Upfloat Scrubber!

[getmealemon]

Hi all, Still experimenting with different designs after my DIY upflow that had good results. My latest is a combination of an upflow and floating scrubber. After a failed experiment i put my old scrubber back online, after a week i had hardly any growth on screen but the rear and side of the chamber behind my scrubber box was full of algae. So i've done away with my scrubber box and just attached mesh to two of the sides of my rear chamber. Now i wanted to try bubbles and my effort to silence them basically lended toward an upside down floating scrubber. Attached screen to underside of foam, hopefully will get enough light from the kessil although it's not directly aimed at it so might be a weak point. Have a MJ1200 situated at the bottom of the chamber pointing upwards like my old scrubber but added an Eheim air pump, two outlets. Should make sense with pics! I'm pretty hopeful over this one.

Old Scrubber
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Regular harvests of between 80-100g wet weight
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Upside down floating scrubber part
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Will add more cable ties later
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Upfloat Scrubber!
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[SantaMonica]

Very nice.

[getmealemon]

The floaty part hasn't grown any yet - due to evaporation the water level drops so only the bubbles are hitting the screen, not sure if that will be enough. Rest of screen is growing nicely. I picked a lot off two days ago so it seems to grow back quicker than normal.

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[getmealemon]

Growth seems to be centered around cable ties / cord so looks like i need to add more in the available areas.

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[SantaMonica]

Very nice.

[Floyd R Turbo]

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I notice that you are using sections of plastic canvas instead of zip ties. You been talking to Garf? I discussed this with him before he posted the b.a.d.a.s.s. with the zip ties, been meaning to try this myself. I figured it would be much easier to rough up canvas and cut it up then thread it through than it would be to rough up cable ties.

Do you notice the growth emanating from the screen 'threads' more than from the cable ties? Or is it too soon to tell?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Regular harvests of between 80-100g wet weight

Just FYI, what I do with all my measurements is squeeze the living cr-p out of the algae to get as much moisture out as possible before weighing it. I'm talking squeezing really hard for at least a minute. Wet weight is not very accurate or comparable, neither is "squeezed" weight really either, but it's better than wet.

[getmealemon]

Floyd, yeah i take your point about wet weight. As to the little pieces of plastic canvas, i was trimming the screen to fit and noticed that i might be able to use this - problem i have is i can't attach them very well and most have fallen out to be honest. I've tried poking them through the mesh so its two or three bits deep. From another test i did roughed up cable ties seemed the way to go, also got ribbon like material. I need to add more so might try ribbon one side and cable ties the other and see what does best. Should really try just ribbon or just cable ties on screen to get a more accurate idea of what grows best. Yeah i talk to Garf a bit on a uk forum, his BADASS scrubber looks neat but the technical stuff he goes on about usually goes way over my head!

The second screen in the chamber has nothing extra attached to the screen and is still growing algae but only a thin covering.

[Floyd R Turbo]

As to the canvas sections, here is what you should try to fix the falling out problem. Make the same thing you have now except instead of one row make it 2 adjacent rows, connected together. It's hard to describe in text. Been trying but here goes.

take a section that is 3 full rows (3 squares, or 4 "members") and trim off the outside two members. This leaves you with a strip that is a full row of squares and the pieces that previously connected to the outer members. Now cut this row of squares down the middle but leave the last full square in tact. Now you have 2 of the strips like you have now, joined at the base. Push these through your screen. The downside is that you have to push these through all the way instead of just a few notches.

The other way might be to take the same one you did but leave a perpendicular member longer at the base and fold that and push it through, and then it will "pop" open on the other side, preventing it from easily being pulled out.

I'll have to do this myself tonight and take pics. Been meaning to adapt this on my waterfall anyways. Add that to the list :(

[getmealemon]

Yeah i know what your describing. I like the cable ties as there just the right size (2.5mm) to tightly fit through the mesh and then the clip part stops it from coming out. Be interested to see how well it does for you anyway.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I also think that they only need to stick out about 1-2 cm (up to 1"). Any longer than 1" (on a vertical screen, at least) and it seems they would just lay down too easily.

[getmealemon]

I'll be adding more tomorrow - think i'm going to use cable ties, the ribbon is a pain in the arse as i had to tie each bit on. Should be getting a 400l/h air pump in the next few days too, got a 200l/h at the moment. I think i've read that bigger bubbles are better than small?

I should have added that i took the MJ1200 pump out last week and i'm just using bubbles (and whatever flow is going through back chambers....minimal at best!) so pleased algae is still growing. Plus losing the pump is helping keep the tank cool in the heatwave were having here in the UK!

[getmealemon]

So i harvested today, what was apparent is that the algae appears to attach best to the ribbon while pieces of mesh screen was second and cable ties(not roughed up) last. The algae was really quite tough to try and fully remove from the ribbon. So instead of adding cable ties i've added more ribbon. Also got my 400l/h air pump installed but haven't turned this fully up, plan to when i go to bed etc as too noisy when i'm watching tv! The harvest was 25g dry weight (fully squeezed of any water), i normally measure wet but it was stuck to screen so well i squeezed out some of the water trying to remove it.

Small side screen section
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Main screen prior to harvest
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Main screen after harvest
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New ribbon attached
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Upfloat screen part (starting to grow)
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