Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[Harlequinmania]

Wow.. this is such a good info, i will pin this up

[Firestarter]

Here is my simple algae scrubber, located at the overflow of my IOS tank.

I removed my skimmer, and replaced it with the scrubber. My nitrate reading is 25mg/l at point of installation.

One question SM, is it ok for me to leave the filter floss under the scrubber? As I want to filter out any dirt/food particles from the tank.

[SantaMonica]

You actually don't want to filter out the particles that are floating in the water, because those particles are food for the corals and small fish. When feed the tank, the small particles of food that the fish miss needs to circulate back around so the corals (or small fish) can eat them. Also, the waste from the fish (which is food also!) needs to circulate around so the corals (or small fish) can eat them. And lastly, the mucas and waste that come out of the corals needs to circulate around so the other corals can eat it. Even bacteria participate (invisibly) by eating all all of the above items; then the bacteria become food for the corals too. So every single thing you see floating in the water (and even stuff too small to see) is somehow food for something in your tank. That's why you don't want to filter anything out.

But there is more! If you try to filter out the particles by using foam, floss, or some other material, not only do you keep that food from being eaten, but the food will end up just rotting and releasing ammonia back into the water (which eventually will increase your nitrate and phosphate). So although you are trying to do good by "removing bad stuff", you are actually doing bad by removing good stuff (food), and causing that stuff to rot and put nitrate and phosphate into the water.

The solution: Do not remove any floating particles at all, anywhere. Keep them circulating throughout the system. You can even feed less if you do this, and all your food goes to actually feeding, not rotting.

[Firestarter]

Point taken SM, one more question, how long does it take for the algae to grow on the screen? And is it ok to leave the light 24hrs on for the initial stage of algae to grow onto the screen, then cut back to 18hrs once visible algae has grown?

[johntanjm]

I seriously recommend against a 24hr photo period. start with the 18. if you wish to kick start the process, get some seed algae.

[SantaMonica]

Correct, 18 hours On, 6 hours OFF

[SantaMonica]

Update: Best way to rough up your plastic canvas:

[hk75]

anyone could advise where could i get those arcylic box done in spore?

[Thexder]

I've modified my overflow pipe outlet into a rainbar concept. This serves to spread the water flow evenly through many evenly spaced holes. Now I get a good sheet of water covering my chopping board.

SM, you are right that the algae finds it difficult to cling onto the plastic chopping board surface. It took like 2 mths for the algae to get a good hold, but once it does, it grows ok. I'm getting a kind of slimy dark green algae, is this normal? I don't get any hair algae growth. Still sourcing for a brighter lamp but has to be compact size. My photo period for the scrubber is 12 hrs counter to my display tank.

There is no more mechanical filtration in my tank with this setup anymore.

[SantaMonica]

I'm surprised you have any growth at all with that light. That light needs to be no more than 4 inches from the screen, and it must have a reflector to direct all the light to the screen. Your scrubber won't do anything at all until you move the light.

Also, get a sheet of plastic canvas, rough it up with a hole saw, and lay it on top of the cutting board.

[Thexder]

Replaced the board with a cut piece of this leftover transparent drawer liner that I got from Ikea. And lowered the light.

Still looking for the ideal light that will fit my sump

[Firestarter]

After 6 days into the setup of the scrubber, my nitrates have dropped significantly.

Here is a pic of the algae growth.

Note that the blob of green hair algae in the middle was used to seed the scrubber, and not part of algae growth.

[bobiegoh]

Replaced the board with a cut piece of this leftover transparent drawer liner that I got from Ikea. And lowered the light.

Still looking for the ideal light that will fit my sump

bro, you can try the plastic clip on light set (25w) from ikea that will cost you $5.

[Thexder]

bro, you can try the plastic clip on light set (25w) from ikea that will cost you $5.

I'm using the plastic light set already... can see in the earlier photo. Changed the bulb to slightly brighter. The limitation is the size of the fitting. If want 23W I need to change the whole thing already. So now looking for a compact and enclosed light casing (preferably with reflector )

[bobiegoh]

I'm using the plastic light set already... can see in the earlier photo. Changed the bulb to slightly brighter. The limitation is the size of the fitting. If want 23W I need to change the whole thing already. So now looking for a compact and enclosed light casing (preferably with reflector )

bro, this is not the one i ref to (the set is in black color). Get it from ikea light section. It has a full reflector not like your one that has "lobang". It takes max 25w. You can fit Osram light bulb on it. God bless.

[hk75]

bro, any chnace to show a photo of the ikea light u mention. Was also finding for a suitable light.

bro, this is not the one i ref to (the set is in black color). Get it from ikea light section. It has a full reflector not like your one that has "lobang". It takes max 25w. You can fit Osram light bulb on it. God bless.

[bobiegoh]

bro, any chnace to show a photo of the ikea light u mention. Was also finding for a suitable light.

Will try to take photo this weekend. If you happen to be in ikea, it is at the 1st display row on your right. Full black plastic body with screw knob. God Bless.

[Thexder]

bro, this is not the one i ref to (the set is in black color). Get it from ikea light section. It has a full reflector not like your one that has "lobang". It takes max 25w. You can fit Osram light bulb on it. God bless.

I did see some with reflector at Ikea, but the problem is that the whole casing is made of cheapo sheet metal which will rust in a saltwater environment. Adding to that is the reflector area is open and not enclosed. I doubt that it will last very long...

Anyway, I will take a look at Ikea Alexandra this weekend if I'm around there.

[bobiegoh]

I did see some with reflector at Ikea, but the problem is that the whole casing is made of cheapo sheet metal which will rust in a saltwater environment. Adding to that is the reflector area is open and not enclosed. I doubt that it will last very long...

Anyway, I will take a look at Ikea Alexandra this weekend if I'm around there.

Well is better than you don have reflector at all. You can also add aluminum foil to the reflector so to give you a bigger and enclosed one. Am looking for a better one, if you come across anything better than this let me know. God Bless.

[Firestarter]

I was rather hesitant to change to an algae scrubber at first and doubted it would really work, as it was too good to be true.

Almost 1.5 weeks of converting to the scrubber, I can see such great results! My corals are finally doing better, pods population has almost tripled, and I don't even need to clean the tank glass at all (usually by now it would be covered my a thin film of brown diatoms).

Its amazing what the results were. Forget expensive skimmers, denitrators etc, just a good light source and good flow will do.

One of the main reasons why I changed to a scrubber was because of my high nitrate reading. When I finally bought a test kit and tested it, the reading was more than 100mg/l and now it has dropped significantly to 25mg/l. Another advantage was that I could skip the skimmer pump which resulted in my water temp dropping 0.5 - 1 deg.

I'd post more pics some other day.

[SantaMonica]

Great to hear!

[SantaMonica]

Update: Signs of scrubbers wearing out

Since my acrylic scrubber is approching one year old, it's the first one to experience signs of wearing out. Of course I'm also experimenting with large amounts of continuous feeding (which makes things worse), but I'm still seeing some of the same signs in other peoples' scrubbers, even though they are feeding normal amounts, and even though they've replaced the bulbs every 3 months. This is typically what starts happening:

Glass-cleaning is needed more often

Scrubber starts growing darker algae

pH stays at a lower point

Rocks get a light green covering

Cyano starts showing up

Nitrate and phosphate start staying at higher levels

What is probably happening (and what happened to mine) was that the flow had been greatly reduced to the scrubber. My screen is 22" wide, and only half of it was getting any flow at all (I'm surprised half of it did not die); the other half was still getting some flow, but it was so little that the bottom of the scrubber was almost dry. My problem was the pump:

This is a case of scrubbers causing their own unique problem. When you run a scrubber (without skimmers or mechanical filters), not only do the corals and small fish get much more of the food that you feed, but you will also grow all sorts of filter feeders like the ones you see all over the pump in the picture. They grew all through the display, of course (to be eaten by a wrasse), but they also grew up into the impeller area of the scrubber pump, which was the problem. Also in the pic, you can see the brown stuff which was the result of my experiment in large amounts of continuous feeding in a system with a poorly designed sump (which allowed too much settling). The case/impellor was so locked up that I had to soak it in pure vinegar for several hours to even get it open. So while waiting on that, I opened the Eheim 1262 (900 gph) that I ordered as a backup So now my scrubber pump is pumping 2X as much as my return.

Once the new pump was in place, there was a forceful waterfall across the screen again. There is so much water in the acrylic box now that it is 1" deep before it goes out the drain hole (whereas before it was almost dry).

Point is, check your scrubber pump often for internal fan worms or food buildup. Just like the lights, you may not be able to see the lower output (since it happens very slowly over time), so you have to open it up and check. Running the pump in vinegar every three months should keep it clear (vinegar disolves fan worms).

[lpm1825]

hi bro

Can i know how long u on your uv light.What media u used for your caroline.Can i place a cotton wool to collect the dirt before it pass thru the scrubber.

[SantaMonica]

There is no UV light. The scrubber lights are regular 2700K flourescent.

I have not used any media for the coralline.

Do not use a filter before the scrubber... you want all the stuff to circulate back to the tank to feed the corals and small fish.

[Maverick77]

You have mentioned recommended flow rate through the screen. Is there any upper limit? That is, will it affect the growth rate of the algae if I have flow rate that are too fast?