Shauch
09-20-2009, 10:44 AM
First of all I will like to say thank you to everyone that has published their algae scrubber design and results on this forum. Also a special thanks to Santa Monica for all the listings, comments and advices. This forum is full of inspiration and provides unbeatable information on how to build the cheap effective DIY marine water filtration system that I for a long time have been searching for.
In this posting I have tried to document the construction and results of my version of an algae scrubber. I have not listed my aquarium water parameters since they were fine before I started the project and have stayed so during the 4 weeks this system has been running. I have though seen an improvement in the health of my corals, which I contribute to the addition of this algae scrubber plus that I have started to add bacterial strains to boost my now 4 year old aquarium set-up.
The first picture shows the tools that I intended to use. I later had to include some universal glue, some sandpaper, a screwdriver and a knife.
[attachment=2:1q3nc3hc]P1000263.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]
The materials used for the Algae Scrubber are shown in the next picture. The light system and the cooling fan are shown in other pictures.
[attachment=1:1q3nc3hc]P1000267.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]
The idée was to first rough up the inside of the bucket and both sides of the screen material. Then glue the screen to sides and bottom of the bucket. With the screen material in place, the square PVC ring shown in the above picture will have to be installed at the top of the bucket. The hose will be used to bring the water from one of my aquarium overflows to the algae scrubber.
The next picture shows the roughing up of the screen material. Note the step in height/width at the middle. The screen will be wrapped two times around the inside of the bucket to make tree layers for the algae’s to grow (bucket wall + 2 layers of screen material). The step is where the second layer of screen starts. I will show later why I made the second layer slightly higher than the first.
[attachment=0:1q3nc3hc]P1000271.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]
In this posting I have tried to document the construction and results of my version of an algae scrubber. I have not listed my aquarium water parameters since they were fine before I started the project and have stayed so during the 4 weeks this system has been running. I have though seen an improvement in the health of my corals, which I contribute to the addition of this algae scrubber plus that I have started to add bacterial strains to boost my now 4 year old aquarium set-up.
The first picture shows the tools that I intended to use. I later had to include some universal glue, some sandpaper, a screwdriver and a knife.
[attachment=2:1q3nc3hc]P1000263.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]
The materials used for the Algae Scrubber are shown in the next picture. The light system and the cooling fan are shown in other pictures.
[attachment=1:1q3nc3hc]P1000267.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]
The idée was to first rough up the inside of the bucket and both sides of the screen material. Then glue the screen to sides and bottom of the bucket. With the screen material in place, the square PVC ring shown in the above picture will have to be installed at the top of the bucket. The hose will be used to bring the water from one of my aquarium overflows to the algae scrubber.
The next picture shows the roughing up of the screen material. Note the step in height/width at the middle. The screen will be wrapped two times around the inside of the bucket to make tree layers for the algae’s to grow (bucket wall + 2 layers of screen material). The step is where the second layer of screen starts. I will show later why I made the second layer slightly higher than the first.
[attachment=0:1q3nc3hc]P1000271.JPG[/attachment:1q3nc3hc]