Clownhouse Scrubber

[barelycuda]

Hello All,

I have been following along for a while now and thought I'd finally build a scrubber. I currently breed marine clownfish as a hobby/small business and have a small building in my back yard that has been deemed the clownhouse. There are 2 systems totaling 27 tanks. The first system is an 11 tank broodstock system that currently has 10 spawning pairs in it. The second system is an 16 tank growout system. The growout system uses (16) ten gallon tanks, a 110g sump and right now approximately 1500 fish. In the sump is a large (12") skimmer w/dual sedra 9000 recirculating pumps, 600g fluidized bed filter, 150-200 lbs of Live Rock, vodka batch denitrator, and multiple types of macroalgaes. Lets just say that my bioload is HUGE and I can produce nitrates like there is no tomorrow. I currently do a 20% water change weekly just to try to keep the nitrates under control. I know that this scrubber is in no way going to eliminate any of my current filtration but any additional supplemtary nitrate removal is gladly welcomed :D .

Here is a couple shots of the clownhouse then on to the scrubber.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/clownhouse/DSC03675-1.jpg

Here is a shot of the growout system and sump.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/clownhouse/DSC03678-1.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/sumpinstalled800x600.jpg

[barelycuda]

I have done some running around and picked up a few supplies locally. The largest plastic canvas I could find locally was 13-1/4"x 22". Since I am limited by the current table I decided to build the scrubber horizontally. Now I realized that this requires significantly more flow I picked up a Gen-x 4100 pump. This will flow over 1000g an hour. I figured my scrubber will require approx. 770g an hour I thought this pump would more than handle the flow. I will also install a ball valve on the end of the scrubber to release any excess water that is not needed.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/scrubberparts.jpg

I made the slot in the pipe with my angle grinder and cut in cross slits every 1" like i have read about.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/diffuser.jpg

One of my goals with this scrubber is to make cleaning this as fast a possible. With full time job, part time clownhouse, kids, ect. every minute counts so I installed a union at each side of the screen to make it easier to remove. Shut off the pump, undo 2 unions and off to the cleaner... Here is a shot once I got it finished.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/finishedshot.jpg

Now one thing I didn't take into account was how fast this thing was growing. My sump is only 36" wide and now this it wider than my sump. So I have already changed out the tubing feeding the scrubber to some flexible vinyl tubing to allow the pump to sit more in front of the scrubber than the side. I also installed a piece of vinyl tubing to the ball valve for return water to the sump.

I will be using (4) 23 watt CFL lamps on the scrubber because of its width. I already had the fixtures so this was a no brainer. I know that there has been lots of discussion as to lamps types and wattages so here's what I went with. (4) 23 watt CFL. 2700k spiral type. It has been recommended in multiple threads to use the ones with the built in reflectors but I feel that it is a waste of light and money and here's why. First off the reflector types are approximately 50% more exspensive ( at least at home depot here. reflector type $7.97 for a 2 pack of reflectors & $8.99 for a 4 pack of the ones I bought.) Secondly and more importantly you lose a significant amount of light. The ones I purchased are 1600 lumes for 23 watts of output. The reflector type only put out 1250 lumens. Thats a 22% reduction in lumen output for more money, did not make any sense to me.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/lamps.jpg

I currently run a small blower with airstones in all the growout tanks so I get quite a bit of algae growth on the under side of the glass lids. I roughed up the screen with 36 grit sandpaper and a hole saw like I had seen in other threads to prep it. Lets just say its pretty rough now. I grabbed 3 or 4 lids from the tanks and seeded the screen very well before putting it into action.

Here is a shot only a couple of minutes after turning it on. The screen was seeded and there are a few spots of algae that seemed to stick.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/day1setup.jpg

I have the ball valve all the way open at this point and still have quite a bit of flow down the screen. I have since started closing the ball valve a little to increase flow. I have been very surprised at the amount of growth so far.

Here is a shot 24 hours after turning it on. There is noticeable algae growth in several spots.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/day1.jpg

Here is a shot at day 2!!! I cannot believe the amount of growth in 48 hours. As can be seen there is a light sheet of algae growth on the majority of the screen.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/day2.jpg

I'll keep updating daily at least till day 7 to show the growth. Lets just say I have lots of food for the algae to grow ;)

[kcress]

Very nice! Thanks for the pics!
Clean set up you have there.

I have to ask though, why you haven't made an outdoor, solar powered TS? Most people would have issues with getting the water outside from their living rooms, etc., but that wouldn't be an issue in your case.

[SantaMonica]

Very cool application. And the first I've seen to use two unions that way. A few things:

Use more tie-wraps; your screen is as wide as mine, and mine approaches one pound in weight when full. Yours is much taller and may approach five pounds.

Point the lights to the center of the screen, not the top.

Consider adding a second sheet of canvas. Will make a big different in filtering later.

But mostly, the amount of light you have right now is really a small ammount. At 275 square inches, your 100w (total) is low and also is far away. So you are not getting but maybe half that power to the screen. Move the bulbs closer if you can. Mine, for comparison, is about 1" from the screen. Although it probably seems "powerfully bright" to your eyes, if you used a light meter you would see that it's actually very weak. Breeding tanks need the highest power of all tanks. So consider upgrading the lights to 55W bulbs, or, if you can't move the bulbs closer, then 60w. And if you do, wait until you add a second layer of canvas, because the growth is going to be so much that huge chunks are going to fall off of just one layer. Even three layers would be better to grip the algae. But at least now you can get started with early growth!

Can't wait for updates...

[barelycuda]

Thanks for the feedback. I live up the the Pacific Northwest so I wouldn't consider an outdoor scrubber to be very effective. Most of the time it is either cold, wet or both ...
I did pick up another layer of mesh. I'll have to make the slot in the pipe wider so I will do that when I clean the screen the first time. I'll make sure to add more zip ties when it goes back together, i didn't realize that it would get that heavy. I realize that I need to move the lights, but I have to move a couple things in the sump and build some brackets to get them positioned closer. I figured getting online even if it wasn't perfect was more important.

Here is a shot today at day 3. The coloring of the bulb can really alter the picture. The screen is pretty much completely coverd now :D The algae on the screen is mostly dark brown but the green areas are growing a hairy green algae.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/barelycuda/algae%20scrubber/day3.jpg

Another pic tomorrow.