Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, Everythin

Thanks Bored... will be lookin' for pics of yours too soon

 

Another Reader Hits A New Low!

Jski711 on the RS site give us his report today, after a trip back from the LFS for testing. Here are the dates and activities that led up to today:

8/19: "i was going to order [a pre-grown screen] from inland but i've never seen these sheets before and don't know how rigid they are and how to "hang" one. any ideas would be great. I have a 75g, 36g sump and a 15g plumbed into that same system. I have a mag 12 return pump."

8/20: "it literally took all of 45 minutes [to build it] once i had the materials. i bought 65w equivelant pc bulbs but they are 2700k"

8/21: "i can't believe how well this diy thing worked out. i have notied my ph raise up about .15 in a few hours since this has been on. The piece [of pre-grown turf from IA] i got i cut in half and is 2 sided now, thanks to some tie wraps. i also bought 2 100w cf [equivalent] lights to replace the ones i had."

8/23: "i notice that some red algae seems to be growing pretty fast. it doesn't look like the turf but thats just an observation."

8/27: "first cleaning. i just used my fingernails"

9/3: "well i just finished my 2nd cleaning today. i have noticed that in my main display that i haven't had to use my scraper to scrape off the glass, i usually had to do this every few days because i'd get that green algae begining to grow. i've also notice that the turf that was on the screen in the first place seems to continue to spread over the screen."

9/7: "To my surprise i had my water tested at the lfs for phosphates and nitrates. they use the hanna photometer or whatever its called for phosphate. my phosphates were at .03!!!!!! my nitrates were barely detectable, a very slight pink came out on the test. so IMO this scrubber is working like CRAZY!!! I honestly didn't think that this was going to work as well as it does but to all the people that thought this was some sort of a gimmick i challenge you to give this a try, you won't be dissapointed!!!! thanks to santamonica for posting this up and thanks to inland for the "pregrown" screen!! i can say i've been feeding heavily and this is the lowest i've ever seen my phosphates!!!"

 

Another Reader Cleans The Green!

Well it's been a good couple of days for clean-tank debuts. Minzuk on the UR site, who came up with the idea of using a gravel vac as a waterfall pipe, just checked in with great results. Here is what he did, along with the dates:

8/14: "I wont be discarding the skimmer or po4 reactor just yet, ill prob still keep them on even after this starts to work. I like new/ressurrected ideas, so though for 5 mins work ill give it a go. Seeding? I cant see anything about seeding in your write up. Rubbing green algae, do you mean the algae that will begin to grow in a few days? Do we let it build up and whilst harvesting it off, try and rub it into the screen?"

8/18: "im on day 6 and this is the result so far [very very light growth in pic]. Is this correct? Am I going on track? its more browny green then green. I can also see small hairy strands of green showing when viewed close up."

8/20: "Im using a 125w envirolite lamp with reflector to light up the area. I suppose I could move it closer down to the screen if needed. Power wise, im using a mj400. Do you think I would get better results with a larger powerhead?"

8/22: "well after moving the light much closer, the screen has started to fill like crazy, its turning into a sludge type algae and behind the brown stuff i can see green algae growing"

9/7: "Its been a few weeks since I made mine. Been busy so not had a chance to update. All I can say is, I was suffering a crap load of hair algae [in the display] and very dusty algea on my rocks, back and sand. Since I have added the screen, the back of the tank has literally cleaned itself bare. the rocks are all very purple again, and a not a cm in sight of any algae. The front glass has not built up any algae for a while. Im due to test tomm for NO3 and PO4 but I can honesly say just by looking at the sparkling water, clean sand and amazing rocks. This thing defo works.....thanks so much!! It has made a major difference to the tank and water quality."

 

Here's the first reader that made use of the sump Version 3. Very neat... no extra space needed. As long as you keep the sump level low enough, you get full use of the screen space:

 

Edit: Please don't send our members to another/competing forum

 

Thanks for sharing all this with us. I might even give it a try this weekend. As for helping you over at RC, I don't think so. I went there before I found this site and have not been back since. What you are saying is going on goes on all the time over there about everything. What's the point of staying there? I am sorry but this is the place for me and I will never go to RC again. You are doing a great job of keeping us informed with this.

 

Well I'm glad you like the info. It was just that the new readers over there who wanted to build a screen... they were complaining of all the noise. In order to show you results that a reader got, I have to take results from one site and post on others, because there are not enough users on one site who have built one.

 

This one is a very nice build from someone who knows how to work with acrylic. It's another elevated-screen setup, and the main advantage of his is the 33 watt CFL's on both sides. Lighting will not be a problem here:






By the way, many folks are tie-wrapping thier screens to the pipes. I did not do this, but it could indeed be useful. However it does mean you'll need to take the pipe out with the screen each time.

 

Santa Monica. I have already asked you not to badmouth members of other forums. Please refrain from doing so and also please keep our forum separate and apart from the other. We are not here to settle your disputes on other forums.

 

hey santa
i have an eco wheel
i dont have a light on top of it atm
if i put 1 up there do you think turf would attach itself to the paddles on the wheel?