Black Widow's Algae Turf Scrubber To Fit -ANY- Sump! << UK BUILD >>

[Black Widow]

ok here are pics of my first prototype Algae Turf Scrubber made from 22mm Flo-Plast PVC pipe and connectors connected to a D-D Upflow 2000 Pump.

Project not complete: splash guard (Acrylic??)

Heres some Porno for y'all:


Full ATS with Pump attached


Close up of ATS Legs made from same pipe as the ATS itself, 22mm Floplast Pipe from wickes so durable you can cut it with scissors, ATS Screen slots inside the central pipe that has holes drilled along length of slit. Drilled Holes minimize chance of water spraying out of slit where Screen connects to scrubber. So you get a calm water fall flow effect when pump is on over the screen.


This has been custom fitted to stand over first compartment of sump, you can see the notches in each ATS leg fits nicely onto baffles


Light clipped onto the side of one leg, will be another light on other side


Final Installation Pose

Vids of ATS running:





Bulbs running are 23 Watt CFL's @ 2700K

I say this is one Algae Scrubber to fit all sumps because it is made from the 22mm Waste Flo Pipe you can get from Wickes and is soft enough to be cut with Scissors making it very easy to work with and can thus be cut to fit over any size sump.

This type of scrubber is also superior to the rival UAS as you get more flow over the screen which is easily regulated via a controllable pump like D-D FL-xxxx pumps unlike UAS where it is powered by bubbles.

I also have help form Santa Monica and Floyd R Turbo with their input on this on another forum they are both very gifted and I didnt realise how technical scrubbers can actually be .

Will put up pics of growth so far as its already been running a week and GHA is taking hold, reflector simply consists of a Foil sheet as I am yet to source proper ones.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions to improve design?

[Black Widow]

Update: 5 Days growth after first screen cleaning, pump stats have changed and I am now running 2000 L / h of water through the scrubber which has accelerated the growth 10 fold!

[Garf]

Hello BW. If that's a full sheet of mesh 13 inch by 10 inch, your gonna need another set of cfl's on each side, or bigger bulbs, or both. You've already identified a need for better reflectors (I used laminated foil shaped into reflectors, to prevent corrosion). Perspex splash guards are ok.

[Black Widow]

Sheet is 15 x 10 but effective lighting area is about 13 x 10 yes, I have upgraded to 30w 2,700K CFLs and I am now using Foil Reflectors also.

Cant justify two more bulb sockets, I am going to see how much growth I can get with the Highest Watt CFLs then I might build my own LED Unit

[Black Widow]

Since my scrubber has matured I have noticed a visible reduction in skimmate volume form my skimmer, is this normal? Has anyone else noticed this with their skimmers while running a Scrubber beside it?

[Garf]

Yes, but only when the pH of the water being processed by the screen is higher than 8.3.

[SantaMonica]

Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

[Black Widow]

Latest Scrubbing

[Ace25]

Couple observations just going off the video. The algae doesn't seem that strong judging by how easy you were able to scrape it off. I literally have to sit there and scrape hard over the same spot 20 times with a credit card to get the algae to break free on my screen. My guess is yours is not getting enough light.

To answer your question about the skimmer, that doesn't seem normal to me. On my system that does have a skimmer, the more days that go by between cleanings the more skimmate my skimmer removes, and I believe this is because the more algae in the system the more oils and lipids it will release into the water, which are 2 things a skimmer does a good job at removing. My guess on your system is since the algae is weak, and the 'roots' are not firmly attached to the screen, the algae is doing more dying than growing, which means less oil and lipid production. Again, just guessing going off what I see in the video, in person may be a different story and only you will know exactly how your system is working, so my observations may be wrong.

[Black Widow]

Couple observations just going off the video. The algae doesn't seem that strong judging by how easy you were able to scrape it off. I literally have to sit there and scrape hard over the same spot 20 times with a credit card to get the algae to break free on my screen. My guess is yours is not getting enough light.

To answer your question about the skimmer, that doesn't seem normal to me. On my system that does have a skimmer, the more days that go by between cleanings the more skimmate my skimmer removes, and I believe this is because the more algae in the system the more oils and lipids it will release into the water, which are 2 things a skimmer does a good job at removing. My guess on your system is since the algae is weak, and the 'roots' are not firmly attached to the screen, the algae is doing more dying than growing, which means less oil and lipid production. Again, just guessing going off what I see in the video, in person may be a different story and only you will know exactly how your system is working, so my observations may be wrong.

Its not turf algae on the screen its a black type of thick cyano algae, although there are some roots of green turf algae on it. I feel like I am not getting the right type of algal growth due to the type of lights I am using. Maybe LEDS would be better ?