Algae turf scrubber

[soffutt]

I want to throw something out and am hoping for great feedback. Li am building a 110 fish only system my filtration plan was a wet dry with skimmer, UV sterilizer and possible and algae scrubber or chemical filtration. As far as the algae scrubber in that scenario I was thinking a hang on glass upflow style.

Now here is where I need your help.... I met a gentleman from a LFS (Inland Aquatics) who helped pioneer and perfect algae turf scrubber. He has been running these systems since the early 90s or perhaps even earlier. He uses this filtration and only this ... No skimmer, chemical or anything but some activated carbon every year or two if water yellows. This type of filtration does make a lot of sense to me and is substantiated not only by his experience but scholarly work done by Walter Adey of the Smithsonian.

I don't have his years of experience and that's why I am reaching out to all your collective experience. What are your thoughts on these dump style ATS?

The two major filtration goals for my system are to handle a heavy bioload and effectively oxygenate as the water surface area is somewhat minimal. I appreciate any feedback that you might have. I am on the precipitous of purchasing my filtration.


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[Sniperhank]

Dump style ats work. But aren't as effective as the waterfall styles we use today.
Ditch the wet dry and uv. Won't do anything for you. Following a lbs if sand and rock dot he same as wet dry. Uv sterilizers don't process enough water to be effective in the hobby like they are in drinking water filtration.
Keep the skimmer. It can be a good supplement to the ats, but might not be needed in a fowlr system.


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[soffutt]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Dump style ats work. But aren't as effective as the waterfall styles we use today.
Ditch the wet dry and uv. Won't do anything for you. Following a lbs if sand and rock dot he same as wet dry. Uv sterilizers don't process enough water to be effective in the hobby like they are in drinking water filtration.
Keep the skimmer. It can be a good supplement to the ats, but might not be needed in a fowlr system.


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Thanks for the feedback. Are you saying a DSB and rock will replace the wet dry?

[Sniperhank]

Not a deep sand bed. Just following one lbs of rock and sand will be your primary filtration method.


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[soffutt]

I guess it comes down to one straight forward question.... If algae scrubbing (dump style, upflow and/or waterfall) is pretty much the complete filtration answer then why is there a multi-million dollar industry of sumps, refugiums, skimmers, uv filters, and chemical filtration? The overwhelming major of use employ the aforementioned multi-faceted approach rather than a solitary filtration system.


Thoughts????


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[Sniperhank]

It is what works for you. You aren't aiming for as pure of water as I am in my reef tank. I run a refugium, skimmer, and a dual reactor with GFO and Purigen to keep the water as pristine as possible for my SPS corals.
The key to something like this isn't to rely on one thing, but each do something different.
Skimmers pull waste out of the water column before it is consumed by the nitrate cycle.
Refugiums and algae turf scrubbers lower nitrates by growth of algae, just different approaches.
UV filters are worthless on a hobby grade. They don't have the ability to have enough water pass through them to be effective like one on your water line, where ALL of the water passes through it. UV will kill everything that passes through it, even the good stuff, if they were as effective as they claim.
Chemical media all do a ton of different things, like GFO/Phosguard/Rowas will attack the phosphates that are part of algae issues and slow growth of calcium based corals, LPS and SPS.