Algal scrubbers

dwyatt · 12-02-2002, 05:20 PM

The thought hit me like a brick!

I have my old 3' power compact light hood (switched to MH a year ago), I have pumps, hoses, fittings and all of the other stuff us reef keepers accumulate over the years - why not build an algal scrubber with the intent of increasing the water quality in my oh too small 50 gal. setup.

I did the research, learned that a wave dump bucket type system increases the effiency of the nutrient uptake dramatically in a scrubber, researched how to cut and fuse acrylic, even found a long list of turf algaes that are preferred for this application. The only thing missing is where can I get the turf algae to seed the screen material (macros like caulerpa are supposedly not as good as turfs). The text recommended throwing the screen assy in the ocean shallows and retreiving it 3 weeks later - not very convenient (although I live in Florida).

Any ideas, sources or suggestions would be awesome!

Thanks

Minnreefer · 12-02-2002, 05:29 PM

It is a great idea, the only drawback is LWLF(low wife loving factor) because they tend to be loud. I have not ordered the turf kit from them, but they are a good source. http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/tr_algae.html.

HTH

Jon

Flatlander · 12-02-2002, 05:52 PM

Doug, I have used a scrubber for the last year or so. Works very well. I had no seed screen either. Took a long time to get some decent turf algae growing.

We built a body out of glass for it, as the original acrylic body was damaged beyond belief during shipping. This pic is a shot of it, when it was dumping into a sump on my other tank. It now dumps directly into one end of my 225.

tdwyatt · 12-02-2002, 06:09 PM

Much Information in the book by Drs. Adey and Lovland,Dynamic Aquaria, with many sources of materials and procedures in the bibliographies for each chapter. Dr. Adey is the curator at the Smithsonian for fishes, etc, and has written extensively on the subject. A good book involving the natural food chain biotope approach to marine aquaria.

dwyatt · 12-03-2002, 08:48 AM

Thanks for the info and pics - I'll check with inland aquatics. I borrowed the Dynamic Aquaria text from a friend who was a marine bio major. That is where I gleened the design parameters, surface area etc. I'll get it again and check the sources.

This is definately one of those fun projects for me and one that my wife will hate!

Thanks