The new Upflow Algae Scrubber (UAS)

[SantaMonica]

Will post DIY sources for it, after I try some slight different variations.

[Nick28]

I've been thinking of using aragocrete or just roughing up the walls of my UAS and ditching the plastic canvas. Algae seems to grow ok but not great on the smooth plastic walls of the box

[cdm2012]

I've actually thought of running a very thin layer of concrete on my roughed up screen on my waterfall scrubber. Concrete contains sand, crushed stone, limestone, and water, which are the natural nutrients for algae and it can be formed to have a very rough surface which would give good hold to the algae. I think it has a high ph level as well. Any thoughts?

[Nick28]

I've actually thought of running a very thin layer of concrete on my roughed up screen on my waterfall scrubber. Concrete contains sand, crushed stone, limestone, and water, which are the natural nutrients for algae and it can be formed to have a very rough surface which would give good hold to the algae. I think it has a high ph level as well. Any thoughts?

I think I will try this people mix aragonite with concrete and use it to make fake liverock. I think covering a screen would better because a thin layer on the back wall might be too brittle.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I can't recall who it was, but someone took plastic canvas and put it in an oven them sprinkled it with aragonite and pressed it in. Worked OK, didn't seem to be any huge difference. This seems to be pretty much the same thing, except it makes more sense to do it for a UAS single sided screen this way. One could take a piece of acrylic, sprinkle a thin layer of Coralife Special Grade Reef Sand and take a torch to it and press it in. could even do it double-sided.

[Gigaahxl]

I do a lot of exprimentation with screens and other aspects of my auquarium hobby including that aagonite pico screen. Since the fundamental screen material seems to have come up again ill try to give some ideas for the aragonite type screen. My best suggestion to make a transparent/translucent screen is this. HOTGLUE! Sprinkle down a thin layer of fine aragonite. if you only need it one sided you can just use a glue gun. Itll be far easier with a high temp gun using multi temp glue. It migh4 be a little ugly but it'll work. For a nice thin extra screen with great transparency. Use the oven and a small bred pan.high quaity silicone...uhhh... lubricant will make it easier to remove. Glass pan is best. I think 200degrees is right. Once the glue melts check for bubbles...sprinkle the top with aragonite. The faster you cool the glue It seems the more transparent it stays..ice water in the sink works well. Voilia you have a petty bitch'n diy aragonite screen.
Here's a top secret idea or two related to that ive been working with.problem with algae growth is apparently limted by the light penetration. the first time i used hot glue it was as a difuser. it works nice. Try putting a glob ontop of an led.build a stick figure on top of the led with it and watch the figure glow. The next time i used hot glue i embedded a couple 1w led into an aragonite screen that i made as described above. Put it all together and you have a double sided, backlit, waterproof, tranlucent, aragonite screen. Needless to say im waiting on a shipment from china on this one for a full test but ive managed to hammer out a lot of ideas to really make these usefull and easy to diy as an AIO in tank unit.

[WannaRace]

So what is this Green Grabber stuff in your HOG1 vids you just posted? Looks like aragonite pressed into silicone??

Looks like calcium chips.

[SWhite]

So what is this Green Grabber stuff in your HOG1 vids you just posted? Looks like aragonite pressed into silicone??

Looks to me like an epoxy with plastic chips sprinkled on.

[Gigaahxl]

I figured it was either flatout countertop mix or a similar concoction of white cement, silica fume, and plasticizer for super hard yet flexible cement.

[SantaMonica]

HOG1 with 10 days growth after cleaning - saltwater with high nutrients
http://youtu.be/sf6a-bOxOZI