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Thread: FW Scrubber for African Cichlid tank

  1. #1

    Join Date
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    FW Scrubber for African Cichlid tank

    Thanks SantaMonica !!!

    I've been following you on the different forums for most of this year and it's great stuff.
    I appreciate your efforts in sharing this concept. I believe it will make a huge
    difference in my enjoyment of this hobby.

    Please let me know what you think of my initial scrubber.

    I like to keep what I consider to be heavily stocked tanks and the scrubber should
    make a big difference in my maintenance tasks, namely water changes. Ideally I should
    do a 40% water change in my 75 gallon tank at least once a week to keep the water quality
    reasonable and change the filter material in the 2 Whisper 60 Power filters every 5 or 6
    days. This tank contains about 37 fish, half of which are adults. The 2 largest are 5 to 6 inches.

    My nitrate never goes below 20 ppm and easily rises to 40-50 if I don't keep up my water change
    schedule. I know this is way to high.

    This first scrubber is crude, but I have a couple newer models in my head.

    Scrubber Details

    - Started scrubber on July 11.

    - Screen is the normal plastic mesh that I see on most of the scrubbers.

    - I roughed it up with heavy sand paper.

    - It was not seeded.

    - Usable screen area, above water, is 10 x 10.5 inches.
    There is about an inch below water level.

    - I have a ViaAqua 1800 pumping 18 inches above the tank to the scrubber. This should be about
    370 gph according to the chart. I never tested it.

    - The pvc pipe the screen is slotted into is 1 inch id. It is very easy to lift out for cleaning.

    - I have 2 23 watt 2700 CFL bulbs that are approx 3 inches from the screen.

    - I built those stupid looking light stands because I haven't been able to find a
    resonable way to mount them yet. The stands are very convenient though. I can
    position them any way I want and they lift out easily.

    - I built the scrubber in a plastic tote to contain the evaporation, light and noise,
    although it is surprisingly quiet.

    - My first light cleaning of one side of the screen was on Aug 7 (a little behind schedule),
    then the opposite side needed a heavier cleaning 3 days later.

    - I pulled the screen out of the pipe every 2 weeks and cleaned the top inch with a tooth
    brush to prevent clogging and spraying. I've had no flow problems.


    Progress

    - My last water change was Aug 7. It pulled the nitrate down to about 20 ppm.

    I was thinking the nitrate should be falling faster. There are a couple reasons I think it hasn't ...

    - When I took the screen out today to clean it, I was surprised at how much of the dark slimy algae
    was on it and needed removed. It didn't look like there was much there until I pulled it out.

    I haven't been cleaning the screen often enough!!!

    - Also there was a significant amount of thick dark algae on the bottom of the tote the should have
    been cleaned earlier. It doesn't grow as fast as the screen, but I should probably clean it every
    couple weeks.

    It got a good cleaning today, so I got a chance to get some pictures while it was down.


    Current status

    As of today, a week after my last water change, the nitrate doesn't seem to be rising. It usually has
    by this time. It's holding close to 20.

    *** I think it's kicking in ***

    I will be more diligent with the cleanings and expect to see a noticeable drop in the next couple weeks.



    Sorry the pictures aren't a little better. I should have let my wife take them.

    I noticed this morning that some of these images aren't displaying correctly for me in FireFox.
    You can also view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/jeff.izf...rubberProject#


























  2. #2
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    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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    Re: FW Scrubber for African Cichlid tank

    Great build! Those totes seem to work great. Also is the first use I've seen so far with a simple clip-on screen holder, and, a simple raise-it-up pipe holder. Lights are perfect. Flow looks good. Super easy to clean.

    Your N will drop mostly after you've cleaned the screen 3 full times. A second layer of screen (with a wider slot) would help hold more algae too. But it should work well as is.

  3. #3
    kcress's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Santa Cruz, California, USA
    Posts
    458

    Re: FW Scrubber for African Cichlid tank

    Do run those lights thru a GFI outlet. The potential for them to get wet is fairly great.

    Nice build too!

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
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    Re: FW Scrubber for African Cichlid tank

    Thanks for the comments. This project has been fun. GFI is coming soon. In the mean time I'm being very careful. That's one issue that will be improved on when I figure a better way to mount the lights. My next model will probably will be acrylic, and under the tank. I've found a high quality blade for my table saw that will make clean cuts on acrylic.

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