turf scrubbers
- Thread starter d-man
- Start date
btwk12
Member
i tried that on my 55 2 years ago when santa monica was first starting that thread on here. as long as you get it right you can get quite a bit of flow through it. the only prob is most people only run theyre lights 8-10 hours a day and it needs a longer lighting period for it to grow and if you put an extra light over it, it would prob grow a bunch of algae in that corner of your tank. i kept mine in for a while but didnt notice much difference.
J
jstdv8
Guest
Bt,
Only thing to note that I see for your setup is that once you get your skimmer in there the water level will have to be much higher, and if the water is higher you need to be able to move the screen and the light up to get your light out of the tank. Reason is the screen only needs to be in the water a little bit like you have it now, but the light needs to be outside the tank incase of an overflow or something where your sump fills up some with water. I run my sump about half full so there is plenty of room for extra water during a power outage and all that and my lights hang out just above the rim of the tank pointed somewhat downward.
Get us some nitrate tests and phosphate tests so we can see the results!
and if your tank has hair algae take a picture
Only thing to note that I see for your setup is that once you get your skimmer in there the water level will have to be much higher, and if the water is higher you need to be able to move the screen and the light up to get your light out of the tank. Reason is the screen only needs to be in the water a little bit like you have it now, but the light needs to be outside the tank incase of an overflow or something where your sump fills up some with water. I run my sump about half full so there is plenty of room for extra water during a power outage and all that and my lights hang out just above the rim of the tank pointed somewhat downward.
Get us some nitrate tests and phosphate tests so we can see the results!
and if your tank has hair algae take a picture
gill again68
Active Member
See thats the problem in my sump. My water level is so dang high. Thats another reason I am starting outside of the sump with mine. I do have room under there but its tight.
Anyone have an idea where I can buy bulkheads? I have looked at the depot and lowes but maybe I am just looking in the wrong places.
Anyone have an idea where I can buy bulkheads? I have looked at the depot and lowes but maybe I am just looking in the wrong places.
btwk12
Member
that is real good advice dv8. i do have my intake pump about 1 1/2 -2'' under the water level so i will prob only lose 7-10 gal at the most if a power outage occurs. i will test that today to see what happen's, cuz you never know in this season with the ice and all that. also i do not have a phosphate test kit never have had one i will go get one today because i wanna see what my levels are to. last thing is i was up half way through the night tryin to get my return set right. what i did is set the intake to where i wanted it and tried to adjust the return to the intake, because i have a valve on each line, not as easy as i thought it was gonna be! if i turned it back a hair it was losing water to my hob skimmer overflow box an hour later, so i would open it up a little bit, then another hour later it was about to flood. and i did this til about 1am last night. but i finally got it in time to get a couple hours of sleep
gill again68
Active Member
The more I think about it the more it becomes painfully easy to see that having this in my sump will take a lot of those type issues away. Going back to the drawing board. I think a dual screen application will help me with my height concerns. All I need is one more bulb so that I end up with a bulb, screen, bulb, screen, bulb configuration. This would allow for the height of the screens to be less but have the total square inches that I need. Anyone need a trash can?
btwk12
Member
what size tank do you have gill? mine will be over kill once i get my other light set up my screen is 12x16 (almost 400 sq inches if i light both sides) but i figure the light will not cover the whole thing, so there wont be algae covering the whole screen. i kept it the full 16'' to make sure it was in the water enough to stop the micro bubbles, and on my return a have like a poly filter lookin thing to reduce bubbles going back to my dt.
d-man
Member
brwk12 I think the system you need to look into is called a deroso or something like that. It used 2 overflow pipes so you can match one to your pump speed and have the second for the times that it's a little too much. I was annoyed with the noise created by my overflow and so I set one up. I don't think you going to get it to last with a perfect setting because things can change and then your a little to much or to little again.
king_neptune
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers#post_3332297
I see,
1.) I don't think anyone has figured out an LED build that has grown algae yet. As a matter of fact my new LED light on my tank doesnt seem to grow algae either, and I've left it on a few times way longer than needed. That's on my frag tank with just a sponge filter for filtration.
2.) The two box thing would be easy to do, I don't mind bringing the screen to the sink, I just put a towel under it. Of course my sink is only a few feet away from my fish room.
3.) only thing I worry about with the weak light is that it will not grow in correctly, especially since the screens are one sided. I had weak lights in mine at first and it took two months for it to grow in and even then it wasnt all that great until I put better lights in.
It was still working, just not nearly as good as it does witht he better lights. IMO the light is the most important factor.
Because LED's dont produce UV light, algae will grow extremly pooly under LED's. Algae did at one time in my tank under LED lighting, but once I got a tang in there, its long since been picked clean.
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers#post_3332297
I see,
1.) I don't think anyone has figured out an LED build that has grown algae yet. As a matter of fact my new LED light on my tank doesnt seem to grow algae either, and I've left it on a few times way longer than needed. That's on my frag tank with just a sponge filter for filtration.
2.) The two box thing would be easy to do, I don't mind bringing the screen to the sink, I just put a towel under it. Of course my sink is only a few feet away from my fish room.
3.) only thing I worry about with the weak light is that it will not grow in correctly, especially since the screens are one sided. I had weak lights in mine at first and it took two months for it to grow in and even then it wasnt all that great until I put better lights in.
It was still working, just not nearly as good as it does witht he better lights. IMO the light is the most important factor.
Because LED's dont produce UV light, algae will grow extremly pooly under LED's. Algae did at one time in my tank under LED lighting, but once I got a tang in there, its long since been picked clean.
king_neptune
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/40#post_3333722
Has anyone found a thread where this method has been used long term? A lot of them I read people have started them, used them for less than a year and scrapped the idea.
I used mine for a year because it stopped working suddenly. I tried replacing the bulbs, but I was never able to get more than brown ugly growth. So I gave up and went to skimming. My nitrates have been climbing steadily since...even with every counter measure I could come up with.
Im actually in the process of building a new and improved scrubber because my Nitrates are reaching unacceptable levels.
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/40#post_3333722
Has anyone found a thread where this method has been used long term? A lot of them I read people have started them, used them for less than a year and scrapped the idea.
I used mine for a year because it stopped working suddenly. I tried replacing the bulbs, but I was never able to get more than brown ugly growth. So I gave up and went to skimming. My nitrates have been climbing steadily since...even with every counter measure I could come up with.
Im actually in the process of building a new and improved scrubber because my Nitrates are reaching unacceptable levels.
acrylic51
Active Member
Quote:Originally Posted by Gill again68 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334749
See thats the problem in my sump. My water level is so dang high. Thats another reason I am starting outside of the sump with mine. I do have room under there but its tight.
Anyone have an idea where I can buy bulkheads? I have looked at the depot and lowes but maybe I am just looking in the wrong places.
You should be able to get bulkeads from any decent online place. Can't give specifics, but Savco is a good place to start!!!
gill again68
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by btwk12 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334766
what size tank do you have gill? mine will be over kill once i get my other light set up my screen is 12x16 (almost 400 sq inches if i light both sides) but i figure the light will not cover the whole thing, so there wont be algae covering the whole screen. i kept it the full 16'' to make sure it was in the water enough to stop the micro bubbles, and on my return a have like a poly filter lookin thing to reduce bubbles going back to my dt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334785
You should be able to get bulkeads from any decent online place. Can't give specifics, but Savco is a good place to start!!!
Yeah, I think I will have to order online. I wanted to just go out and pick some up.
Originally Posted by btwk12 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334766
what size tank do you have gill? mine will be over kill once i get my other light set up my screen is 12x16 (almost 400 sq inches if i light both sides) but i figure the light will not cover the whole thing, so there wont be algae covering the whole screen. i kept it the full 16'' to make sure it was in the water enough to stop the micro bubbles, and on my return a have like a poly filter lookin thing to reduce bubbles going back to my dt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334785
You should be able to get bulkeads from any decent online place. Can't give specifics, but Savco is a good place to start!!!
Yeah, I think I will have to order online. I wanted to just go out and pick some up.
J
jstdv8
Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by btwk12 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334757
that is real good advice dv8. i do have my intake pump about 1 1/2 -2'' under the water level so i will prob only lose 7-10 gal at the most if a power outage occurs. i will test that today to see what happen's, cuz you never know in this season with the ice and all that. also i do not have a phosphate test kit never have had one i will go get one today because i wanna see what my levels are to. last thing is i was up half way through the night tryin to get my return set right. what i did is set the intake to where i wanted it and tried to adjust the return to the intake, because i have a valve on each line, not as easy as i thought it was gonna be! if i turned it back a hair it was losing water to my hob skimmer overflow box an hour later, so i would open it up a little bit, then another hour later it was about to flood. and i did this til about 1am last night. but i finally got it in time to get a couple hours of sleep
Is there a reason to have the water coming into the sump reduced? I was always told you just let that one flow as fast as it can and then have the return line set for a little less than the overflow can handle.
Maybe yours is set up differently.
Originally Posted by btwk12 http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3334757
that is real good advice dv8. i do have my intake pump about 1 1/2 -2'' under the water level so i will prob only lose 7-10 gal at the most if a power outage occurs. i will test that today to see what happen's, cuz you never know in this season with the ice and all that. also i do not have a phosphate test kit never have had one i will go get one today because i wanna see what my levels are to. last thing is i was up half way through the night tryin to get my return set right. what i did is set the intake to where i wanted it and tried to adjust the return to the intake, because i have a valve on each line, not as easy as i thought it was gonna be! if i turned it back a hair it was losing water to my hob skimmer overflow box an hour later, so i would open it up a little bit, then another hour later it was about to flood. and i did this til about 1am last night. but i finally got it in time to get a couple hours of sleep
Is there a reason to have the water coming into the sump reduced? I was always told you just let that one flow as fast as it can and then have the return line set for a little less than the overflow can handle.
Maybe yours is set up differently.
acrylic51
Active Member
Agree Looks Good!!!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3335271
Well I built mine tonight, I just set it in place going to let the glue dry over night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///forum/thread/382073/turf-scrubbers/120#post_3335271
Well I built mine tonight, I just set it in place going to let the glue dry over night.
gill again68
Active Member
yeah looks great.
J
jstdv8
Guest
Looks great Al, I think if SM were watching this thread he would certainly make note of the lack of reflectors though.
Got a phos and nitrate reading by chance?
Got a phos and nitrate reading by chance?