There’s enough good information on the web about building one that there’s no reason for me to discuss the construction of it, but I can discuss how it has worked and what advantages and disadvantages I’ve found with them.
Here are some links if anyone is interested in building one: http://www.livingree...ber-t32422.html
http://www.livingree...diy-t16734.html
http://algaescrubber...orums/forum.php
I built my first one a few months ago. I’m using it on my 150 gallon tank. I then built another one just a few weeks ago for a 30 gallon tank.
I’ll start with the disadvantages:
- They’re ugly. If you choose the DIY with PVC piping and an open screen, there’s just no way around it. PVC piping and a screen full of algae is just not pleasant to look at -interesting but not pretty. You can purchase enclosed models that would be much more attractive, but that would eliminate some of the advantages that I feel they have for natives.
- They require longer lighting duration than a tank full of plants. I normally leave the lights for my planted tanks on for 10 hours a day. The algae scrubbers require 18 hours a day of lights, and fairly intense lights at that. I’ve got four 40 watt CFL’s on the scrubber for my 150 gallon and two 23 watt CFL’s on the one for the 30 gallon.
- Like any sump, you have to find a place to put it.
Some of the advantages are:
- They are very powerful nutrient removers. Before installing the algae scrubber on my 150, I was changing 20% of the water 4 to 5 times per week just to keep the nitrate level down. Once the scrubber began working up to full potential I haven’t done a water change in over 2 months and the nitrate levels are always less than 20ppm. I’m sure if I removed my canister filter, the nitrate would be 0, but I prefer to keep it running for mechanical filtration.
- They’re easy to build. The first one was a nice afternoon job. The second one probably only took an hour or so, but it was smaller.
- Easy maintenance. A quick weekly cleaning of the screen only takes a few minutes.
- They’re good for tanks where plants are not desired or the tank is too tall to get good light penetration through the water to the plants.
- They can cool the water. I love this advantage when it comes to keeping native fish as those of us keeping natives are often looking for ways to cool the water. It doesn’t cool like a chiller, but does cool. I’ve been running a fan on the screen for my 150 gallon and the water seldom gets above room temperature. When it does, it’s just for a short period. With the fan on the scrubber, the tank water temperature typically runs anywhere from 1oF to 8oF cooler than the room temperature. This temperature difference, of course is determined by the humidity of the room air. As with any evaporative cooling system; the lower the humidity, the better the cooling.
This is the algae scrubber for the 150 gallon. I simply used a plastic tote and created some drain lines so it can drain back into the tank. The vertical PVC posts in the tote are just for support. The dark stuff on top is the bottom of a garbage bag that keeps it from spitting water. The bag keeps algae from growing in the slot and plugging it up which causes the spitting.
algae scrubber3.jpg 194.39KB 2 downloads
Here it is without the lights.
algae scrubber4.jpg 237.08KB 2 downloads
This is the one for my 30 gallon. The 30 gallon has an inch and a half drain hole that allowed me to use a 10 gallon tank underneath to put the scrubber in. I didn't need any extra support for this one.
algae scrubber and rock bass.jpg 187.21KB 4 downloads
This one shows a little more of the set up. Please excuse the mess around it. The rock bass in the tank has to live by the recycling cans. I also like to pick up trash that I find in the creek so the rock bass gets a beat up 1949 license plate for a back drop. The PVC to the right of the picture is coming from the pump that sets in the 10 gallon and pushes the water up to the 30 gallon.
Edited by steve, 23 May 2012 - 10:19 PM.