L2 algae scrubber on its way (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Leicester56
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OP
OP
Late night second wind and I finally have the L2 up a running. Some of the pics aren't that great, but I think you will get the concept. Only took about and half hour to put it together and didn't need to glue anything. Everything is pulled up by a Tetra pond pump in the sump chamber below it ( hard to see behind my sicce 3.0 which provides the return for the DT).The scrubber drains into the same sump chamber with the emergency overflow draining into the adjacent Chaeto Fuge. With this set up I have about 4.5 inches of working space above the unit to mess with the screen. The main issue currently is that I don't like the idea of having 2 pumps in the tiny return chamber of my sump. Plan will likely be to buy 1 larger pump to supply both the DT and the algae scrubber.
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OP
OP
You should notch your pvc support so it "locks" onto the rim of the dump and there is no chance of it getting bumped and falling in.
OP
OP
A liitle hard to explain, but I designed it so the elbows at the ends ( which create a notch compared to the rest of the PCV piping), prevents it from sliding in either direction along the short axis of the sump. To prevent side to side movement in the direction of the long axis of the sump, I built the extra middle support, which creates a small region that the main drain tube of the ATS drops in the middle of ( not the overflow that sticks out to the side) preventing movement in all horizontal directions to an extent that would allow it to fall off the bracket. That being said, additional notching of the PVC tube could add additional security, which is always a good thing. Thanks for the idea!
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Update- I have a seed donor!!!!! Planning on giving the L2 a little head start with some extra algae from another member with a scrubber. Also, looks like the tetra pond 325 GPH is a bit too strong for the unit. The emergency overflow was dripping at a good speed. Placed a ball valve on the 3/4 inch tubing connecting the pump the the ATS and slowed the flow a bit.
hello turbo! this is Linus. Hope to get everything set up soon!
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Turbo's Aquatics
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My username (apostrophe) was hosing up the thread, sorry for buggling it up for a while, who knew!? Thanks to the Admins for fixing it. Anyways my other post got deleted probably in troubleshooting, so I'm still here
OP
OP
Update- L2 skimmer running on 50% lighting strength and growing algae well on both sides of the screen. It took about 4 weeks to get any growth, but as previously mentioned, it is currently competing with a Chaeto Fuge as well. I have been harvesting every two weeks, leaving some behind to continue growth. My green hair algae has all but disappeared, though I think I still have a mild dinoflagellate issue as I cannot keep my snails alive. Maintenance is very easy aside from getting the false bottom out of the chamber ( this is solely due to the lack of much vertical space above the unit). Since it is hooked up to its own pump, I have now just been taking the whole unit out of the sump cabinet for cleaning, which makes everything really easy.
Now that I am getting good growth, I plan on increasing the light intensity to 100% to see if can outcompete the Chaeto Fuge. Currently, the Chaeto is growing at about half its normal rate.
Hopefully I can get some pics up soon. For those of you on the forum who also purchased one of these units, I would love to compare notes!
Now that I am getting good growth, I plan on increasing the light intensity to 100% to see if can outcompete the Chaeto Fuge. Currently, the Chaeto is growing at about half its normal rate.
Hopefully I can get some pics up soon. For those of you on the forum who also purchased one of these units, I would love to compare notes!
I am not running one of bud's scrubbers but one I built and it is very similar in design to Bud's.
I have been harvesting around 32oz of algae every week. I do not have a fuge or skimmer running.
I ran into an issue with some parasites and installed a UV starilizer and that has cleared up that issue.
I also had gotten some frags and picked up some red slime. I treated with chemiclean twice and that is all gone.
All in all, my tank is rocking now!!
I have been harvesting around 32oz of algae every week. I do not have a fuge or skimmer running.
I ran into an issue with some parasites and installed a UV starilizer and that has cleared up that issue.
I also had gotten some frags and picked up some red slime. I treated with chemiclean twice and that is all gone.
All in all, my tank is rocking now!!
320z on a 75g tank, I'd say that's rockin'.........
OP
OP
Agreed!!!!!
I stopped taking pictures but I can get over 32oz!
Turbo's Aquatics
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You threw me off, I thought you were weighing the stuff vs filling a 32oz container.
What I've been doing is weighing wet, then giving a good squeeze and weighing again, then really squeezing the snot out of it and weighing again. What I typically see is 16-17oz wet -> 10oz squeezed -> 5-6oz really squeezed.
What I've been doing is weighing wet, then giving a good squeeze and weighing again, then really squeezing the snot out of it and weighing again. What I typically see is 16-17oz wet -> 10oz squeezed -> 5-6oz really squeezed.