Algae turf scrubber from taobao

[flowy]

On 2/12/2021 at 6:23 PM, JiaEn said:

The biggest difference between an ats/uas and a chaeto/macro algae reactor like @finbir's is that we do not supply the algae for ats. 

Unlike chaeto or caulerpa,  which has to be added into the reactor by the reefer,  the ats encourages the microalgae already in all reef systems to grow. Since there are many kind of microalgae,  which make use of nitrate and phosphate at different rates,  the ats has a slight ability to correct nutrients imbalance. 

When the phosphate is high,  more brown turf algae will grow; when nitrate is high,  more green turf algae will grow

The dynamic algae population is helpful if nutrient balance is an issue. Macroalgae,  being a single species,  will not have this benefit. 

Imo,  there are two downside of ats to keep in mind. 

1. Turf algae traps a lot of detritus. So they can clog fairly fast, and cleaning should be done carefully to prevent detritus from washing into the tank. 

2. Microalgae strips a lot of nutrients from water,  competing with corals. I find this rather wasteful. 

 

Other than that,  a properly sized algae scrubber is very capable. 

 

Jiaen, could you clarify what you meant to say regarding the downside of ats "does the microalgae (turf algae/hair algae), compete with the system's nutrients or is it more of the trace elements etc. in the water that is also used in to grow these micro algae, furthermore. is there anyway to prevent/reduce the micro algae from competing with the corals?

[JiaEn]

17 minutes ago, flowy said:

Jiaen, could you clarify what you meant to say regarding the downside of ats "does the microalgae (turf algae/hair algae), compete with the system's nutrients or is it more of the trace elements etc. in the water that is also used in to grow these micro algae, furthermore. is there anyway to prevent/reduce the micro algae from competing with the corals?

On the issue of competition.  What I feel is that microalgae is extremely effective at using up nutrients in the water. Not just the trace elements. Nitrates and phosphates will also be consumed rapidly. They will also take up some organic compounds form the water coloumn. All these are fine,  but when they do it too well,  there will be less nutrient available for the corals. 

For me,  I'm of the opinion that it's not ideal to feed corals (a lot),  only for the food to be taken and grown into microalgae. This is what I mean when I say there is quite a lot of waste. 

 

ATS,  just like other mode of export,  can be maintained and tuned. There are two ways which we can adjust the export level: 

1. By limiting the amount of micro algae in the ats: less microalgae will have less ability to export nutrients.  Conversely, if we keep the ats relatively full,  then the overall export will be higher

2. By limiting the photoperiod. Algae requires light to grow,  and they take up nutrients as they grow.  If the photoperiod is short, the grow is slow,  thus the export is slow.  

 

[flowy]

 

11 minutes ago, JiaEn said:

For me,  I'm of the opinion that it's not ideal to feed corals (a lot),  only for the food to be taken and grown into microalgae.

@JiaEn regarding this section quoted above, you have also found a way to counter this through the zeolite stones right?, where " excess coral food, amino acids " etc, will be reused again and again to feed the corals through the help of the zeolite, does it have to be in a fluidised/zeolite reactor to be fully effective?, or can we just throw a bag of it into the sump?

[flowy]

On 2/12/2021 at 6:23 PM, JiaEn said:

Unlike chaeto or caulerpa,  which has to be added into the reactor by the reefer,  the ats encourages the microalgae already in all reef systems to grow. Since there are many kind of microalgae,  which make use of nitrate and phosphate at different rates,  the ats has a slight ability to correct nutrients imbalance. 

oh yes @JiaEn also regarding the ability to correct nutrients imbalance, as for my instance, my po4 is much higher as compared to my no3, however, if i were to do carbon dosing (No3pox) now, it will probably lead to cyano/dyno due to the nutrients imbalance, will the Ats actually reduce the po4 by growing a type of turf algae due to po4 being more prominent in the system?

Thank you in advance!

[JiaEn]

30 minutes ago, flowy said:

zeolite

So far it works for me. I would say the nutrient level in the aquarium is good and sustainable.  

A bag of zeolite will not work nearly as well,  because it's the periodic shaking and tumbling which cause the bacteria flocks to be released into the water .

24 minutes ago, flowy said:

will the Ats actually reduce the po4 by growing a type of turf algae due to po4 being more prominent in the system?

It will.  but of course, there is a limit as to how much imbalance it can correct.  One good thing about ats is that, you don't have to pick out the "correct"  algae.  The natural competition will take care of it for you. 

[flowy]

It will.  but of course, there is a limit as to how much imbalance it can correct.  One good thing about ats is that, you don't have to pick out the "correct"  algae.  The natural competition will take care of it for you. 

Great!, have ordered one again from taobao as another reefer above, going to try the 500L/hr one as thats the only one that can fit in the system, should be able to work! Will update on results!

Will also try to get zeolite and gfo into the system, to further “reuse” the nutrients + reduce the competition of nutrients with the corals as gfo will “absorb” more po4 much more efficiently!


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