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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]

Shauch
09-20-2009, 10:51 AM
OK, bucket and screen material all roughed up. This was some quite soft plastic so it did not take to long time. I used sandpaper with a grit size of 100 and 36.

[attachment=2:3b5bh5pm]P1000274.JPG[/attachment:3b5bh5pm]
Screen material glued in place (not as easy as it sounds), PVC piping installed and water flow test performed, see next picture. The PVC ring has holes all the way around the periphery at an outwards angle of 45 degrees to vertical. First I had tried with cutting a slot all the way around, but I found that it was difficult to get the width and thereby the flow right, so I redid the ring with holes which I kept increasing in size until I got the flow down the screen material that I wanted. I intended to use water from one of my two overflow pipes to avoid having to add an extra pump. I was though not happy with the results and therefore inserted a tee just after the union so that I could add an extra pump. I estimate that the total flow is around 5000 l/h (1320 gal/h). On the picture you see the extra height/width of screen material, see previous picture, bent outwards to reduce water splash. I don’t know if it is really needed, but since it doesn’t hurt, I have left the design this way.

[attachment=1:3b5bh5pm]P1000301.JPG[/attachment:3b5bh5pm]
The next picture shows the finished algae scrubber inserted in the sump. At the top you can see how the water is “jetted” onto the side of the bucket. The water travel approximately 2.5 cm (1 inch) before hitting the side and the light is here reduced by the bent up screen material seen on the previous picture. My hope is that this will be enough to keep algae’s from growing up and plug the holes in the PVC ring.

The algae scrubbers I have seen on this forum are all constructed so that you will take out the screen material, but leave the rest of the scrubber in place, when cleaning. The intent with this design is to simply take the entire bucket out by undoing the union (on the backside of the bucket in below picture). Works great, and no dripping!

[attachment=0:3b5bh5pm]P1000292.JPG[/attachment:3b5bh5pm]

Shauch
09-20-2009, 10:54 AM
The light is hold in place by some egg-crate and a fan is set on top to improve cooling of the flowing water.

[attachment=1:79ui98jb]P1000295.JPG[/attachment:79ui98jb]
The next picture is a look inside the bucket/algae scrubber after 2 weeks of operation. The light bulb is a 32W warm white (2700k) fluorescent. This bulb has later been replaced with a 55W warm white (2700k) fluorescent bulb, which I managed to find after some searching around. The light cycle I use is 6 hours on and the 2 hours off. This adds up to 18 hours on and 6 hours off per day.

[attachment=0:79ui98jb]P1000327.JPG[/attachment:79ui98jb]

Shauch
09-20-2009, 10:59 AM
The next two pictures show two opposite sides of the bucket after 4 weeks of operation. It is on high time for a cleaning. Note that the bottom of the bucket which has been under water has substantially less growth. In the future I will set the bucket a little higher in the sump so that I can get the full potential out of the Algae Scrubber.

[attachment=2:38w8gvxy]P1000394.JPG[/attachment:38w8gvxy]

[attachment=1:38w8gvxy]P1000397.JPG[/attachment:38w8gvxy]
The last picture in this series shows the first harvest. The un-drained weight was 122g.

[attachment=0:38w8gvxy]P1000401.JPG[/attachment:38w8gvxy]
And finally, what was the price for this wonder of a filter? With light bulb and all materials included I spent $55, that’s it! (OK, this does not include the tools and the extra pump which I already had).

kcress
09-20-2009, 12:47 PM
Nice write up man!

Looks good.

I wonder if you are providing a bit too much light though. I'd try one hour less each ON time - if it was easy.

SantaMonica
09-20-2009, 01:39 PM
Buckets with lights in them are certainly a good use of all the light.

Does the water hit the screen from the lit-side, or from the other side?