Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
For freshwater something like duckweed may be a better option. It is easy to grow, can be netted out relatively easy, requires very little light, eats nitrate, grows like there's no tomorrow and can be fed to some fish.
Then again, the same things also apply to algae. The good thing about duckweed and similar plants is you may just have to add a light to part of your sump and throw in the duckweed. It could also be done in the main tank but it could become a bit of a nuisance.
I would personally do a small aquaponics (i.e. growing plants in aquarium water). It is basically hydroponics but you need little to no added fertilizers. A shallow planting bed filled with sand or gravel and a little water from your return pump would be great. The idea of eating food grown in fish crap may be a problem, though, look at the land based equivalent.
Then again, the same things also apply to algae. The good thing about duckweed and similar plants is you may just have to add a light to part of your sump and throw in the duckweed. It could also be done in the main tank but it could become a bit of a nuisance.
I would personally do a small aquaponics (i.e. growing plants in aquarium water). It is basically hydroponics but you need little to no added fertilizers. A shallow planting bed filled with sand or gravel and a little water from your return pump would be great. The idea of eating food grown in fish crap may be a problem, though, look at the land based equivalent.
The scrubber only produces baby pods, the size of a speck of dust, which are less than 7 days old (because you clean with FW every 7 days). These tiny pods can make it through your pump ok.
I've thought of this, and yes it would work. But it's one-side, so you need twice the area. And you need more that just "roughed up"... you need to glue a screen to the walls. And no sand in the bottom... does not serve a purpose here.
Not enough flow. Use flexible wire conduit, which is has a slit all the way along the length.
Correct.
Update: Pancaked screens
Since nobody is currently manufacturing a proper screen for a scrubber, we have to make the best of the materials we can get. Whatever material you use, it has been found that stacking two screens together works better than one. This is when you "pancake" two sheet of screen material together; they can be glued, sewn, or clamped together. This gives the algae much more to grab onto.
Since nobody is currently manufacturing a proper screen for a scrubber, we have to make the best of the materials we can get. Whatever material you use, it has been found that stacking two screens together works better than one. This is when you "pancake" two sheet of screen material together; they can be glued, sewn, or clamped together. This gives the algae much more to grab onto.
here's mine. at first i tried a square ring to utilize as much of the light as possible but found it more space consuming, inaccessible and complicated. after being dissapointed by the square method i went back inside the box and went side by side. i din't use the standard slit though as most have, instead i used spray bars on either side of the algae screens with 4 times the flow on the lighted sides. the light goes in between the two screens and the screens hang, folded in half over a piece of wire spanning the length. i chose two screens lighted on one side each intead of lighting both sides of one screen with two bulbs becuase it is the more economical of the two. each screen is 15" by 15", which i know is only about twice the reccmonded size for my 120 gallons of water but i found it difficult achieving the desired flow for anymore screen.
current i only have 10-15 gph per inch flowing but found it to be plenty to keep a steady curtain coming off the bottom of my screens.
i chose fabric for my screens because it is rough, porous, strong and cheap. after thinking about it for a while i think water on my screens reaches terminal velocity much sooner than other relatively smooth plastic screens that just allow it to fly off and thats why i have achieved the desired curtain affect with half the flow.
the light is a 42 watt sbcf that puts out 2800 lumens @ 2700k
i don't have very acurate testing supplies, just test strips, but my tank does grow quite a bit of algae, brown slime and hair, so i know i'm producing plenty of nutrients. the test strip showed 20ppm of NO3.
anyway, hope you guys like it, any questions?
i will be updating with progress and new builds and will register with you, sm, when i've got some more experience with these things.
current i only have 10-15 gph per inch flowing but found it to be plenty to keep a steady curtain coming off the bottom of my screens.
i chose fabric for my screens because it is rough, porous, strong and cheap. after thinking about it for a while i think water on my screens reaches terminal velocity much sooner than other relatively smooth plastic screens that just allow it to fly off and thats why i have achieved the desired curtain affect with half the flow.
the light is a 42 watt sbcf that puts out 2800 lumens @ 2700k
i don't have very acurate testing supplies, just test strips, but my tank does grow quite a bit of algae, brown slime and hair, so i know i'm producing plenty of nutrients. the test strip showed 20ppm of NO3.
anyway, hope you guys like it, any questions?
i will be updating with progress and new builds and will register with you, sm, when i've got some more experience with these things.
bit of an update:
3 days and there's already algae growing, i noticed it yesterday morning. with the slow flow, pieces would catch on the fabric, which i did not seed at all, i think thats why it started pretty fast. right now i think there's way too much of a light gradient so i will be getting a second bulb soon so there will be 84 watts of cfl @ 2700k and 5600 lumens. on the lighted sides there is about 8gph/inch and the nonlighted sides 4 gph/inch. i don't know why i put any flow on the nonlighted sides, i guess to give me the option to light them if i ever wanted to. anyway i will be moving all the flow to the lighted sides and trying to use up all the waterflow coming from my tank, this will put about 20 gph/inch on the lighted sides only.
i know i jumped the gun but i removed all my mechanical filterationand downgraded the protein skimmer to an air-driven red sea skimmer rated for 30 gallons. i don't have anything very sensitive yet so i'm not worried. within a day of taking off the filteration i noticed a huge increase in the level of activity from my fish, i also noticed a large increase in algae, so hopefully this works out well!
i look forward to seeing this thing kick into gear. i will try an update with FT shots weekly so everyone can watch the algae go down with me, if anyone wants.
thanks again santa monica!
3 days and there's already algae growing, i noticed it yesterday morning. with the slow flow, pieces would catch on the fabric, which i did not seed at all, i think thats why it started pretty fast. right now i think there's way too much of a light gradient so i will be getting a second bulb soon so there will be 84 watts of cfl @ 2700k and 5600 lumens. on the lighted sides there is about 8gph/inch and the nonlighted sides 4 gph/inch. i don't know why i put any flow on the nonlighted sides, i guess to give me the option to light them if i ever wanted to. anyway i will be moving all the flow to the lighted sides and trying to use up all the waterflow coming from my tank, this will put about 20 gph/inch on the lighted sides only.
i know i jumped the gun but i removed all my mechanical filterationand downgraded the protein skimmer to an air-driven red sea skimmer rated for 30 gallons. i don't have anything very sensitive yet so i'm not worried. within a day of taking off the filteration i noticed a huge increase in the level of activity from my fish, i also noticed a large increase in algae, so hopefully this works out well!
i look forward to seeing this thing kick into gear. i will try an update with FT shots weekly so everyone can watch the algae go down with me, if anyone wants.
thanks again santa monica!
Anyone with experience using duckweed to get rid of phosphates in FW?Tropical Dude;3031778; said:
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a little. plant filters are great but in my opinion should always be done seperately from the tank in a sump, or else in something like a pond. duckweed is just annoying to have in your tank anyway.
you mean #$%^weed?
sorry, i used duckweed in my old 20L, got it as a cover plant and it was great for about a week. my bichirs loved the shade, but this stuff grows like a cancer.
i got about a tablespoon full and within a couple weeks was almost covering my tank. i would clean it out and if you miss even a small amount it just keeps coming back. if you have any type of down current from a filter it gets pulled under and through the filter, clogging the media.
i can't remember off the top of my head but there is a similiar plant thats around a 1/4 inch in size that would probably work ok, but i would never put duckweed near any tank again. only thing IMO this stuff is good for is feeding ducks.
sorry, i used duckweed in my old 20L, got it as a cover plant and it was great for about a week. my bichirs loved the shade, but this stuff grows like a cancer.i got about a tablespoon full and within a couple weeks was almost covering my tank. i would clean it out and if you miss even a small amount it just keeps coming back. if you have any type of down current from a filter it gets pulled under and through the filter, clogging the media.
i can't remember off the top of my head but there is a similiar plant thats around a 1/4 inch in size that would probably work ok, but i would never put duckweed near any tank again. only thing IMO this stuff is good for is feeding ducks.
