Algae scrubber in sump

[Buddly]

I have used this in my outdoor pond and it did not require a water change all season water chem was perfect.I have been thing of setting one up in my sump.Any thoughts
http://www.algaescrubber.net/%E2%80%8E




http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii474/meggy_lue/CarpintisxFlowerhorn368.jpg (http://s551.photobucket.com/user/meggy_lue/media/CarpintisxFlowerhorn368.jpg.html)

[Ken]

Has more to do with the floating plants, water letice , the water letice greatly out performs the algea scrubber because the water letice pulls Co2 out of the air, where the algea has to pull Co2 out of the water

[Buddly]

Cool but what do you think about having one in my sump.Here are some result and this is with zero w/c in door tank


Oct 24 2009: Build Algal Scrubber; pipe 3/4 inch, screen 30x40cm, pump 840 Gal/H and a pair of 55-watt bulbs 6500K savers. Water values for the time:

NH4, NH3 = 0
NO2= 0
NO3= 20 mg/l
PO4= 0.1

Oct 26 2009: The first and second day started sprouting weeds.

Nov 1 2009: Significant growth was observed.

Nov 2 2009: First harvest only one side of the screen.

Nov 9 2009: We measured parameters:

NH4, NH3 = 0
dNO2= 0
NO3= 20 mg/l
PO4= 0.05

Half Phosphates, Nitrates remain.

Nov 25 2009: Measured parameters remain the same, is harvested the screen. Bio-Balls delete, delete, mechanical filters, remove sand substrate and 25% water change. Measured parameters:

NH4 NH3 = 0
NO2= 0
NO3= 10mg/l
PO4= 0.25

The measures gave results.

Dec 1 2009: I introduce to my tank live rock cured for 30 days previously. Measured parameters:

NH4= 0
NO2= 0
NO3= 7.5 mg/l
PO4= 0.25

Dec 9 2009: It is harvested and measured parameters:

NH4 NH3 = 0
NO2= 0
NO3= 0 mg/l
PO4= 0
PH= 8
Temp= 25-26

TOTAL HAPPINESS!!! and remains so values.

[Ken]

I plan on having some floating plants with my new tank setup in the sump

But everyone will remind you not to foget about water changes

[Buddly]

if you can get # like this you would not need to change near as often is what I am thinking.Please your thoughts.I know in salt water tank it total eliminates w/c.

[nc0gnet0]

I believe an algea scrubber could REDUCE water changes but not eliminate them. While yes it will help with the nitrates, it won't do anything about other dissolved solids and trace mineral depletion. Not to mention the TDS creep you will encounter topping off the tank to compensate for evaporation. It's great that your implememtation in your pond worked so well (btw turf algae is much better at nitate reduction than floating plants), however I assume it does occasionally rain where you are at?


Rick

[yim11]

This comes up on here every couple of years and never really seems to be used much on discus/freshwater:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?77652-Algae-scrubbers-as-a-filtration-method&highlight=scrubber

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?97728-Anyone-running-an-Algae-Nitrate-Scrubber&highlight=Algae+scrubber

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?75551-Algae-Scrubber-Reduce-number-of-water-changes-while-improving-water-quality&highlight=Algae+scrubber

etc...

[Buddly]

Thanks a lot for the links.I have a 55gl sump with plenty of room so I might as well.I will post picture as I build

[Ken]

Water Hyacinth is just as good as the water lettuce, better in some areas

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15371212

BOD removal was highest in the duckweed system, followed by pistia and algae at 95%, 93%, and 25%, respectively.

COD removals were 65% and 59%, respectively, for duckweed and pistia, while COD increased in algal ponds by 56%.

Nitrate removals were 72%, 70%, and 36%, respectively for duckweed, pistia, and algal ponds.

Total phosphorus removals were 33% and for pistia and 9% duckweed systems, while an increase of 19% was observed in the algal treatment system.

Ammonia removals were 95% in both pistia and duckweed and 93% in algal systems.

Removals of total dissolved solids (TDS) were 70% for pistia, 15% for duckweed, and 9% for algae.

[boxhead1990]

i run a scrubber in my tank works well !


except i only just have a large pleco in there it was a native australian dominated tank until recently been wanting to get back into the discus game again

[otpi]

Has more to do with the floating plants, water letice , the water letice greatly out performs the algea scrubber because the water letice pulls Co2 out of the air, where the algea has to pull Co2 out of the water

Whatever does CO2 have to do with this?

Air has 0.039% carbon dioxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air) and a fixed solubility in water given a temperature, anything above that caused by the fish and other organisms "breathing" O2 -> CO2 is very quickly evened out in a system with just moderate agitation of the water column/surface (circulation). In fact the reason the algae scrubber screen is set up as it is; is to benefit from highly airated water, i.e. algae is in contact with both the gases in air and the nutrients in water, and ample light for photosynthesis. It is also the reason you do not want high circulation in a tank with a CO2 system. Since adding it is a waste if it is lost to the atmosphere.

This is also the reason climate scientists talk about the acidity of the oceans, because a increasing the atmospheric CO2, increase water CO2, and converts to carbonic acid H2CO3 according to the hydration equilibrium constant. That was a tangent... but...

Alga scrubbers work because you provide ample opportunity for alga to grow, and then harvest it, which removes nutrients from your water column. It's basically the same as harvesting half your duckweed every week.

Bottomline; where the CO2 comes from is irrelevant for the efficiency of the scrubber vs. plant. It boils down to whichever pulls nutrients out of the water column fastest.