Jerrylepp - Algae turf scrubbers

I am interested in setting up a algae turf scrubber but I have heard Pros and Cons. Most people I have talked to haven't had theirs up and running very long. Some say after about a year your corals will start to die. Is that true. Is there anyone that has had sucess over a year or two. Please reply. Thanks Jerry

 

I haven't ever used one but I would be skeptical that using one means that your corals WILL die after a year or two. That's a pretty sketchy claim IMO.
From what I've read the entire system that retailer Inland Aquatics is (or at least was) run on an ATS system for years. I'm sure there are more.

 

Of course corals don't die. Scrubbers give them the food they need, and remove the nutrients they don't need. Unless of course, you have a skimmer, which removes the food. Remember that algae is 90% of all living mass in the ocean (besides bacteria). Planktonic algae does all the feeding, and all the filtering, in the ocean. It also gives the ocean the greenish color.

Hopefully you will find similar answers in your other similar posts on other forums.

 

so, if you use a ATS do you not need a skimmer? i guess im now really boggled. you're saying that this provides nutrients to the tank and you're saying that a skimmer removes the same nutrients. if thats the case then how do i see peoples pics of beautiful 2+ year coral tanks without an ATS and with use of a skimmer?

im 2 months into the start of my 75gal tank. its going very slow to start because of the funding issue. this ATS would be an interesting DIY project i can do with materials i already have laying around. so id really like to get a better idea of how this is of benefit in the long run. im on a tight budget so if this method really does produce necessary nutrients and i dont have to pay money for nutrient supplement chemicals then im all for it.

 

ok, so i answered some of my own questions by doing a bit more research and reading further down the FAQ link.

so i could design one of these that would be fed by the overflow plumbing going to the refugium. so water would flow through this ATS before entering the fuge.

 

Correct.

Also, the link to the examples might help.

 

Just to clarify that the method of nutrient removal between the skimmer and refugium are somewhat different so they aren't necessarily 100% interchangeable AFAIK. The skimmer removes excess junk before it has a chance to break down completely and ATS' feed on the nutrients (nitrates/phosphates etc) after they're broken down.
Also even people who run ATS's generally still recommend having a skimmer for occasional use or at the very least for emergencies. There are some things a skimmer can do that an ATS will never be able to do, like skim out a cup of flake food that accidentally gets dumped in the tank or help clean up if a large fish or anemone dies etc.

 

Correct... skimmer remove tons of food, quickly.

Depends what you mean by "clean up". If you mean "save the tank from ammonia poisoning", then no, a skimmer does not remove any ammonia at all. The tank will die.

If you mean "remove the particles of the dead thing as they start floating around", then yes, these dead particles (which are food) will be skimmed out.

Scrubbers (i.e., algae) eat ammonia as its favorite food.

 

Yeah, I think a skimmer could potentially save a tank from a crash by skimming out some of the stuff before it decays fully and produces ammonia etc. It could help keep the ammonia spike down (so hopefully more hardy organisms would survive) but it definitely doesn't directly reduce/process ammonia or nitrites or nitrates just prevents them from being generated in the first place.

 

Question about scrubbing

I'm setting up a 250 gallons tank and planning to use a horizontal ATS scrubber placed in the sump such as this one I found somewhere in the net







My question is, is it necessary to take out the grown algae and scrub it off with tap water? Can I just cut off the water, stop the pump, weekly scrape the algae instead? I'm asking is because if I need to take it out once a week for fresh water scrubbing, I may have to come up with a design that makes it easier to take out the algae panels. If I don't, I'll just copy the pictured ATS. Any reply will be of great help. Thanks.

James