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Thread: The new Upflow Algae Scrubber (UAS)

  1. #141
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ace25 View Post
    Sorry to say, I am extremely disappointed with this design. I was expecting something a little more revolutionary, not something akin to sticking a screen inside a skimmer and putting lights on it. I will be sticking with the old design for several reasons.
    I'm sure that you will be able to convert these concerns you have, into strengths on the new design. I actually have a nice green algae growing on my relatively new screen where it goes into the sump, obviously powered by the stray light that everyone tries to eliminate. Two inches of my screen is under water and the areas with most bubble action definitely has the best growth after 3 days.

  2. #142
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    How do you eliminate the noise of the air pump? I have 7 tanks running in my living room, the 1 airpump I have on my clownfish tank is by far the loudest thing in the room, and it is padded and suspended and still noisy as hell, and it was a brand new pump. How do you ensure the airstone stays clean and creates an even distribution of bubbles? How do you make this work in anything other than an external box like Floyd made? And lastly, does it matter if the algae grows better at the bottom of the screen if the algae is doing what it is supposed to be doing already on the old design, which is reduce N/P down to near 0.

    Just my opinion... but again, I see no benefit to this design, only a lot of drawbacks.

  3. #143
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    Ace I agree it probably won't work for everyone in every situation, but keep in mind this is the first technology/embodiment and there are more to come. However it was brought up very early in the test group that this would work perfectly for your clownfish breeding system because there's no way for the fish to get sucked in/blown around, really. Worst case is that they take a trip up the air wall LOL

  4. #144
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    If I put something like this on my clown tank (which I agree, is probably one of the better uses for this), how do I avoid the salt creep all over my walls and carpet? Big airstones that create fine bubbles are a nightmare in saltwater.

  5. #145
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    Well that is definitely a concern. I have found that the plastic canvas itself is excellent at preventing salt creep when placed just above the water surface. I have a BeanAnimal overflow and it's in a small sump, so I have a ton of turbulent flow (3000 GPH going through a 2-3g intake chamber) and I placed a piece of this stuff kind of right on top of the water and it builds up salt creep but keeps it right there. So that is one solution.

    The other in-tank solution (not the company LOL) would be to make a small 3-sided box with one side wider than the screen and the ends something like an inch wide so that the screen could be inside the box with the box against the side of the tank (box could be made black to block light too). Then the sides would extend up above the water level and there would be a top attached to that which would stop water from any bubbles that pop.

    Also we're not talking about skimmer-size micro bubbles. That was brought up early (using wooden airstones) and was somewhat dismissed due to the microbubble issue and also because medium and larger bubbles create more of a random back and forth motion (at least that's the theory) so you don't really "need" tons of small bubbles. Just a decent amount of them, and they MUST rub the screen (I experienced non-growth when they didn't for the first week).

    As far as the need for massive amounts of bubbles, it's not really clear whether or not you need a really small pump (which is all I use) or a larger pump. I use a 6" air wand and a pump that I used to use on my small sponge filter on my 10g FW tank way back when.

  6. #146
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    Here is probably the biggest issue I have with this whole thing, it was thought of almost a year ago, and in that time SM hasn't been able to make a "proof of concept" version with a video showing it works.

    I was thinking more about my clown tank. I was going to make one... but then I thought of something, how in the heck would I light the screen? I certainly don't want to put high powered LEDs pointing into the tank itself, the clownfish will be blind in a day just from a single blue LED. Ya, you can make a box like you said, but that is getting to be so much more work than just making the old style.

    Not trying to be a downer, just realistic. There are A LOT of bugs to be worked out here, and I still can't see how all of them can be overcome (like the airpump noise and failure rate).

  7. #147

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    Wow! A neat concept. I joined the forum just to help in working out the design. The air pump noise may be fixed by the right air pump. I come from the planted tank side of the hobby and have tried several air pumps. The most quiet one that I have used is the 10 gal Tetra Whisper. It is also quite strong. Check out the reviews on Amazon.

  8. #148
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    LOL, that is EXACTLY the pump I am using, the Tetra Whisper 10G one, and it is literally 10x louder than anything else in my room. First week it was pretty quiet, since then it has been extremely annoying, and from past experience, you are lucky to get 6 months out of them before the diaphragm needs replacing.

    With my overflow ATS, I have no noise and no parts that need replacing or cleaning other than the screen. I am extremely happy with my overflow ATS, so happy with it that there would need to be someone revolutionary to get me to switch. I proved last year that air flow makes algae grow better when I put a fan over my screen and got 2x the growth, so this is nothing new to me.

    I really need to see one of these working to even think it is going to be better than the old, and this thread is 15 pages long and not one post showing it works.. that says something to me.

  9. #149
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ace25 View Post
    Here is probably the biggest issue I have with this whole thing, it was thought of almost a year ago, and in that time SM hasn't been able to make a "proof of concept" version with a video showing it works.

    I was thinking more about my clown tank. I was going to make one... but then I thought of something, how in the heck would I light the screen? I certainly don't want to put high powered LEDs pointing into the tank itself, the clownfish will be blind in a day just from a single blue LED. Ya, you can make a box like you said, but that is getting to be so much more work than just making the old style.

    Not trying to be a downer, just realistic. There are A LOT of bugs to be worked out here, and I still can't see how all of them can be overcome (like the airpump noise and failure rate).


    Whenever someone has a new idea or when a new product is launched, there are always people who immediately say

    "That won't be any good".

    It was the same with the original scrubber.


    Why not just see how it develops before you condemn it?

  10. #150
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    Phosphate vs. Phosphorus

    Because this idea is a year old and in that time there is no proof it works. I know, only a month of others testing it but still, in a year Santa Monica hasn't been able to produce one and shows that it works? Little odd don't you think?

    There is a difference between saying "algae won't work" vs saying a certain design isn't the best idea. Santa Monica tells people daily that their designs are substandard on the old method. Horizontal screens bad, double layer screens bad, heck for quite a while SM said LEDs were bad until enough of us proved him wrong.

    For me, algae works great, no question there.. this design on the other hand, I can see so many flaws already that it doesn't seem like a good idea for the vast majority. Sure, there may be a small percentage of people/tanks that this will work better, but for the vast majority, the old way seems much better.

    My challenge, PROVE ME WRONG that this is a better, cheaper, easier method than the old way. In the end, the results are going to be the same, 0 N/P if done correctly, right? So how is needing more equipment (air pump and stone) that require more work than the old method better. Those 2 items wear out fairly quickly and will need replacing, at least once a year, more likely 2x a year for the pump and 4x a year for the air stone.

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