Algae Scrubbers

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Algae Scrubbers

• How They Remove Nutrients From Your Aquarium
• by
• Santa Monica Filtration
• www.Santa-Monica.cc

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Part 1 of 6What is an algae scrubber ?

• Its a device which uses algae to scrub
  (remove) nutrients out of your water.
• It grows algae on purpose, where you want it, so
  nuisance algae grows less where you dont want
  it.
• It does this by consuming nutrients in the water
  that nuisance algae need to grow.

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What is an algae scrubber ?

• Since the algae grow in a place you can get to
  (inside the scrubber), you can easily remove the
  algae and throw it away.
• And, since many aquarium animals love to eat
  fresh algae (especially green), you can feed some
  of the algae back to them.
• Most of the algae, however, will be thrown away.
  This removes the nutrients from your water.

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Part 2 of 6How did scrubbers develop ?

• Algae scrubbers were invented by Dr. Walter Adey
  in the late 1970s when he was at the Smithsonian
  Institution.
• Algae, of course, had been grown long before
  that, but not in a manner so separated from the
  aquarium.
• This separation is what keeps animals from eating
  the algae, and, allows you to remove the algae so
  easily.

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How did scrubbers develop ?

• Dr. Adey never built or sold any scrubbers, but
  he did license a few people to build them.
• These designs were bulky, mechanical dumping
  buckets that were placed above the aquarium or
  sump.
• They were noisy and not very reliable, and were
  also hard to build, thus they sold poorly and
  were discontinued.

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How did scrubbers develop ?

• In the early 1990s a few people started making a
  flowing-river version of an algae scrubber.
• It was easier to build, but still very bulky, and
  still needed to be placed above the aquarium or
  sump which took a lot of space.
• It too was discontinued after a few years.

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How did scrubbers develop ?

• In August 2008, an internet forum user called
  SantaMonica posted his idea of a waterfall
  version on one of the aquarium forums.
• This design had the first 2-sided algae
  attachment surface this helped filtering but it
  still needed to be placed above the aquarium or
  sump.
• It sold well and introduced scrubbers to a new
  group of internet aquarists.

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How did scrubbers develop ?

• In 2011 SantaMonica invented the upflow
  version, which uses air bubbles instead of a
  waterfall.
• It is the first scrubber to be able to be
  operated inside of an aquarium or sump, instead
  of above it. This saves a lot of space for some
  people.
• It is the primary type of scrubber sold today.

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Part 3 of 6How do scrubbers really work ?

• The main filtering function of an algae scrubber
  is done by photosynthesis.
• Light is combined with nutrients (nitrate,
  phosphate) to produce living algae.
• The more algae that can be produced per day, the
  more nutrients will be used from the water per
  day.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• In particular, photosynthesis uses (absorbs)
  nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, ammonia, ammonium,
  CO2, iron, and other heavy metals.
• Ammonia is the preferred nutrient because it
  supplies nitrogen directly to the algae.
• When ammonia is not available, such as in
  established aquariums, nitrite is used next,
  followed by nitrate.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Metals including iron are usually in ample supply
  in aquariums, especially saltwater tanks fed with
  nori, or freshwater tanks topped off with tap
  water.
• Heavy metals, sometimes supplied by salt mixes,
  can also supply the growth needs of a scrubber.
• Iron dosing, and possibly also iodine dosing, can
  sometimes help a scrubber grow if metals are
  lacking in the water.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Carbon is also needed for photosynthesis to
  occur, and thus for algae to grow in the
  scrubber.
• The photosynthesis prefers to get carbon from the
  CO2 in the water because this carbon is easy to
  utilize.
• If CO2 becomes low in the water, such as when a
  fast growing scrubber uses it, carbon is then
  pulled from the waters alkalinity.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Light the green algae that works best in
  scrubbers prefers mostly red light (660 nm) to
  grow.
• Some blue light (430 nm) may also help, but many
  scrubbers have shown good results without it.
• The strength of the light is very important,
  because if its too weak, only dark algae will
  grow, and if its too bright, no algae will grow.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Air/water interface This is the hardest part to
  understand, but is what allows scrubbers to
  out-compete nuisance algae.
• By using an air/water interface to make an
  extremely thin layer of water touching the algae,
  the boundary layer of water is reduced.
• A boundary layer is like a wall a smaller one
  allows more nutrients to reach the algae faster,
  and results in more nutrient removal.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Waterfall and horizontal river scrubbers achieve
  the this thin layer of water by using rapidly
  flowing water across a surface.
• Upflow versions achieve it by passing air bubbles
  rapidly up a surface.
• The areas of the surface with the most turbulence
  (air/water interface) will grow the most, and
  thus remove the most nutrients from the water.

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How do scrubbers really work ?

• Lastly is attachment surface The surfaces of a
  scrubber must be very rough so long green hair
  algae can attach and not flow away.
• Strong filtering will cause this long algae to
  grow in a scrubber, and it will be pulled on by
  the strong turbulence.
• Filtering therefore will be proportional to the
  roughness of the attachment surfaces.

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Part 4 of 6Operation

• Picking the proper size scrubber is the first
  step size is based on how much you feed, instead
  of how much water you have.
• This is because scrubbers remove nutrients
  directly, and nutrients come from food directly.
• More (or less) water volume in your tank would
  not change how many nutrients you are feeding
  each day.

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Operation

• However, one hidden source of feeding that
  confuses many people is nutrient-soaked rocks in
  particular, phosphate-soaked rocks.
• Rocks from previous tanks that had algae
  problems, or even rocks from your current tank if
  more than 12 months old, can be phosphate-soaked.
• These rocks will slowly release the phosphate
  back into your water, exactly as if you are
  feeding more than you really are.

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Operation

• Therefore, when choosing a scrubber, add up how
  many frozen cubes, or sheet of nori, or pinches
  of flake, or grams of pellets that you feed each
  day.
• If you have phosphate-soaked rocks, add 1 cube of
  food for every 50 pounds (23 kg) of rock.
• The total number (feeding rocks) is what you
  would use to determine what size scrubber to get.

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Operation

• Follow the scrubber directions, but generally,
  all scrubbers can start operation in a similar
  manner
• Set the lights to be on for 18 hours per day (all
  algae need time to rest). WATCH the light turn
  off, to make SURE it goes off when you think it
  does.
• Make sure the water flow, or the air bubbles, are
  on for 24 hours per day.

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Operation

• After 7 to 14 days, see how the growth looks in
  the scrubber.
• Black growth means it needs more light (just like
  a dark room needs more light), and white or
  yellow growth means it needs less light.
• When the attachment surface seems full, clean it
  for the first time generally this first time
  will be done in your sink with running water.

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Operation

• Repeat the cleaning process every 7 to 14 days,
  depending on how fast it grows.
• In saltwater, when thick green hair algae grows,
  you may be able to just reach in a grab the
  growth without taking it to your sink.
• Freshwater growth is much more like slime, and
  will usually need cleaning in your sink.

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Part 5 of 6Results

• When your scrubber has been growing thick growth,
  it can be the only filter on your tank, even
  replacing water changes.
• It will remove ammonia, ammonium, nitrite,
  nitrate, phosphate, CO2, and heavy metals.
• It will put into the water oxygen, amino acids,
  vitamin C, baby pods, and it will raise the pH.

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Results

• It will remove the nutrients needed by such
  nuisance algae as slime, turf, green hair,
  bubble, dinos, and green dust it will then help
  remove cyano too.
• Dinos are the first to go cyano is the last.
• It will lower the nitrate and phosphate
  sometimes the levels will be too low to measure.

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Results

• Dont forget that some of the algae from the
  scrubber can be fed back to your animals.
• By feeding your animals with growth from the
  scrubber, and less from packages, the animals get
  live fresh food and no additional nutrients are
  added to your tank.
• The growth can also be used for fertilizer, pet
  food, skin wraps, beer/wine fermentation, and
  even as a salad!

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Part 6 of 6Advanced

• For those wishing to DIY their own scrubber, or
  delve into advanced topics
• There are many upflow, waterfall, and river
  versions that are easy to build in a weekend.
• A special aquaponics setup can be built which
  grows food for you, while filtering the water for
  the fish.

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Advanced

• A special seaweed cultivation version can be made
  using fertilizer and no fish, which only grows
  food for you.
• Scrubbers can be used to deal with chlorine and
  chloramines in tap water.
• Scrubbers can be used to do all your fish
  feeding, so that you never have to feed again.

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Advanced

• A quarantine/hospital tank can be set up so that
  it is waiting for use, with only a scrubber for
  filtration.
• Upflow versions can allow ponds to be set up,
  including reef ponds, which have no external
  equipment.
• Upflow versions can be put into your display, so
  that you do not need a sump.

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Advanced

• Large versions can be built to filter your
  outdoor pond, and even your swimming pool.
• Tiny versions can be build into the back of your
  desktop tank.

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End

• Go to www.AlgaeScrubber.Net to ask questions.
• Click www.AlgaeScrubber.Net/AlgaeScrubbers.pps
  for an updated presentation.
• Go to www.Santa-Monica.cc for pre-made scrubbers
  you can buy.
• Thanks for reading!