Porc Chop's Tank

[Hondatek]

Ok cool . The screen is an inch in the water so I'm going to take some water out do my bulbs and call it a success for now . Thanks for all the help.

 

[Ibrahim]

I meant the light bulbs for the scrubber lol . Im perfectly ok with my t 8s for now even though LEDs are so much better.

Lol oh ok. The strips are inexpensive though otherwise I wouldn't have considered them haha lol

 

[Jlsardina]

Ok. So I have to ask. With the ATS scrubber can you just hard plumb a pump up over your Refugium with the screen trickling into it? I've seen people building these all over the place and I'm in a building mode trying to make my tanks better while in a semester break.

 

[Hondatek]

Well you don't use a pump for it . The pipe is one from my overflow box.I just altered it into a ats. And it drains into the sump and my existing return pump just pumps it back. As long as the screen isnt in water it will work. Also if your running macro algae the scrubber will absorb all the nutrients leaving the macro algae nothing to feed on leaving it useless.

 

[Jlsardina]

Well you don't use a pump for it . The pipe is one from my overflow box.I just altered it into a ats. And it drains into the sump and my existing return pump just pumps it back. As long as the screen isnt in water it will work. Also if your running macro algae the scrubber will absorb all the nutrients leaving the macro algae nothing to feed on leaving it useless.

That's why I'm wondering if I could (also since I don't want to re- plumb my whole tank) if I could use a pump to pull water from the sump into PVC over my Refugium. I would still have water drained from the tank with nutrients to feed the macro- but have extra filtration from the ATS

 

[Hondatek]

I guess if the pump is weak enough it can work. You would have to ask ftmmws this but from what I gather even though it's draining into your fuge the ats works so good that the macro would still die off. But being that you would do it with water from your sump the efficiency of the ats might be a lot less and allow your macro to survive . Hard to say for sure .

 

[Jlsardina]

Ok. Great. Can you pm me the materials needed?

 

[Hondatek]

Ball valve . PVC pipe . A bunch of elbows and 45s. Unions and the screen at walmart in the knitting section. Also a hole saw bit to scratch the screen .and PVC cement , clamp lamps with the bulbs ft linked on my build thread.and forgot zip ties and pipe cap

 

[Jlsardina]

Thanks. Going to lowes and then Walmart soon

 

[FTMMWS]

That's why I'm wondering if I could (also since I don't want to re- plumb my whole tank) if I could use a pump to pull water from the sump into PVC over my Refugium. I would still have water drained from the tank with nutrients to feed the macro- but have extra filtration from the ATS

Its still a closed system and the scrubber will out compete the macro algae in the long run..

 

[Jlsardina]

Its still a closed system and the scrubber will out compete the macro algae in the long run..

Not to beat a dead horse here- but even macro that can't tolerate high nutrients?

 

[Flreefer]

Following as well, would like to add an ATS too, but would like to keep my pod factory!
If the ATS did outcompete the Macro in the fuge, could you remove the Macro and light, and go with a cryptic fuge?

 

[FTMMWS]

This is why the screen MUST be cleaned every 7 days regardless of how it looks ...However ,if you are noticing thick dark brown or even black slime algae on the screen before 7 days it must be cleaned immediately ...Your nutrients are very high in this case and the screen is soaking them up.
An algae screen is going to pull out much more than any macros could .
Once a screen is established and growing, its all you need

 

[Hondatek]

So what's going to happen with my skimmer? Will it just stop producing skimmate one day?

 

[Hondatek]

It's been a little over 24 hours since I installed the ats. I gave it a good check over and I even found what looks to be small specks of algae. Hopefully it's not wishful thinking . Here is a pic .

 

[Ibrahim]

It's been a little over 24 hours since I installed the ats. I gave it a good check over and I even found what looks to be small specks of algae. Hopefully it's not wishful thinking . Here is a pic .

Awesome. Hope it works out as you planned.

 

[FTMMWS]

nice Mike

Skimmer i would assume will stop producing ..I honestly don't know because i never used one

 

[Hondatek]

Ok I hope it does still work because that was my most expensive purchase for this tank . My thinking is it might because the way my overflow has one pipe that's the scrubber and the other feeds the skimmer in a separate chamber.

 

[Hondatek]

Looks like my turf scrubber is getting some decent spotty growth now.

 

[Jlsardina]

Looks like my turf scrubber is getting some decent spotty growth now.

That's awesome! Glad to hear it. Have you noticed any difference in your tank yet?