First TWO scrubbers

[bguile]

I just found this site a week or so ago after setting up my second "running" display tank which is 40G. It is to house my smaller non-agressive fish and a reef. I also have a 210G tank with mostly fish and a few coral frags with rock. I'm totally excited about building an ATS for both my tanks because I've had nothing but algae problems from day 1 of my 210G which was now 2 and a half years ago.

I've built my first ATS for my 40G as follows:
- 5Wx9H
- 250gph pump using 3/4" pvc
- 2x23W CF flood lights

It's been running about 4 days now with the 16hour cycle, but the screen hasn't begin to turn brown yet. Since it's a new tank, less than 2 weeks old is that ok? Is there something I can do to speed it up or should I just wait?

Also, I started designing and began to purchase materials for my 210G tank. I was originally planning to connect the ATS to my twin overflows and have it drain into my sump. The design was going to have the 1" drain reduce to 3/4" at a T using thin wall pvc. However, I found that my Lowes has every other thin wall size except 3/4". My question is, is 3/4" a required or recommended size pvc for an ATS or is that just minimum size requirement? Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting this built. I was just about to purchase a new pump for my old skimmer too. I've been running skimmerless for the past 7 months and now I have brown algae everywhere. My frags have been growing like crazy since I took it out though!

[SantaMonica]

The 40 is normal if you are not feeding yet. You can start feeding.

3/4 is not necessary; 1" is ok.

As you can see, corals prefer the food to stay in the water (and actually, your water is "better quality" with all that algae in it... just like the ocean, which is 90% algae).

[bguile]

Thanks for the quick response.

The 40 has only small detritivores and I've only been feeding a butterknife's edge of food. Should I increase that to like a whole cube?

Also I guess my question shouldve been is it ok to reduce the ATS portion of the scrubber to 3/4 from 1". I planned on building a failsafe into the plumbing in case the ATS ever got clogged but I wasn't sure if I'd lose flow to the failsafe due to the reduced pvc size. Does that make sense?

[SantaMonica]

I think 3/4 is good for 1000 gph.

Here is a feeding guideline:

Each cube of frozen food you feed per day needs 12 square inches of screen, with a light on both sides totaling 12 watts. Thus a nano that is fed one cube a day would need a screen 3 X 4 inches with a 6 watt bulb on each side. A larger tank that is fed 10 cubes a day would need a screen 10 X 12 inches with 60 watts of light on each side. If you feed flake, feeder fish, or anything else, you will need to blend it up super thick, strain out the excess water, pour it into a cube, and see how many cubes it is.

[bguile]

Wow...I must be starving my fish then. I dont think I've ever fed more than 2 cubes of food in a whole day!! I will go with that guideline then and build my scrubber section with 3/4 pvc. Thank you. I will post pics to the thread once it's in.

Oh..my parameters

210G tank with Poseidon T3 @6ft head ~ 675gph
I'm using 12W*18H screen
4x26W CF

[bguile]

Here's a pic of my scrubber on Day 7. Clean it no matter what correct??

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/40G%20Aquarium/ATS-40Gday7.jpg

FTS

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/40G%20Aquarium/40gweek3.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Yes.

[bguile]

Just wanted to share some updates. This is my 210G when I first constructed the scrubber:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/210G%20Aquarium/EX-FH100-CIMG0680copy.jpg

This is the scrubber:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/210G%20Aquarium/EX-FH100-CIMG0750copy.jpg

This is my result after only 5 days:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/210G%20Aquarium/EX-FH100-CIMG0764copy.jpg

I'm so excited about these scrubbers I almost can't stand waiting for it to produce better results. I didn't test my water before I setup the scrubber and haven't since. But as you can see I'm already getting positive results!! Thank you sir and others for all your great information. Now that I've employed this wonderful device, my wife may leave me after I setup all my different species tanks. I only held off cause in the past cause I thought I'd have to buy an expensive skimmer for every one setup and that just seemed rediculous. This has definitely excited a plethora of new possibilities for me!

[SantaMonica]

What a great start :)

[bguile]

Update on my tank:

I've moved my ATS to a "containment box" so that I wouldn't have so much salt creep to clean up.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/40G%20Aquarium/EX-FH100-CIMG0986.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/dukeintl/40G%20Aquarium/EX-FH100-CIMG0991.jpg

I've moved over two fish from my 210g into my 40g, my Golden pygmy angel and Mandarin. I have also added some corals. A birdsnest, some zoas, LPS and a gorg. I am starting to get a little grass like growth from my sand and was thinking about upgrading my overall system flow and scrubber. What's the best way to upgrade my ATS? I was thinking about either doubling up the screen that I have now so that I can keep the self contained box I just built or just build a bigger scrubber using the upgraded flow to run a longer ATS. If the second option is better, what's the best way to go about it since doing a new screen will have no algae at all and Im guessing would cause the nitrate and phos to shoot up rapidly in my system?

[SantaMonica]

Well you could improve what you have now by changing to 42 watts 2700K CFL curly-Q spiral bulbs with big reflectors:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/CFLbulbs.jpg



... and if you could reduce the distance to the screen, that would help too. Don't use a double screen.

Of course, a bigger overall unit with more wattage, especially with T5HO's, would be better. If you start a new screen, just lay the old one on top of the new one for a while.

[new2scrub]

the containment box is a great idea,,you will find in time that the less light you let escape into the sump the better. This makes building scrubbers a bit harder but it is WELL WORTH IT IMO

[bguile]

Thanks, I'll give the bigger bulbs and reflectors a shot first since I'd have to build a new box to make a bigger scrubber. The box DEFINITELY makes a big difference. I had the original one without containment and cyano was everywhere. Now it's only inside the box and it's much quieter than the original. Not to mention no salt creep.