Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[SantaMonica]

In my related research of reducing Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate, overfeeding was always an issue. Scrubbers help, by introducing live (instead of dead) copepods to the tank, but the rest of the feeding always causes excess food to get stuck in the rock and sand, and rot. The solution to this could be an Automatic Continuous Feeder. The writeup is here:

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=76477

[Creetin]

day 9 update! a bit of green stuff coming on. but i was fiddling with e output pipe so abit of flow probably changed now. anyhow heres e pix.

[Creetin]

my update today

flow is not optimal i guess its time to mod the output again. sian! there is definitely some green algae growing. i have never seen such algae, really looks like lettuce.

[SantaMonica]

Results of the Week:

jtremblay on the MD site: "the last few strands of HA have disappeared from my 40's display, and the build-up of detritus is continuing to go down, despite there being no skimmer on this tank."

nitschke65 on the SWF site: "My biocube is currently being filtered by my custom [nano] turf scrubber in chamber two; there is also a ball of chaeto in the bottom af chamber two, and a bag of Chemi-pure Elite in chamber three. My protein skimmer stopped working two or three weeks ago. (My mushrooms and zoas have never looked better!) I also have some polyps, hammers, and galaxia. There's a few nassarius, and a few hermits, an emerald crab, and possibly a pepermint shrimp. There's a lawnmower blennie, two green chromis, a scarlet hawk, and a Potter's angel. I haven't cleaned my screen or done a water change in 2 weeks [bad!]. This mornings readings: Ammonia - 0 Nitrites - 0 Nitrates - 0

Skunkbudfour20 on RC: "Yes i built one, Yes i am running it, and YES my nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and phosphates all dropped to almost 0 within the first 3 weeks, and yes algae growth in my display has come to a stop, and slowly recedes... I am still running my skimmer, even though it doesnt seem to be doing AS much, its still doing something for now."

Worley on the AS site: "As for lights, I have seen an improvement in the type of algae growing and in the overall amount of growth since changing bulbs to the lower 3500K colour temp. I've been getting more hair [on the screen], macro algaes, some interesting dark green very very long hair-like algae (6"+ long). The cyanobacteria [in the display] is nearly completely gone, along with less brown slime algae, both in the tank and on the screen. And best of all, still no water changes, nearly 5 months on, with good calcium, dKH and PH. I've easily saved the price of the equipment used to make the scrubber from not having used an entire bucket of salt, and everything in the tank looks more healthy than I've ever seen in a marine tank I've kept before, I'm loving it, and so is my girlfriend!"

[SantaMonica]

Update of the Day: Freshwater Cleanings

You absolutely must use freshwater, in your sink, when cleaning your screen once a week. If your weekly cleaning gets delayed, at the very least turn the pump off and pour RODI over the screen to kill the pods. Otherwise the pods start growing underneath, eating the algae, then falling off into your water. You will not see the holes they make unless the algae is very thin. It becomes an issue of the scrubber not removing as much nitrate and phosphate, because the pods eat the algae you've grown, and then re-introduce the nutrients back into the water. FW of course, kills the pods. SW does not. So use FW weekly. And don't worry about getting rid of all the pods; you won't. The next day there will be millions more.

[Creetin]

day 12 update. there is some algae growing on the screen and i think i better get down to cleaning it

as well as do some flow improvement

[SantaMonica]

Yep gotta get more flow...

[SantaMonica]

Part 3 of 7:

Taken from "The Food of Reefs, Part 3: Phytoplankton" by Eric Borneman

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.php

"Phytoplankton are the major source of primary [food] production in the ocean, and one of the most important driving forces of global ecology. In fact, phytoplankton production influences all life, by being at the lowest rings of the food chain.

"The reason [phytoplankton] are so important on a regional or global scale is simply by virtue of the fact that the upper 200 [meters] of oceanic waters is filled with phytoplankton and covers over 70% of the earth's surface.

"What eats phytoplankton? In the water column, zooplankton [food] are without question the primary consumers of phytoplankton. Zooplankton grazers vary according the area and the time of year, but include primarily ciliates, copepods, amphipods, and tintinnids.

"Stony corals are generally not well adapted to the sieve or filter type feeding that characterizes the soft corals (Fabricius et al. 1995, 1998). They are, however, well suited to the capture of zooplankton prey.

"It is of paramount importance to recognize that the biomass of potential grazers [which need food] in an aquarium is many times what it would be in the same volume of water or surface area as the bottom of oceans or on reefs, and also, that the availability of water column borne food is many times greater in the ocean than in an aquarium.

"Perhaps most importantly, is the almost ubiquitous interaction between bacteria and phytoplankton. Phytoplankton release dissolved organic substances, and bacteria utilize them as nutrient sources. Most phytoplankton cells, especially large ones, are coupled nearly continuously with coatings of bacteria [which are consuming the dissolved organic substances].

"The amounts of phytoplankton present in reef aquariums are not known but are probably considerable. However, they are also probably rapidly removed by grazing and export devices [skimmers].

[wilsontantw]

My Day 12 update too... (since 22 Jan 2230 hrs)...

Realised that the light must hit a big surface area in order to have maximum algae growth.

Can already see a good spread of algae where the light is shining on.

[SantaMonica]

Got a pic of the lighting setup?

[wilsontantw]

Got a pic of the lighting setup?

haha... yes, refer to thread #315 or click here.

i think i'll try to DIY something hold the light vertically (just worried that if it drops into the overflow, it'll cause a short circuit and power failure in the house.)

[Creetin]

i cleaned out the scrubber just now in case any algae dies off or what, since i have read reminders to clean!

funny mix of algae but not alot as yet.

[SantaMonica]

Wilson you can see that it only grows near the light, so yes you'll need more light in there. You could also just clip-on a bright CFL and point it down there.

Creetin you'll see in the next 7 days that there will be a lot more growth.

[wilsontantw]

Wilson you can see that it only grows near the light, so yes you'll need more light in there. You could also just clip-on a bright CFL and point it down there.

Yes Sir! And that's exactly what i'm planning to do this weekend!

It's going to be a busy weekend for me... rescape, cleaning and now to find a new CFL for scrubber!

[ambystoma82]

Wilson you can see that it only grows near the light, so yes you'll need more light in there. You could also just clip-on a bright CFL and point it down there.

Creetin you'll see in the next 7 days that there will be a lot more growth.

what is a CFL bro?

i always wanted to ask u

what is ur additive regime for ur skimmerless tank?

any plans on increasing the surface area of the mesh like shining into centre of a cylinder rolled up mesh?

what kinda of bulbs r best used? r we talking abt e type or lumens?

[Creetin]

Wilson you can see that it only grows near the light, so yes you'll need more light in there. You could also just clip-on a bright CFL and point it down there.

Creetin you'll see in the next 7 days that there will be a lot more growth.

thats encouraging... i will be splitting the pipes into 2 though to spread out the flow. sounds like a good thing to me plus i will add a union to help me in maintenance in the future!

[SantaMonica]

what is a CFL bro? what is ur additive regime for ur skimmerless tank? any plans on increasing the surface area of the mesh like shining into centre of a cylinder rolled up mesh? what kinda of bulbs r best used? r we talking abt e type or lumens?

Compact Fluorescent Light.

No additives, except for Kalk in the top-off.

I'm currently designing a 2-screen version of my scrubber.

[ambystoma82]

Compact Fluorescent Light.

No additives, except for Kalk in the top-off.

I'm currently designing a 2-screen version of my scrubber.

i was wonder is it really worth increasing the surface area to b shine on?

what do u tink? or just do more cleaning ?

look forward to ur design..

[shootsimon]

Will this increase the water evaporation rate?

[Creetin]

Will this increase the water evaporation rate?

Hi Simon yes it will but it also cools the water!

[Creetin]

Did some work today and spread the flow. definitely an improvement

[SantaMonica]

Creetin that is much better. Now give it a week and clean it.

Simon if you increase area, you have to increase lighting to cover that area. But 1.7 square cm per liter of water is good for most people.

[SantaMonica]

Bob the (reef) Builder on the SARK site made this PDF for a club presentation three months ago, and I just found it; maybe it could be used by others:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/AlgaeFilters.pdf

[snaper]

Hi SM,

I intend to Diy my own scrubber for my L24xW12xH18 tank about 23gl.

Correct me if im wrong!

My screen size that i will be using will be 5" X 5".

The flow will be 5" = 175gph about 700L/H.

Screen will be light up on both side.

Pls advice regards to my set-up for the scrubber.

As my tank is still in the cycle period...can i introduce it during the cycling period

or should i wait till the cycle period is over and done with all the stocks in my tank.

Rgds

[SantaMonica]

Yes that's the right screen size. Although, for such a small screen, it might be easier to just double the area, and make it one-sided (thus using one bulb instead of two).

Yes you should start the scrubber now; it will help to have all the nutrients from the cycle, and it will then be ready for livestock when the cycle is done.