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Thread: Which hog scrubber?

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    Which hog scrubber?

    Hi,

    I am looking to purchase one of the santa monica hog style scrubbers.

    I have a reef tank with lps and sps corals with 4 fish at the moment, it has been running a couple of years now and I am starting to get an algae outbreak after my yellow tang recently died, which I believe was a rogue crab, it was doing a fantastic job keeping algae under control.

    I roughly feed 1/4 of a cube a day or a pinch of flake.

    I intend to get some more fish soon, probably a couple of bangaii cardinals and maybe another yellow tang.

    The tank itself is 330 liters in total including sump, filtration is live rock, skimmer and reverse lit cheato

    My question is, do I need the hog 0.5 or the hog 1? also if I need the hog 1 would I be better to buy the one with additional leds?

    I did run a diy waterfall style scrubber with success however was told to remove it by the wife as it was noisey.

    Many thanks in advance.

  2. #2
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    If the sump is 1/4" walls, then any HOG would fit; if it's 3/8" walls then you need the HOG1 or HOG1x.

    If your chaeto has been growning, and if you still have been having algae that needed to be eaten by the tangs, then you have a lot of stored phosphate in the rocks. So the 1 or 1x would be best.

    If noise is critical, and she will be near the sump, then the SURF2 (which is silent) might be best, because you will hear some bubbling inside the HOGs when you are near them.

    Hope that helps.

  3. #3

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    Thanks for the reply,

    Is it best to go with the amount you feed when selecting a scrubber? as currently I only feed up to 1/4 of a cube a day, probably less.

    Is there that much difference between the HOG scrubbers and surf style scrubbers in terms of performance?

    I doubt I will feed the required amount to justify the surf 2.

    Sorry for all the questions, just want to make the right choice.

  4. #4
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    The 1 and 1x can certainly filter twice as much as the 0.5, because of the double screen and light sizes. The 1x just does better in higher nutrient tanks which yours is probably not. It's probably just a matter of how many months you want to get all the phosphate out of the rocks; the 1 will do it faster than the 0.5

  5. #5

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    Ok,

    so probably the one for my application would be the HOG 1? even though I dont feed any where near the 1 cube a day limit?

    I am assuming the surf 2 would be completely over kill?

    If I went for the HOG 1 would that be powerful enough to go skimmer less in the future? just curious.

    What size air pump for the HOG 1 would I need?

    And lastly could you give me the best price for HOG 1 shipped to the uk please, pm if necessary.

    Many Thanks.

  6. #6
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    At low feeding amounts on new tanks, the main difference between the HOG and SURF is convenience in cleaning, and space to operate. Also, the SURF is silent, but needs more air. But at low feeding amounts on new tanks, they would probably filter the same.

    Any scrubber running properly (keeping N and P low) lets you run without a skimmer. However if you want to remove food particles out of the water, you'll still need the skimmer.

    For a HOG air pump, any medium sized pump should do, 1 lpm; they are about the size of a large orange.

    The shopping cart will tell you the exact postage before buying; it seems to be about $20 to $25 lately.

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