Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[SantaMonica]

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Todj2002 on the SWF site:

Worley on the AS site; this is for a high-power, very thin unit for HOB:

NoOne on the AS site:

[SantaMonica]

[iceman]

Here my project. Using acrylic to build a box to hold the screen. It will be sitting on top of my refugium.

The screen is 22" x 8"and it will feed from my over flow. Will be using Giesemann Razor T5 for lighting.

Due to space constrain only one side of the screen will be lighted.

Here's the pic.

The lighting.

The refugium

[SantaMonica]

Congrats on a very nice acrylic build! I always like acrylics, because they let the light get right next to the screen for much better growth. Also the wide-screen is more effective than a tall screen. And the flow off the bottom looks good, so you are probably near the 22 X 35 = 770 gph recommended flow. Let me see if I have your design right: You are using a rigid 8 X 22 screen which sits on the tank below (thus you don't need tie-wraps to hold the screen on). Display is 60" x 30" x 29" = 225 gal (US).

Well the great news is that the T5 lighting, being so near the screen, and with the good flow, is going to give great growth (I get 1.5" thick algae on each side of my screen). I'll give you the less-than-great news now, and you can decide if you want to change anything or just try it for a while and see.

My biggest concern is the screen material. Looks like you drilled a few holes in the sheet, which is better than smooth, but what's going to happen with thick growth is (1) the algae is going to slide right off the screen into the water, and (2) re-growth is going to be slow because no algae is going to stick to the screen after it falls off or after cleaning it. Quick partial fix: Get a power sander and rough-up the screen so much that you can't see through it any more. Proper fix: glue TWO layers of "rug canvas" to the sheet; go to a craft/sewing store near you, or order online at a place like this:

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CAT...PRODID=prd12195

With this rug canvas, algae will not slide off, and when you clean it weekly, algae will remain stuck in the fibers and holes of the canvas. Thus it will re-grow immediately.

Second concern is the screen size. If I'm correct about your tank being a 225g, then the recommended screen size is 225 square inches, lit on both sides. If lit on only one side (like yours), the size should be doubled to about 450 square inches. Your screen is 176 square inches one-sided, which effectively is an 88 square inch filter. Undersized screens such as this work just as good a larger screens for about two days, then they fill up. If you clean it every three days, it will be ok, but you can see the hassle with this. If you dont' clean it this often, growth slows, and the underlying layers of algae get covered and shaded (by the newer layers) and die off. N and P get released back into the water. So constant cleaning is mandatory.

Solutions: (1) Light the other side. This will double the number of days between cleanings, probably from three to six. I know you said space was the issue, but it looks like if you slide it forward, you can do it. If so, you'd have a 176 square inch filter, which at least is not too far from 225. (2) Increase the height of the screen. I can't see if you'd have room for this, and of course it would require more building, but the more size the better.

The rug canvas fix is almost a must-have. The scrubber may not function at all without it. Increasing the screen lighting or size (best case, both!) would make the difference between have zero N and P continuously, versus not being sure that it's really helping things at all.

Anyway, congrats again on the great build; will be great watching it develop over the weeks.

[iceman]

for the reply, I'll see what i can do about the lighting. Will fix the screen with rug canvas. After i fix the screen do i need to increase the flow??

BTW can those oil painting canvas be use??

[SantaMonica]

No, oil painting canvas has no large holes. Large holes is where the algae stays after you clean, and it starts growing from there. For flow, you want as much as you can get without spraying/splashing. You want water flowing off all parts of the bottom, like this:

[SantaMonica]

Feeding update: I've begun increased feeding, because my clown tang is getting skinny, and also because I want to try to keep a variety of non-photo NPS corals. So in my 90g with scrubber-only filtration, I'm currently feeding 4 cubes mysis, 5 ml Reed's Shelfish Diet (phyto), 5 ml Reed's Rotifeast, and 5 ml Reed's Arctipods (copepods), and 2 krill (for white eel) daily. Also one whole silverside weekly (for blue eel). For reference, 1 ml is about 2 pumps from a typical phyto pump bottle.

Since I increased to this amount, I'm now getting my first detectable readings in several months (Salifert). Nitrate is a slight pink... varies between .1 and 1. Phosphate is a barely visible blue; sometimes I'm not sure if it's really blue or not, but it's definitely not the crystal clear it used to be.

Pink coralline is continuing to take over, and the last two square inches of nuisance film algae disappeared last week. Some spots of cyano are still trying to hold on, but the coralline is overtaking them.

So the goal now is to see how much I can actually feed while still keeping N an P low. I don't think they need to be undetectable; I think my goal is to keep nuisance algae from forming, while at the same time being able to sustain non-photo NPS corals. BTW I added a few SPS frags on my new frag tray, and they seem to be doing well.

[johntanjm]

Interesting things to share. I left a full piece of fresh shrimp in the sump on Monday and left for a vacation. Came back today on Sunday, shrimp is gone (possibly decomposed entirely) and I've got crazy growth on the screens. Need to get test kits to verify the screen's effectiveness.

Iceman! way to go man! your implementation is a clever choice because it reduces the splashing. I'm having quite a bit of hassle managing that. you got to tell me where you build your acrylic stuff!. Let me know if you need any help to seed the screens.

[SantaMonica]

Probably is just the normal progression of the screen. I've had things decompose too, but found it did not increase scrubber growth. Turns out that just the regular rotting of leftover food is by far the biggest contributor.

To reduce splashing, did you try to wided the slot?

[johntanjm]

Instead of modifying the screen, I intend to T off the return to a chiller. that should lower overall turn over rate and go easy a lil bit on the screens to soften the situation.

[iceman]

Have glue the Rug canvas on both side of the screen and have added one more T5. Now both side of the screen is lighted up

[iceman]

Interesting things to share. I left a full piece of fresh shrimp in the sump on Monday and left for a vacation. Came back today on Sunday, shrimp is gone (possibly decomposed entirely) and I've got crazy growth on the screens. Need to get test kits to verify the screen's effectiveness.

Iceman! way to go man! your implementation is a clever choice because it reduces the splashing. I'm having quite a bit of hassle managing that. you got to tell me where you build your acrylic stuff!. Let me know if you need any help to seed the screens.

I cut all the sheet from Dama than glue them together myself.

From the pic I can see that u can actually add a few piece of acrylic to prevent the splashes.

I've seed the screen with some algae found in my overflow box.

[johntanjm]

My results might not be unrepresentative because i have no lifestock right now but after letting an entire shrimp decompose with no skimmer, no FR

PO4: undetectable

NO3: 10 (the test kit i borrowed looks dubious, will have to reconfirm this with another)

iceman, waiting to see your results!

[RockyBoy]

Have glue the Rug canvas on both side of the screen and have added one more T5. Now both side of the screen is lighted up

Bro, how do you remove the rug screen for cleaning?

[RockyBoy]

My results might not be unrepresentative because i have no lifestock right now but after letting an entire shrimp decompose with no skimmer, no FR

PO4: undetectable

NO3: 10 (the test kit i borrowed looks dubious, will have to reconfirm this with another)

iceman, waiting to see your results!

No LS still can get lots of algae tuft.

[SantaMonica]

Wow Ice that is now a powerful setup! Looks like you also even matched up the weave on both sides, so it looks like one Algae starts growing quickly in rug canvas.

[iceman]

Bro, how do you remove the rug screen for cleaning?

Just remove the union and the screen can be pull out.

[iceman]

Wow Ice that is now a powerful setup! Looks like you also even matched up the weave on both sides, so it looks like one Algae starts growing quickly in rug canvas.

. Will update the result.

[SantaMonica]

Reminder Of The Day: Number Of Lights/Screens

One-light between two-screens: Makes better use of the light, but leaves the other sides of the screens unused (in the dark), thus wasting half your flow. The big advantage is cleaning: You can clean one screen, and leave the other in operation, which give you more consistent filtering.

Two-lights on one-screen: Makes better use of the screen (both sides are lit), but can waste light if not reflected properly. Advantages are (1) redundancy of the lights: If one goes out, you'll still have filtering until you can buy a replacement, and (2) higher performance for its size, since each side of the screen gets hit by light from both sides, especially right after cleaning when the algae is thin.

Best of both worlds: Multiple lights between two screens. Uses the most flow and power, but is always filtering, and will never go totally "dark" unexpectedly.

[SantaMonica]

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Scrubber FAQ 1.0 is now complete, and will be updated periodically:

http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewto...hp?f=9&t=68

[SantaMonica]

Part 1 of 3

Here is an easy DIY for a nano. This one starts with a Marineland Eclipse 6 gallon, which was chosen because of the easy-to-access hatch on the top:

First thing you need to do to the filter box is cut out this section, using a Dremel cut-off tool, or even a soldering iron:

Doesn't need to be a smooth cut, since water will be draining down through the holes anyway.

Now, test fit the filter box on the back wall:

[SantaMonica]

Part 2 of 3

Looking from the backside, see how the filter box will set on the wall:

use a little bit of scrap plastic to raise this side a bit:

Now, epoxy some plastic sheet (I just cut them out from the hood material) onto the filter box so that it will hook onto the wall; the epoxy will also hold the little plastic scrap in place too:

Mounting done:

Now cut a piece of hard plastic (any color, any thickness) to fit in the filter box. Use sandpaper or a drill or a file to make the surface rough:

Now cut a piece of "Rug Canvas" or "Plastic Canvas" (found at any sewing or craft store, or online) to fit on the backing:

[SantaMonica]

Part 3 of 3

Rug canvas is preferred because it lets the algae to attach better, but since rug canvas is flimsy, you'll need to epoxy it to the backing. Plastic canvas (pictured) is rigid and can just be set down on the backing, but it does not hold algae as well.

Here is the screen finished. Water should flow off the edges and drain out, but if it collects and gets too deep, cut a little section as shown and it will drain out rapidly:

Attach your light; a halide was chosen so as to get good growth, easy attachment to the tank, and strong lighting for corals:

Here is the screen with a fews days of growth (food was put into the water to rot):

A few more days:

Begin to do your weekly cleanings, 1/2 per week:

Cleaning video:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/6galCleaning.mpg

If the pump ever stops, turn it over and remove the round part, and check to make sure the little wheel can turn freely:

Pump check video:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/6galPumpStop.mpg

That's it! Post your nano scrubber pics!

[Firestarter]

I have a trial design for my simple scrubber. Pics to be up soon.

[SantaMonica]

Succeses of the Week:

small_ranchu on the MFK site: "Here is the progress on my goldfish tank. 90 gallon tank with 3 goldfish + heavy feeding. Nitrate reading at the end of the week is usually around 40 PPM with a lot of brown algae on the wall. After 1 month of installing the Scrubber filter, Nitrate reading is 10 PPM and brown algae is disappearing slowly."

argi on the MD site: "I set up my scrubber on my 54 gallon tank a few weeks after its initial set up (it has been running for around 3 months now). One thing I have noticed on this tank compared to all my past tanks is the lack of algae growing on the glass. In the past I always left a magnet cleaner in the tank because I would have to scrub the brown diatom algae off the glass at least once per week. Now with this current tank I haven't had to clean off the glass nearly as often. While I still clean it, usually weekly to every other week, I can still see in the tank after 2 weeks!!! So far I am very happy with the results."

johnt on the UR site: "after 10 weeks of running a screen I can say it's the best method I've used, it also takes out metals and other nasties, and I've not even reached the turf algae stage yet. In the 10 weeks it's been running I've not run any reactors or the skimmer (I'm saving a small fortune not having to buy phosphate remover). I'm still running the refugium, Chaeto and deep sand bed, all corals are doing exceptionaly well, N&P are remaining low and rocks are looking better by the day."

Elliott on RC: "I built one about 5 wks ago and so far it seems to be working well. My cyano has diminished and there is less cleaning to do on the glass."

Mtroboer on the MASA site: "my algae is already visibly starting to disappear after only 1 1/2 weeks! Also added a PC Server fan in front of the screen and dropped my temps from 29.8 avg to 25.8 avg, saved me from buying a energy hungry chiller! First time in little more than a year I got to see results regarding getting rid of nuisance algae as well as dropping my high tempratures!"

Keifer1122 on the RS site: "Aquapod 12 gallon update: Its been couple days short of a month, and still no water change, my N & P have been at zero for 3 weeks now. everything is still growing just daily dosing, daily 2-3 feeding times a day, and weekly scrubbing"

bigtanner on RC: "I built this little one for about $65, pump, light, and all plumbing needed. Some people frown on these things and some people praise them. It's about like anything else really. I have had success with mine. Since building it and hooking it up, my tank is basically algae free. I also went from running my magnet daily to only running it every three to four days. [...] I never have any bad algae in my tank, my water is always crystal clear, and since adding it, I run my magnet a lot less than I used to.

corinna on the AC site: "I started out as a sceptic, but after spending a fortune on phosphate absorbers, carbon, sponges, water changes etc, Im convinced. Two months in, ive not done a water change or cleaned the glass, just to see what happened. Zooanthids are reproducing, seahorses are fat and active, values are reading zeroes. Scallops are happy. Plus I feed a lot."