Algae Turf Scrubbers - Talk To Me (1 Viewer)

I have nutrient export issues. Big Time! And they aren’t going to get any better as my fish load increases.

Talk to me about your experience with them.

How easy was it to setup?

More importantly what type of maintenance do you have to do?

How well did it work?

How long has it lasted?

Would you do it again?

Get you a good biopellet reactor, a good strain of nitrifying bacteria, and call it a day. I never have bought into the whole turf scrubber theory. IMO, you would need a HUGE one to do anything appreciable on a decent sized tank. Algae just doesn't grow fast enough to take nutrients out at the rate they build up. This is based from my personal experience and not considered scientific.

I spent a very long time researching them

webster1234 said:

Get you a good biopellet reactor, a good strain of nitrifying bacteria, and call it a day. I never have bought into the whole turf scrubber theory. IMO, you would need a HUGE one to do anything appreciable on a decent sized tank. Algae just doesn't grow fast enough to take nutrients out at the rate they build up. This is based from my personal experience and not considered scientific.

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i have a lot of experience with turf scrubbers and would say the biggest challenge with them is sizing the screen correctly. They have a tendency to be too effective and eventually starve themselves out. If done correctly, they take out some serious nutrients, in my experience.

I don’t think I will have a shortage of nutrients.




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Great. Maybe mine just wasn't big enough to handle my bioload. I just ran one for a few months and didn't see much movement in my nutrients. Switched to a pellet reactor and PO4 and NO3 were knocked down to manageable levels within a couple of weeks. That's all I've run since and I tend to feed pretty heave twice a day. I use the redfield ratio theory for nutrient control and it seems to work better for me than algae, and less maintenance. If you've got enough room in your sump, give the scrubber a try.

Talk to me about your experience with them.
I just set up the smallest size offered by Clear Water Systems for a 72 gallon tank about 2 months ago.

How easy was it to setup?
It was super easy to setup. No issues. Bought a "kit" that included a pump and hoses as well as the scrubber from BRS.

More importantly what type of maintenance do you have to do?
Looks like maintenance will be weekly. Just need to remove the screen which is super easy to do. Run a plastic paint scrapper down the screen on both sides. Give it a rinse and reinstall. Less than 5 minutes.

How well did it work?
It took almost 6 weeks to break in and get to the point of my first harvest. It does grow algae well. Nutrients levels haven't dropped yet but all the literature suggests that they will start dropping after a few harvests.

How long has it lasted?
I'm still on the new side of running mine.

Would you do it again?
I think so. So the trade here for me was algae scrubber versus something like Vibrant. The kewl thing about the scrubber is once you get your nutrient levels where you want them in theory you just adjust the time you have the light on the scrubber and control nutrient load with the algae growth via lighting duration.

I have one. First, my 110G tank is only about 6 months old, and it is still lightly stocked. But aside from the rock and sand, my filtration is an ice-cap K2-160, and a turbo's aquatics L2, rev4. I run my skimmer only during the day - there just isn't enough load on it. That said: I have kept a lot of fish tanks over the years, and I am amazed at how this changes things. I am no longer changing water to keep nitrates down, in fact, I've started to dose stump remover to keep some nitrates in the system. Carbon dosing might be a good choice - I don't have any experience with it. But it is cheap to try if you have a good skimmer.
The ATS I own is easy to pull the screen out of. I shut the inlet valve (so all the water goes to my skimmer), spin off a PVC coupling, and lift out the spray bar with screen, or the whole acrylic tub. I carry it over a towel or bucket to the kitchen and scrape off some algae using a credit card or a brush, then go put it back in. Maybe 10 minutes every other week.
Set -up - plumbing took some work, I plumbed it off the siphon return, and split it with the skimmer compartment. But the tank was away from the wall and it was a new installation. It took about 6 weeks for me to see growth. You can adjust the light intensity and the photoperiod. Turbo has some guidelines for it that seemed to work.
6 months so far
yes, I would do it again. My only problem is a feel guilty I don't do more water changes. I used to be a 20% every 2 weeks guy, more if needed. Now most of the time I need 5 gallons for my QT, (I keep a fish in it all the time) so I change 5 gallons in the DT, and that's it.
one thing - the growth isn't always strong - again, lightly stocked.
one more thing - I have a massive bubble algae outbreak. I put this tank together with a lot of old parts - and had weak flow. And I have really bad lights (or good, if you are trying to grow algae) But it did not prevent algae from growing in the tank. I blame this on me and my slow investments in the system.

SCUBAFreaky said:

Nutrients levels haven't dropped yet but all the literature suggests that they will start dropping after a few harvests.

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I had this issue as well - the forum for turbo's aquatics suggested really high nitrate levels work against the growth you want, so it takes some time to establish and see results. My system was pretty new, but nitrates were probably ~ 20 or so for a while, then growth finally took off and they dropped to zero where they stayed. I started dosing nitrates so it would pick up the rest of the phosphate and drive that down.
I typed my previous reply in a hurry. I just realized it doesn't read very well - so if something seems unclear, just ask and I'll try to reword it.

My nitrates aren't bad - average 5-15 ppm. I dose 40ml vodka/vinegar everyday (almost) and 30ml Vibrant every 3 days. My problem is the dang phosphates... .5 ppm unless I'm really aggressive with lanthanum chloride.

The key to getting a head start on growth is to make sure your screen is roughed up real nice (use a hole saw and scrub the screen to make it rough) then get some hair algae from somewhere and scrub the screen with it, preferably getting chunks of hair algae caught up in the rough screen. That will make it start growing pretty well within the first week.

SCUBAFreaky said:

Talk to me about your experience with them.
I just set up the smallest size offered by Clear Water Systems for a 72 gallon tank about 2 months ago.

How easy was it to setup?
It was super easy to setup. No issues. Bought a "kit" that included a pump and hoses as well as the scrubber from BRS.

More importantly what type of maintenance do you have to do?
Looks like maintenance will be weekly. Just need to remove the screen which is super easy to do. Run a plastic paint scrapper down the screen on both sides. Give it a rinse and reinstall. Less than 5 minutes.

How well did it work?
It took almost 6 weeks to break in and get to the point of my first harvest. It does grow algae well. Nutrients levels haven't dropped yet but all the literature suggests that they will start dropping after a few harvests.

How long has it lasted?
I'm still on the new side of running mine.

Would you do it again?
I think so. So the trade here for me was algae scrubber versus something like Vibrant. The kewl thing about the scrubber is once you get your nutrient levels where you want them in theory you just adjust the time you have the light on the scrubber and control nutrient load with the algae growth via lighting duration.

Click to expand...

Are the screens on those smooth or rough?

Mine was already roughed in.

I think you'll need to give up the vibrant if you want to run an ats long term.
My age screen was also pre-roughed.

slojim said:

I think you'll need to give up the vibrant if you want to run an ats long term

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Or a fuge with cheato.Vibrant doesn’t usually play nice with cheato either.