Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, Everything

[SantaMonica]

Need more info on the tank

[hiphophippo8]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

Need more info on the tank

its a 60 gallon tank that will soon be a reef tank. It has 80 lbs of live sand and I am ordering 40 lbs of base rock and I will have about 10 lbs of live rock for now. Right now I am running a power filter that is very close to a emporer 400. Soon to have metal halide lights this week running around 275 watts. If you need to know any more feel free to ask I just bought all the pipe and plastic canvas ill need so any help would be great. Also has anyone modded their power filter to run one of these. Right now I dont have any fish in it because its still cycleing.

[SantaMonica]

do I need any other filtration devices or anything else besides this?

You will need more than 10 pounds of LR once your have fish and corals.

what happens to all the debree in the tank does the algae filter it out?

Algae filters out the Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate, which are invisible. Algea leaves food particles in the water, so your small fish and corals can eat them. Until you have a good amount of corals, you are better off filtering out the particles with your power filter.

are there any negative affects (cons) about using this?

Chemically, no. Physically, you have to build them (properly); if done improperly you may have water or salt spray, and lots of extra light.

has anybody made on for a power filter?

No. Too hard.

[hiphophippo8]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

You will need more than 10 pounds of LR once your have fish and corals.



Algae filters out the Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate, which are invisible. Algea leaves food particles in the water, so your small fish and corals can eat them. Until you have a good amount of corals, you are better off filtering out the particles with your power filter.



Chemically, no. Physically, you have to build them (properly); if done improperly you may have water or salt spray, and lots of extra light.



No. Too hard.

thanks for all the help and yes I am getting more live rock. I just picked up all the supplies I need today and I am going to start building it when ever my pump gets in.

[Jason1]

would this light work for a scrubber?

225 WHITE LED Aquarium Grow Light Panel 120 or 240 Volt - eBay (item 220497573001 end time Oct-22-09 11:24:11 PDT)

[SantaMonica]

Not enough power... is only 13w. Get one of the red/blue 45w ones.

[sanababit]

first time posting, i need some input on my algae scrubber, its been running for a little over 5 weeks and still no turf algae, just yellow greasy algae and some green, i clean it every week



bulbs are 5000k 17w usage 70w output, thanks

sana

[SantaMonica]

Is doing fine.

[waucedah_joe]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

Not enough power... is only 13w. Get one of the red/blue 45w ones.

Do you have a link? The red/blue ones from the same seller are also 13.8W.

Thanks

[SantaMonica]

The GlowPanel 45 LED Grow Light - led grow lights -Sunshine Systems

[SantaMonica]

A quote from Eric Borneman on feeding SPS corals, from
Mything the Point: Part One by Eric Borneman - Reefkeeping.com

"Corals with small polyps do not necessarily require more or less light than those with larger polyps. The only real difference between corals with small polyps and corals with large polyps is the size of the prey they can consume. Many small polyped corals, such as Pocillopora damicornis and Stylophora pistillata, are highly photoadaptive and can be found in very deep water. The genus Acropora has more species than any other coral and, as might be expected, can be found in similarly varied locations. Species of Acropora are found in deep water and shallow water, high water flow and low water flow. Furthermore, corals with small polyps have been found in many studies to consume more prey than corals with large polyps (see Borneman's article on feeding corals in Reefkeeping 2002 for pertinent references). The belief that large polyped corals need to be fed more than small polyped corals is just wrong."

[skimmers remove coral food; scrubbers add coral food]

[beachbabies]

Hi guys! I started my bucket 3 weeks ago and it's slowly comming along. Just FYI, if anyone was wondering if a fish jumped into your overflow and got sucked up through the bulkhead, went for a water slide down the tubing and got stuck in the pvc and got pulled out 2 weeks later, the fish would be just fine!
My clown goby has been missing for 2 weeks, I moved everything around looking for him last night and when he still didn't turn up, we took the tubing apart. and there he was, hanging out in the pvc. stupid fish!

[SantaMonica]

Excerpts from "Our Coral Reef Aquaria - Our Own Personal Experiments in the effects of Trace Element Toxicity" by Ron Shimek
Our Coral Reef Aquaria by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

"Trace elements in heightened concentrations are considered to be poisons, nothing more, nothing less, by every researcher examining them."

"With regard to arsenic (when found), copper, nickel, tin, and zinc, the average tank water must be considered as being polluted with heavy metals."

"The water from the average reef tank is clearly dangerous to the organisms put into it [because of too many trace elements]."

"What causes these excessively high trace metal concentrations? Initially, the problem occurs with artificial seawater mixes that have abnormally high concentrations of these materials [...] Also, there is inadequate export of the materials due to any number of causes, but including such factors as poor skimming, inadequate water changes, and inadequate biomass export. Finally, in some cases well-meaning, but ill-advised aquarists often add supplements containing unknown quantities of some trace elements."

"There are NO data that any trace element additions are beneficial, and for any trace element for which there are data, excess amounts are detrimental. No adequate test kits exist for the vast majority of these materials, and few supplements list their ingredients in a trustworthy manner. Consequently, it is prudent not to add any at all to a system."

[Scrubbers remove metals]

[hiphophippo8]

I finally finished my scrubber for my 65 gallon tank ill post pics as soon as possible

[SantaMonica]

Success Updates:

Coolhandgoose on the scrubber site: "Since I installed the new light two weeks ago my nitrates have gone from 20 to 0. The cyano in my display is now starting to disappear."

Desert_Fishy on the SWF site: "I started my 75g reef 5 months ago (2nd venture w/SW) and decided to start up with a scrubber and no skimmer due to this thread. All I have are powerheads, lights, scrubber and a heater. My water readings are perfect, corals are really flourishing, fish are happy and I spend 10 minutes a week cleaning the algae off the scrubber - although that is becoming a bigger and bigger job. My only problem now is that copepods, feather dusters and some other small pink bug-like creatures that live on the glass are multiplying out of control. I have feather dusters everywhere!"

Toddo on the MFK site: "This is my 125 freshwater tank with medium bio load. I have an XP3 with Biomax/mech pads, and this scrubber as the only filtration now. Its been 12 days with just the scrubber for nitrate control. Nitrates and ammonia are still at zero. No water changes. This is significant, as my well water is 35-40ppm Nitrates. It grows enough algae to need weekly cleaning now. I had a specific freshwater requirement for low to no nitrates, and I have met that, using my scrubber. It was properly designed and built using info provided, and is now functioning as expected."

DeathWish302 on the RC site: "The turf scrubber slowly drove out the cyano, and has been amazingly processing EVERYTHING I have thrown at the tank in regards to food."

AlgaeNator on the scrubber site: "I have been running a version of ATS for about 2 months, and have been skimmerless for 4 weeks now, and am very happy with the ATS concept and performance so for. I have been running my prototype Victory Scrump for about 3 weeks now, to prove the concept and it's working VERY well. My corals are healthier than EVER, Two of MY RIC's that were dying going clear, are now SPLITTING after removing the skimmer. Im amazed actually at how well my other softies are doing too. In my case, I might not be typical though, as I think i was OVERSKIMMING my tank with my larger skimmers i build and sell, removing the good stuff with the bad"

Manuelink on the scrubber site [from spanish]: "with algal over 4 months without water changes, no skimmer, no additives anything, just food and my corals growing like additives. the coralline algae and is infested by all sides, that speaks of good levels of alk and calcium. is a wonder this invention"