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Thread: Discussion of ATS design types...

  1. #1

    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Easy Bay, CA, USA
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    Discussion of ATS design types...

    First, I wish to say I love your discussion forum! I just stumbled onto your sight. It's refreshing to see that natural "ecosystems" being used in aquaria.

    In mid/late '90's, I was fortunate to live in Terre Haute, Indiana and see 1st hand ATS being used on a large scale at Inland Aquatics. It was very impressive to see what a "little" algae can do! At the time, Inland was selling a "dump bucket" style ATS filter. But after a "fall-out" (so I heard) with the patent owner, they were forced to "cease and desist". At that time, I purchased a MFFI (now defunct, ghost site still available at http://www.aquaricare.com) patented trough design (very over priced) Algae scrubber. I purchased the "50 Gallon" model and have had success with it ever since (using it for about 15 years on 2 different tanks). The only other commercial Algae Scrubber I have seen was about 8 years back. Instead of the "dump bucket" design, it used a rotating wheel that contained the algae screens (I believe there were patents in that design too). Movement was generated using the weight of the water (similar to the old grain mill power wheels). Until finding this site, I had not seen (or even thought of) this "Curtain" or "Waterfall" style you are touting.

    "In the day", MFFI's largest selling point was that there were no moving parts. Dump buckets had a tendency to fail (a.k.a. not dump) if they were not adjusted or maintained properly. MFFI's design seems to work well (as I am still using it today on a 58 gallon reef). But for the price I paid, I got a very shoddy piece of equipment (albeit it works exactly as they had said).

    It makes sense that the Curtain/Waterfall design would be more efficient as the light goes through less refraction due to the water layer being thinner and the screen can be lit from 2 sides. I have read the new FAQ, but am still concerned about power outages (as I now live in California with it's low humidity and possibilities of "rolling back-outs"). One question though, in the FAQ it is said that 1 square inch of screen per gallon in the display tank and to stop the splashing, 1 inch should be under water. Can I presume that the if I have a 100 gallon tank, my screen should be 11 inches by 10 inches (accounting for the inch below the water) or does this really matter much?

    I was also wondering whether anyone has "toyed" with the other designs and tried to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each (On simplicity of design, the curtain and trough designs appear pretty similar).

    Thank you for an informational (and well done) site!

  2. #2
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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    Re: Discussion of ATS design types...

    Glad you found us. Yes, many many designs have been tried... here are just a few:

    viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26

    You stumbled upon the reason the waterfall design was created: "There MUST be an easier/cheaper way of just moving water across a screen" (and the exact time was when I was half-asleep, half-awake.)

    The rotation design (Eco-Wheel) is rather complex and huge and expensive, and the dumping design (like you said) is the same but also stops working sometimes. The MMFI ones, which surface every now and then, were the simplest, but all of them were one-sided. So I'm happy to see the waterfall design available to all.

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