Using Ulva algae in algae reactor instead of Chaeto

[reefluvrr]

Hi,

Can anyone share their experience of using Ulva algae instead of Chaeto macroalgae in a algae reactor?

I want to try growing Ulva algae in a Pax Bellum reactor. I had little luck in reducing phosphates using Chaeto....

Thanks

[SantaMonica]

Welcome,

Yes chaeto is nice to look at, but is a weak filter because it's mostly cellulose and non-photosynthetic. And it's highly self shading too. Which is why cheato needs so much larger devices than scrubbers do.

To convert yours, just put a plastic frame or grid of some type inside it, and put an air bubbler beneath it. And to make it really grow, add some more lights to it, because their regular light is very weak.

[reefluvrr]

Welcome,

Yes chaeto is nice to look at, but is a weak filter because it's mostly cellulose and non-photosynthetic. And it's highly self shading too. Which is why cheato needs so much larger devices than scrubbers do.

To convert yours, just put a plastic frame or grid of some type inside it, and put an air bubbler beneath it. And to make it really grow, add some more lights to it, because their regular light is very weak.

Thanks for the kind Welcome!

Can you tell me why I would need a bubbler? Is it because the Ulva Intestinalis needs air as well?

Can I use a water pump such as the maxijet which incorporates a venturi aeration device to provide aeration and gas exchange in the reactor?

My reactor has a light wand with red and white leds that is pushing out 14w of power.

Can you help explain to me how much light I need to grow Ulva in an algae reactor?

Thank you very much for your advice!

[SantaMonica]

Boundary layer is the reason:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?274-Boundary-Layer

Yes you can use a venturi, although bigger bubbles from an open/sliced airline are better than finer bubbles.

If all you do is push water through it, it will grow very little.

As for wattage, 14 watts is probably the fake power (at the plug), but the real wattage (used by the LEDs) is probably half. That's why we rate our GEM5 lights with real wattage, not equivalent. Generally you should have at least 0.25 real watts of LED light (0.5 fake watts) for each square inch of algal growth. Double this for "good power". Double again for "high power". So if you can figure out the square inches of area of the reactor cylinder, you can come up with wattage (use the average radius, not the inner or outer radius).

[reefluvrr]

Boundary layer is the reason:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?274-Boundary-Layer

Yes you can use a venturi, although bigger bubbles from an open/sliced airline are better than finer bubbles.

If all you do is push water through it, it will grow very little.

As for wattage, 14 watts is probably the fake power (at the plug), but the real wattage (used by the LEDs) is probably half. That's why we rate our GEM5 lights with real wattage, not equivalent. Generally you should have at least 0.25 real watts of LED light (0.5 fake watts) for each square inch of algal growth. Double this for "good power". Double again for "high power". So if you can figure out the square inches of area of the reactor cylinder, you can come up with wattage (use the average radius, not the inner or outer radius).

This info is hard to understand without reading it a few times, but worth the weight in gold!

I will try it out and let you know how things turn out!

Thank you very much for your generous time and valuable info!