizontal screen at the minute, so the waterfall screen is actually submerged about 3/4 inch. And because the tray is suspended, it doesn't move relative to the sump height.

[sklywag]

Ah.... I think I see that in my head. Wish I didn't toss my old horizontal tray I had. I would try what you got going.

Seems I had more copepod production with the horizontal.

[ruddybop]

Hey Garf:

I am making something similar, but it is not a waterfall. It will be a plastic container that holds the screen fully submerged about an inch under water and the return from the sump will have a spray bar pushing the water through it with the light above the screen...

Cheers.... :)

[Garf]

Well, in general it's a bit of an old concept (horizontal scrubber). It seems as though folks were encouraged to have the screens out of the water, making the flow very thin (and fast).This obviously restricts algae movement but provides more flow. I might throw the return from the skimmer on it, opposed to the flow of the vertical screen, just to add a load of swirling goodness.

[Garf]

Feeling pretty damned smug TBH ;) not a huge harvest but this is just 1 weeks growth (second week from start up)


http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/b53239df40061773a2e70b6d18f00fb8_zps2b666633.jpg


http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/a1b35549a8d8c34901206911c47fff04_zps52afc29b.jpg


http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/cb7270e98b9871a47e4b04041e88dde4_zps9cfee786.jpg


http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/d768cb7188fb49f5c24805fdd54e834d_zpse5ca22cf.jpg

[Nick28]

thats how my first scrubber grew, i floated it on top of my cpr fuge then i changed a bulb and it crashed for some reason into dinos

[itzrulez]

nice growth!
whats your photoperiod?
and what your consideration about led and CFL?
looking the picture that you posted last page, looks like CFL is doing better...

[Garf]

I think the difference is purely that the LED is directed to the waterfall screen, not the horizontal. The cfl light at least partially lights the horizontal, although nowhere near what it should be.Hopefully gonna get it fully lit and compare the waterfall and horizontal side by side.

Edit - 18 hr period

[itzrulez]

you only do 6 hours off?

[Garf]

Yes. Always run like that.

[itzrulez]

and would you recommend led or cfl?

[Garf]

I'll go all LEDs, when I get around to, if that helps :)

[itzrulez]

ok, thanks :D

[Garf]

Probably the last post for now, as I consider this test as a success. 8 day screen, powered by free light and flow;

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/960c70fc26221047e446573eb0c508ee_zps46dc94c4.jpg

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj597/Garf1971/75be7bfeef8b3000fdef41b5fff4c62d_zpsfe3c7849.jpg

[itzrulez]

nice growth!
have you already cleaned both screens together?
to see what screen grows better...

[sklywag]

Any chance of a wide/wider angle shot?

[alum]

Do you feeding fishes/corals to make nutrient for algae grow eveyday?
I would like to know water parameters when you do this.

[audifusion]

Mine is horizontal , I have a 50w led flood for for light.

My screen is 18x12, I put it on glass .

Grows like crazy

[Greenchaos]

Garf was banned

[sunflyer]

is it possible for me to have bioballs below an algae scrubber like this ? I would then be able to use the airpump to rotate the bioballs, but at the same time give air to the scrubber ?

[SantaMonica]

You probably don't want bio balls, but if you did use them like this, they might grow algae themselves. Could try it though.

[sunflyer]

I guess your right. So instead I should make the scrubber in a separate chamber on my sump right ?

[SantaMonica]

Probably a good idea, but if you could post plans or explain it better, it would help.

The idea is to make it as easy to clean as possible.

[sunflyer]

This is how my sump looks now. I will have to make some kind of a new compartment or something for the algae scrubber, or I can place it on the side glass

4973

http://s17.postimg.org/itrgtyuyn/sump.gif (http://postimage.org/)
subirimagenes (http://postimage.org/index.php?lang=spanish)

[SantaMonica]

You could do an overflow-fed style upflow scrubber, which then drains down on the balls.

[Ptyochromis]

Why not just omit the bioballs? You wont need them unless your bioload is absurdly large.
I would seriously consider omitting the filter media also. As it collects wastes it will turn into a nitrate/phosphate factory. Think about how a standard coffee maker works, but replace the coffee with fish poop and you have yourself a good representation of mechanical filtration. You could manage the wastes by cleaning the media a few times a week but it is a lot of effort. A better idea could be to have the effluent flow from the tank go straight to a cryptic filtration area (a dark area with LR that will grow NPS corals, sponges and cryptic fauna in general) before heading to a scrubber.