grow cyano? BUT WHY?!!!

[rDr4g0n]

ill tell you why. because its better that it grows in your sump, than over your display tank's beautiful sand bed.

so sasquatch and a i have been talking about cyano and how it can be a problem. now when squatchy and i get a talking, bad things happen. like this thread question about MH and zooxanthellae but this time was different.

squatch's idea to get rid of my cyano was simple. grow it in the sump. so how should i grow cyano? the concept is simple. give it water, really icky yellow light and it will come. during a brainstorming session between him, woodstock, hippy, and me i came up with this drawing...



99% of the concept was squatch's, but i made a few small changes. basically its a tub with a piece of roughly sanded acrylic running diagonally down the middle. the powerhead (black thing) pumps water up from the sump, it runs down the rough acrylic, drains into the tub, which then drains back into the sump. so given the ideal conditions, cyano should form on the acrylic, thus using up all teh nutrients and starving any other cyano. Then this cyano can be scrapped off, which is an awesome nutrient export.

so heres what i built.





i have a powerhead that feeds a "spraybar" i made out of pvc pipe. i just pieced a few things together and drilled lots of holes in the bottom of it. i used the magical properties of zip ties to hold the whole thing together.

the water runs out of the spraybar and down the acrylic sheet. the acrylic was sanded with rough sandpaper to give it a good texture for algae and cyano to grip onto. finally it drains into a tub with a drain in it. just a $1 tub with a hole in the bottom pretty much.

now there are a few things id like to tweak. first off, its too small. i dont have a lot of room, so itll have to work. second, itd be best if i could paint the tub black, or find an opaque tub so that the light doesnt get into the sump and promote algael growth in there too.

also, itll be interesting to see what algae grows here. more than just cyano should start popping up here. also, what would be ideal conditions as far as light color and temperature? how much water flow? im open to ideas.

[boozeman]

very nice DIY
you may also want to google ''algal turf scrubber''

[rDr4g0n]

for no reason, heres a vid of it in action



also, i googled it booze, and ya, thats the idea lol Algal Turf Scrubber has a pretty good description of it. they used screen to give teh algae more texture to grab onto.

[saltwaterfarm]

Looks like a great idea... I bet if you extended the pipe on the bottom, it would cut down on the noise a little. Can't wait to see what you get growin in there!

[sasquatch]

Well Done!! may cyano be your new shag carpet lol. Heres what I did for mine

[KodiakBear]

If this works, I'm going to buy you both a beer, then build my own. Boozeman, can you cut me a deal?

[boozeman]

wow, you guys are DIY maniacs

On a side note, algal turf scrubbers are good for culturing algae to use as a nutrient export system ...BUT...they also vastly increase evaporation rates!!

[rDr4g0n]

Originally Posted by boozeman

wow, you guys are DIY maniacs

On a side note, algal turf scrubbers are good for culturing algae to use as a nutrient export system ...BUT...they also vastly increase evaporation rates!!

oh ya.. evap lol

squatch, i wanna see better pics with all teh details!

[rDr4g0n]

i added a scary looking red light, so hopefully thatll be the right spectrum.

[sasquatch]

What you vant Dracula cyano , come here let me slime your neck

[vdituri]

You guys are hilarious!
Oh yeah, you also have too much time and plastic parts just lying around.
And yes, zip ties are magical.
I buy you both a digital crown and coke for originality.

[KodiakBear]

Originally Posted by sasquatch

Well Done!! may cyano be your new shag carpet lol. Heres what I did for mine

I tried making something like that as a shelf for a filter pad in my sump... I used Plexiglass and without fail it shattered with less than 4 holes to go every time! Took 3 tries before I got so fed up I just glued the pieces together on the last one.

[DaBird]

OK, playing catch up here but I'm confused...are you trying to to grow cyano (Bacteria) or hair Algae? It will probably grow both but I just like to see myself type...

[prow]

Originally Posted by boozeman

On a side note, algal turf scrubbers are good for culturing algae to use as a nutrient export system ...BUT...they also vastly increase evaporation rates!!

hummm, this sounds good for those that drip kalk but that doesnt keep up with the tanks Ca and alk demands, algae scrubbers just might be the ticket, as a bonus you get some good exporting aswell. only worry would be if the scrubber combined with the kalk would deplete/reduce the system of CO2 to where it would effect the efficiency of the kalk. hummmm

[rDr4g0n]

Originally Posted by boozeman

wow, you guys are DIY maniacs

On a side note, algal turf scrubbers are good for culturing algae to use as a nutrient export system ...BUT...they also vastly increase evaporation rates!!

ive been thinking about it. i think i may just put the lid to the container back on. this will reduce evap greatly i think, but it will also reduce air exchange which may be one of the conditions that increase or reduce algael growth. i can make a hole and cover it with plexi or even saran wrap so that the light gets into the box.

Originally Posted by KodiakBear

I tried making something like that as a shelf for a filter pad in my sump... I used Plexiglass and without fail it shattered with less than 4 holes to go every time! Took 3 tries before I got so fed up I just glued the pieces together on the last one.

you are absolutly right. i shattered a piece too, and when it comes to trying to build stuff and failing i get MAD. anyways, the stuff i used is very thick, and i drilled very slowly so it wouldnt break.

Originally Posted by sasquatch

What you vant Dracula cyano , come here let me slime your neck

i had that red bulb sitting around and figured hey, lets see what it does... but a race of super mutant cyano that could take over the world? interesting...

Originally Posted by DaBird

OK, playing catch up here but I'm confused...are you trying to to grow cyano (Bacteria) or hair Algae? It will probably grow both but I just like to see myself type...

we WANT to grow cyano, but i think pretty much anything is going to grow there. through trial and error we may be able to determine what conditions will grow cyano specifically.


so far there is no growth on mine. im going to switch teh evil red bulb to a regular spectrum bulb and mess around with using specific spectrums once i get growth going. i think the main problem is seeding the plastic sheet. any ideas to get it started?