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Thread: Moes scrubber

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Moes scrubber

    Hi my names is Moe, live in Australia and just found this site. I'm mostly on the MASA (Marine Aquarium Society of Australia) forums but occasionally look at others.

    I'm really happy about finding this site. I don't have an algae problem, but my phosphate is high, 2.0 (API kit). I just want my tank to have that clean look to it and promote coraline growth. Also, I want to get rid of the skimmer and increase the amount of food available to inhabitants.

    Ive got a 5x2x2 tank with a 3x18x18 sump with classic style skim/refu/return sections.

    It's early days so far, but I want to make a 5x20x20 (or whatever maximum height/width I can fit) sump with two separate sections. First one with a 4ft long refugium with live rock. Flowing down into it would be a 4ft x 16 inch ATS sheet powered by 4, 54w 3000k T5 bulbs, 2 on each side. Flow would be provided by my return pump, a T'd off 5000lph laguna. The last foot of the sump would be the return section with some baffles to reduce micro bubbles.

    I've only done a little bit of research so far, but from what i've seen, the pictures speak louder than words.

    Any words of wisdom for/against my design specifications so far?

    I'm new to all this ATS so any help would be appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    Welcome aboard.

    The screen size you mention would be huge... 768 square inches. No need for such a big size for a (non-breeder) 150 gal tank, even with a big sump. You would not have enough lighting for it anyway... a 16 inch wide screen needs 4 bulbs per side instead of 2, because you don't want any part of the screen to be more than 4 inches from a bulb. The 2 bulbs per side (at 54 W each) is a total of about 200 W, which is very good for your gallons. So I would just make the screen 8 inches wide.

    What side of the screen will the pipe be? If the long side, you don't have enough flow with that pump. If the short side, you will have plenty of flow.

  3. #3

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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    A big screen would( if you wanted to spend the money lighting, pumping, and had the room)

    potential make it easier to maintain i.e. less cleanings. Right? Also wouldn't a large screen

    take away one potential limitation of a small screen i.e. algae to spread? I have thought of it myself.

    I don't live in texas. lol

    Hope this helps.

  4. #4
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    The limitation of a big screen is pods. At about 3 weeks, they will be eating the algae faster than it can grow. And they do it from the bottom, which causes the longer algae to let go and float away. I've just never seen a way to really extend the time between cleanings without some type of automated FW wash, so I'll just say the usefulness of a big screen is stronger filtering.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    Hi again, sorry for late response, was on holiday. If you ever want to go to Thailand (and dive SCUBA), go to Koh Dok Mai, it was incredible! 1/2 the (sheer cliff) island was surrounded by gorgonians, SPS, and various LPS/SPS, the other side was covered almost exclusively by dendronephea. Actually don't really want to stray far from the topic but would a ATS rather than skimming be more effective way of keeping dendronephea and other NPS corals?

    Back to the topic...

    by the "long side" you mean that there is not enough flow to go down horizontally right? so the column would have to be placed vertically? Sorry ill check the flow calculator again. Is there a "sweet spot", in terms of flow? Can too much flow be bad for the scrubber? I saw a photo of what not enough can do in terms of growth.

    Also, you say that pods eat the algae from the bottom. Do they sort of mow it down from the base, thus causing it to break off?

    I was aware of this pod population increase but I was thinking id use it to my advantage to feed my fish with it. Is it hard to harvest these pods?

    Kind regards,

    Moe

  6. #6
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    by the "long side" you mean that there is not enough flow to go down horizontally right?
    Correct.

    Is there a "sweet spot", in terms of flow? Can too much flow be bad for the scrubber?
    35 gph per inch of width. 40 to 50 gph if two-layered screen. More flow is always better unless you have a smooth screen, which will let go of the algae.

    Also, you say that pods eat the algae from the bottom. Do they sort of mow it down from the base, thus causing it to break off?
    You could picture it that way.

    I was aware of this pod population increase but I was thinking id use it to my advantage to feed my fish with it. Is it hard to harvest these pods?
    No need to harvest. There will be millions in your water, unless you have a skimmer or filter sock.

  7. #7

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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    Ohhh, so the sweet spot is the flow rate you have listed in the FAQ. thanks.

    I was thinking about harvesting the pods just to lessen the amount of eating done by them. Just netting a massive net full, taking out most of the population and then re harvesting every couple of weeks.

    Also if I had a flow double or triple over the ATS would it deter pods? Obviously the ocean has massive amounts of kinetic energy that could push anything around, but do the pods feed in the lower flow areas or ...? I Don't know any natural feeding habits of pods.

    and sorry by "two-layered screen" you mean both sides of the screen? ie one sheet illuminated on both sides?

    Lastly, can you add a small fish or shrimp to keep the pod population down, but not eat all of it, or is it too hard to manage this?

  8. #8
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    You can't net them... they are the size of a dust particle floating in the air. And once they are in the tank, the corals eat them.

    Higher flow will only wash away algae from the screen.

    Two-layers means two sheets together like a sandwich.

    You can't control the pods. They come with scrubbers. Only if you put FW (RODI) over the screen once a day can you reduce them.

  9. #9

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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    OK thanks for your help. I always thought pods were the ones you could see... and the rest I referred to plankton (non/hardly visible). Damn marine hobby, one year on and I still feel like I know nothing haha. Obviously on this forum theres something on the benefits of dual layering... haven't got that far yet... ill do a search. Sorry if I re-asked up on questions!!!

    Oh btw, Santamonica do you own this forum yourself?

  10. #10
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    Re: Hi new member, new ideas

    Start with a single layer, until you get used to cleaning every 7 days.

    Worley owns the forum.

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