Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[SantaMonica]

Yep. Ammonia (ammonium) is the most favorite food of algae. But because ammonia get used up so quickly by bacteria in the rocks, algae then turns to Nitrite, then Nitrate, for its nitrogen

[loowk]

May I enquire with scrubber system, would the evaporation rate increase? Noticed that my sump water level dropped...

[SantaMonica]

Yes evaporation will increase, unless you enclose it with acrylic or plastic.

[loowk]

:thanks:

[SantaMonica]

Update Of The Day:

Waste is Food: Reef tank owners sometime get into the frame of mind of "food is food, and waste is waste". Thus they put food into the tank, and they remove waste from the tank (skimming, siphoning, waterchanges.) But actually, both food and waste are Organic, and thus are both "food" (food for something, somewhere). Corals and inverts may not directly eat the big krill that you feed your fish, but they do eat the waste from those fish. Further info:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php

[iceman]

Did a new scrubber. Some changes was made.

Change a new material for the screen. more flexible and it can be remove easier.

Due to the height of the cabinate I have some problem removing the old screen.

The rug canvas was very good for the screen but here some problem I face, diffecult to clean and can tear easily and need to glue on hard surface.

Slot for the piping and light.

[johntanjm]

like iceman said, rug canvas material is great but overtime it rips very easily.

I just got my hands on the below material and will be testing it on one screen soon.

[iceman]

like iceman said, rug canvas material is great but overtime it rips very easily.

I just got my hands on the below material and will be testing it on one screen soon.

That nice. Wat the thickness??

[johntanjm]

That nice. Wat the thickness??

2mm. this is the same material that is used to cover the fluorescent lights installed in false ceilings.

I think normal hardware stall have, I got mine from clementi ave 2

[SantaMonica]

Nice construction Iceman. The rug option kinda reminds me of a racecar... high performance but constant maintenance.

That fluorescent light cover is going to be a bit smooth and slippery, and since it has no holes, there might be the problem of algae letting go during cleaning (or even during growing, if it gets thick enough), thus giving you completely blank areas. But as least it's not fragile or temporary

[SantaMonica]

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[SantaMonica]

Successes of the Day:

todj2002 on the SWF site: "since installing scrubber, N and P are still both at zero. i cleaned it again today. not any big deal, but huge progress for me. finally beat the algae after two years of trying. using scrubber with chaeto and RO water now. finally getting somewhere."

Marine_Nick on the RP site: "Thought I'd update on my screen. When setting it up I was concerned about light pollution from the sump into the room, and noise from the falling water. as my tank is on an outside wall, I wanted to put the screen outside if possible. I already had an old 18 x 12 x 12 tank, so had it drilled and put a small wier in it, the water is pumped from the sump up and out through the wall to the screen, runs down the screen, through the weir, back through the wall and back into the sump. All of this is in a small shed I made which contains all the lighting etc, my screen is 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide and has a light on either side. Screen has been running now for 4 weeks, and my nitrates have dropped from 30 to 7 and phosphate from 0.25 to 0. In the last 4 weeks, nothing else has changed in my tank other than more fish being introduced, and therefore more food being added, and still the parameters have dropped!! Overall I'm really happy with results so far and hope to see the nitrates drop to zero in the next week or two. Big thanks to Santa Monica for this thread and all the info!"

jtrembley on the MD site: "I got frustrated with the skimmer (EuroReef, rated for 80) on my 40 gallon a while back. It was pulling out *lots* of crud, but I was having trouble with detritus building up, and rising P values. Since yanking the skimmer and DIYing (poorly) a rev. 2 scrubber [acrylic box style], phosphates and nuisance algae are down, and the backlog of detritus is slowly being consumed. I'm seeing lots more worms (particularly the small ones that build white, spiraling tubes) and 'pods (amphi- and cope- that is, but not octo-). Here's the funny thing: at the 3 year stage of my 40, I started getting lots of nuisance algae, despite having one of the hands-down best skimmers for small tanks, an MCE600, on it. Thinking that I was doing something wrong, I put an MC-80 on it. After another year, I started getting more and more detritus building up in the display, despite having a *lot* (over 2k GPH) of flow. And then I noticed something else: I no longer had many fan and bristle worms, amphipods, or copepods left in the sytem, either. So...I started swapping out my old LR for new, to replenish the critters. And I tried Fauna Marin and vodka dosing. But the critters weren't really spreading, and the nuisance algae was getting worse, and my P was rising despite water changes. So, I thought about it, poked around, and looked at Eric Borneman's study of *fresh* skimmate (i.e., not stuff that was left in the cup to rot). And I realized something: having a high quality skimmer on the tank was probably stripping the tank of big chunks of its potential cleanup crew. So I took off the skimmer, and put in a turf screen to cover the water's surface in what used to be the skimmer's chamber in my sump. Low and behold: I'm feeding more; I'm once again seeing fresh worm tracks in my sand bed; the copepods are back; the nuisance algae is dying off; P is undetectable by hobby kits; and the detritus is slowly clearing up. And I'm not doing as many water changes. I checked pH this morning, it was 8.2, before the lights are on. I'm honestly not seeing the down side. So yeah, removing the skimmer and putting in a $5 turf scrubber fixed my tank of "old tank syndrome". Just for giggles, I just tested my N (0.2 or 0.5 Salifert) and P (0.05 Hanna photometer). No visible HA, turfs, or cyano in the display, and I can (easily) feed 2X cubes of Hikari mysis, some dulse, and 2 scoops' worth of Reef Chili daily (again, in a 40). And I haven't done a water change in a month. I'm honestly not seeing a downside to scrubbers at this point."

[Underwater]

underwater, I recommend slit and screen to be of the same length. if you're really gonna build it, PM or call me la. got somethings also i don't know how to document on the forum but will save you some headache.

Santa! that's a GREAT representation of what I was trying to say! THANKS! and i hope it helps everyone else too!

Thanks alot John, and Santa too!!

[maty-magor]

Hi, first excuse my bad English, but I hope, that you will understand me. My name is Andrew, and I live in Czech Republic in middle of Europe.I have my 80 gallon for 2 years. All of that time I have a problem with N and P. I have tried various kind of filtration like DSB, Refugium ... . After reading this topic, a have decide to try the scrubber. So I build a screen 17 wide and 11 tall, with water flow about 400 gal/h, there are 2 30W T8 day light bulbs . It is runnig for 8 days, and how it looks you can see on the picture. As I saw on the pictures above, there is different colour of algae on the screen. Is this colour normal, did I something wrong or should I do something different ?

Thanks for your opinion.

[SantaMonica]

Hi Andrew... great to see your first attempt at a scrubber. Question: Did you wrap the screen around the pipe? Also, can you post more pics, from different views? Please include pics with the lights in position.

[SantaMonica]

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Update: The Trick of Dark Brown Algae

This has now happened to many people who have new scrubbers. They get early growth, but it's not the green stuff that they see in most pics. Instead it's a dark brown super-thick "coating", or a black "tar", that looks like it was poured on:

What you have here is the type of algae that grows when nutrients are extremely high (!). After a few cleanings, when the nutirents come down, the color will lighten up to some balance point where it will stay. The big problem, however, is that people think the screen is not growing, so they leave it in to "grow more" (by not cleaning it). BIG MISTAKE! This type of algae does not grow thick, at all. It never gets more than 1/4" (6mm) or so. And worse, since it's SO DARK, it block all light from reaching the bottom layers, thus causing those layers to die and release nitrate and phosphate back into the water. So the solution is to clean ANY and ALL dark brown/black algae right away, and don't even wait until the end of the week. Basically, if you cannot see your screen, then light is not reaching it and it needs to be cleaned. You'll only have to do this a few times before the nutrients come down and the algae color lightens up. Don't fall for the Dark Brown Algae Trick.

[maty-magor]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes, I wrap the screen arround the pipe, because when I tried like others, the water do not flow corectly throught whole screen. So I decide to wrap rest of the screen arround the pipe, and conected it together. Now it flows equally. On the pictures you can see progres of algae growing since monday to today. And of course there ate other pictures which you have requested.,,[att

achment=108019:DSCI0018.JPG],

[SantaMonica]

As for the wrapping, it's been recently discovered that the screen-wrapped-around-pipe design will clog up and stop working when the algae gets thick. It grows heavily where the screen is wrapped at the top, and blocks further flow from going down the screen. Instead the flow starts going out the ends, completely missing the entire screen, thus killing what algae was previously growing on screen. It affects different screens in varying amounts; the higher the lights are (thus closer to the wrap), the more it clogs. One solution is to use a one-inch light shield along the pipe, to keep light off the top part. Another is to cut holes along the top (but even they will clog eventually). Best solution is to use the screen-in-slot method. Just practice building one a few times. Or get someone else to build it for you.

[magix88]

After spending hours reading up this thread, I am amazed by the results of this simple system.

One thing pops into my head. Does this means I can start using tap water to do topups since the algae will consume most of these unwanted phosphate, and nitrate.

[SantaMonica]

Well replacing RODI/RO/Distilled with tap is not really one of the benefits of a scrubber, especially with a reef. But you are correct, algae does remove a lot of the impurities of tap. If your tank is in a position where you can experiment, then you might give it a try.

[dominik]

Hi, is there any success story on planted setup? I understand this method will remove CO2 so it might not be too useful for planted.

[maty-magor]

After your reply, I have decided to rebuild it completely. Now, it is typically design. As you can see on the pictures, the lights are closer, and the screen is shorter, just 10". Screen has been clean-out. I hope, that it will be enough and now it will start working. Or am I wrong ? Thanks for your opinion.,,[attac

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[iceman]

After your reply, I have decided to rebuild it completely. Now, it is typically design. As you can see on the pictures, the lights are closer, and the screen is shorter, just 10". Screen has been clean-out. I hope, that it will be enough and now it will start working. Or am I wrong ? Thanks for your opinion.,,[attac

hment=108158:DSCI0007.JPG]

Very nice.

If u can add one more light on the other side of the screen it will be better.

[yikai]

Hi andrew. That algae is i think slime algae. It is very thick and slimy. Remove it to allow the normal hair algae to grow.

[SantaMonica]

dominik: I'm not aware of anyone who has even built a planted tank version. It would only be needed on one with fish, however, and even then, only if the plants themselves don't do enough filtering.

maty: Yes that will work much much better. What K rating is the light? And like Iceman said, if you can put a light on the other side, it will help greatly, even if just a clip-on bulb like this:

http://www.buylighting.com/23-Watt-R40-Com...p/tcp1r4023.htm