Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, part 1-4

Another Reader Hits A New Low!

Jski711 on the RS site give us his report today, after a trip back from the LFS for testing. Here are the dates and activities that led up to today:

8/19: "i was going to order [a pre-grown screen] from inland but i've never seen these sheets before and don't know how rigid they are and how to "hang" one. any ideas would be great. I have a 75g, 36g sump and a 15g plumbed into that same system. I have a mag 12 return pump."

8/20: "it literally took all of 45 minutes [to build it] once i had the materials. i bought 65w equivelant pc bulbs but they are 2700k"

8/21: "i can't believe how well this diy thing worked out. i have notied my ph raise up about .15 in a few hours since this has been on. The piece [of pre-grown turf from IA] i got i cut in half and is 2 sided now, thanks to some tie wraps. i also bought 2 100w cf [equivalent] lights to replace the ones i had."

8/23: "i notice that some red algae seems to be growing pretty fast. it doesn't look like the turf but thats just an observation."

8/27: "first cleaning. i just used my fingernails"

9/3: "well i just finished my 2nd cleaning today. i have noticed that in my main display that i haven't had to use my scraper to scrape off the glass, i usually had to do this every few days because i'd get that green algae begining to grow. i've also notice that the turf that was on the screen in the first place seems to continue to spread over the screen."

9/7: "To my surprise i had my water tested at the lfs for phosphates and nitrates. they use the hanna photometer or whatever its called for phosphate. my phosphates were at .03!!!!!! my nitrates were barely detectable, a very slight pink came out on the test. so IMO this scrubber is working like CRAZY!!! I honestly didn't think that this was going to work as well as it does but to all the people that thought this was some sort of a gimmick i challenge you to give this a try, you won't be dissapointed!!!! thanks to santamonica for posting this up and thanks to inland for the "pregrown" screen!! i can say i've been feeding heavily and this is the lowest i've ever seen my phosphates!!!"
 
SantaMonica said:
lima that's great to hear. Did you clean yet? Now about N? Can you do pics before and after cleaning?
Click to expand...

ups... i has cleaned it... i forgot to take a picture... but it's really stink.. my wife angry with me because of the smell :)
 
Another Reader Cleans The Green!

Well it's been a good couple of days for clean-tank debuts. Minzuk on the UR site, who came up with the idea of using a gravel vac as a waterfall pipe, just checked in with great results. Here is what he did, along with the dates:

8/14: "I wont be discarding the skimmer or po4 reactor just yet, ill prob still keep them on even after this starts to work. I like new/ressurrected ideas, so though for 5 mins work ill give it a go. Seeding? I cant see anything about seeding in your write up. Rubbing green algae, do you mean the algae that will begin to grow in a few days? Do we let it build up and whilst harvesting it off, try and rub it into the screen?"

8/18: "im on day 6 and this is the result so far [very very light growth in pic]. Is this correct? Am I going on track? its more browny green then green. I can also see small hairy strands of green showing when viewed close up."

8/20: "Im using a 125w envirolite lamp with reflector to light up the area. I suppose I could move it closer down to the screen if needed. Power wise, im using a mj400. Do you think I would get better results with a larger powerhead?"

8/22: "well after moving the light much closer, the screen has started to fill like crazy, its turning into a sludge type algae and behind the brown stuff i can see green algae growing"

9/7: "Its been a few weeks since I made mine. Been busy so not had a chance to update. All I can say is, I was suffering a crap load of hair algae [in the display] and very dusty algea on my rocks, back and sand. Since I have added the screen, the back of the tank has literally cleaned itself bare. the rocks are all very purple again, and a not a cm in sight of any algae. The front glass has not built up any algae for a while. Im due to test tomm for NO3 and PO4 but I can honesly say just by looking at the sparkling water, clean sand and amazing rocks. This thing defo works.....thanks so much!! It has made a major difference to the tank and water quality."
 
Here's the first reader that made use of the sump Version 3. Very neat... no extra space needed. As long as you keep the sump level low enough, you get full use of the screen space:

UserThauro77onSWF-all.jpg
 
If any of you folks feel that these algae filters are going to be able to help you, then do me a favor and state your opinion over on RC. There are some clowns on that site that don't want algae filters to succeed, and they spend all day posting trash on my thread there, while I'm trying to help people to build screens of their own. I don't know why that site allows them to post the things they do (i.e. talking about my family members), but they do. The ones doing it are obvioius, and they're all posting at once in the last 24 hours because of the recent three successes in a row that I posted there. To help, go to reefcentral to the last page of my thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1424843&goto=lastpost

... and post what you feel. Also feel free to report the post of the offenders; us the "report this post" link on the bottom-right of the post.

Thanks
 
Don't take it too personally, I find many reef keepers that post on message boards tend to be very aggressively opinionated. Many tend to think that because the way they do things works, that only their way works, and they can take offence at anything they dont agree with.

btw no offence to reef keepers, its just an observation:silly:
 
I followed the link and skimmed through the thread, and I then followed a link to a similar thread on another forum.
It seemed to me that many of the posters know their stuff, and they were reasonable in their arguments. Most see the merits of the design, but they also see its drawbacks.

I think you are obsessing over this turf scrubber.
I don't think you should be hyping it on so many forums, after having it set up for such a short time.
Discuss it for sure, but I think you should tone it down a little, as you are making big claims without the long term data to back it up.
 
SantaMonica said:
If any of you folks feel that these algae filters are going to be able to help you, then do me a favor and state your opinion over on RC. There are some clowns on that site that don't want algae filters to succeed, and they spend all day posting trash on my thread there, while I'm trying to help people to build screens of their own. I don't know why that site allows them to post the things they do (i.e. talking about my family members), but they do. The ones doing it are obvioius, and they're all posting at once in the last 24 hours because of the recent three successes in a row that I posted there. To help, go to reefcentral to the last page of my thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1424843&goto=lastpost

... and post what you feel. Also feel free to report the post of the offenders; us the "report this post" link on the bottom-right of the post.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hey SantaMonica, I find that the folks who knock an idea are the ones who want to make everyone think they know what they are talking about OR are jealous that someone else came up with a great idea and they didn't. You will find it starting to filter over to this forum as well. I think, if it works for you and you have the numbers to back up your claims, it will catch on with some of us that like new ideas/designs that handle a problem and cuts down on the maintenance of the hobby.

As soon as I get my new tank set up and running, I'll be building something along the lines you have shared and make notes as to how well it works. I think it has the potential to allow one to have more occupants in the display. SO... Don't take it personnally, just consider the source. It's easy to read a book and then sit back and condem others for sharing ideas that can make life easier. If they don't agree, they could just sit back and read rather than blasting someone for trying something new, or taking an old idea, designed for large commercial aquariums, and shirnking it down to the home aquarium scale.

This is one of the reason so many people have great ideas, that function, and won't share them. There's always some critic out there, with NO IDEAS, ready and willing to condemn publically and have a FEW friends who will chime in and back up the critic. It happens in all fields of interest.

Enough of my ramblings. I think you shared a good idea and with the drawings you placed on RC, I now have an idea as to how to make one scrubber work in my limites space and out of sight in the base cabinet. I hate having a lot, or any, of the mechanicals out in the open.

Thanks for sharing, if it was only for my benefit.

Greg
 
Good points from both of you. By the way it's not personal, it's the new people over there that want to build one, but they are complaining of the noise. And Ohbly the only claim/purpose is to reduce N and P by itself with no help needed from other equipment, which it's already proven to do. Four readers have already built one and knocked out their N and P, all within 3 weeks. Interesting that only one of them was from RC, even though I originated my thread there.
 
This one is a very nice build from someone who knows how to work with acrylic. It's another elevated-screen setup, and the main advantage of his is the 33 watt CFL's on both sides. Lighting will not be a problem here:



UserJohntOnUR-8-all.jpg



By the way, many folks are tie-wrapping thier screens to the pipes. I did not do this, but it could indeed be useful. However it does mean you'll need to take the pipe out with the screen each time.
 
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