Do you think this DIY algae scrubber would work?

[puffertt77]

Hey Agnate

I'll address this to you as you've been building your own algae scrubber using the link below (By the way if anyone wants to make a DIY algae scrubber use the link below, this thread is my idea of how I'm thinking of adapting the idea of an algae scrubber to my sumpless tank/setup)
algae scrubber link
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/sh ... hp?t=45873

Being one of the guys from the UK I've found that my water out of the tap is 40 Nitrates, it's been like this since I've had my tank and my fish seem to be ok with it but I'm now thinking ''well if I can do something about it why not have a go at solving it'' (if you want to do it the easy way just add Vitamin C 2 times a day, ask Pufferpunk for the exact info).

I've noticed that my glass that slids back and forth on the top of my tank gets thick green algea on it where my filters spray stick pumps water up onto it and then drips down into the tank, this plus the lights being on makes the algea grow. I had a look at that link above and ajusted it to work (hopfully) with my tank setup (I don't have a sump to put the algea scrubber in)

Here's 2 diagrams to explain my idea

ALGEA SCRUBBER TOP copy.jpg

ALGEA SCRUBBER SIDE copy.jpg

Hope it makes sence, what do you think?

[Pufferpunk]

Algae scrubbers work great for nitrate control but are a PITA to maintain, as they need weekly maintenance. I'd rather drop in a spoon of VC instead of all that.

[By_a_coo]

I would let the mesh stood up to avoid blocking the passage of light.

[puffertt77]

I would let the mesh stood up to avoid blocking the passage of light.

Yeah that's a good point although if it was standing up it'd be under the water

I suppose I could have stripes of mesh so that some light could get through

ALGEA SCRUBBER TOP stripes copy.jpg

[Agnate]

The only thing with this is you'd have a massive carpet of green algae hanging from the top of your tank. Not sure if that would bother you or not, haha. Otherwise, though, it seems like a solid idea. If you wanted to do something smaller, you could get a hang-on-back filter and mod some screen into it. You wouldn't get the same surface area, though, unfortunately.

My plan is to raise the bucket above the tank (my Dad and I already built a cabinet for it), since I don't have a drilled tank.

Although I agree with PP that dosing vitamin C is easier, I much more likely to forget to dose than I am to forget a once-per-week algae cleaning.

[By_a_coo]

Although I agree with PP that dosing vitamin C is easier, I much more likely to forget to dose than I am to forget a once-per-week algae cleaning.

Dosing vitamin C is easier for what? I got interested about it!

[Agnate]

Easier for eliminating Nitrate.

[flash.dan]

just get a FBF if nitrates a problem i got a 35,000 L koi FBF plumpbed into my sumps on the 2x 8x3s keep water crystal clear and perfect cost me £50 + £30 for pipework not including £370 on the sequence pump but thats for recirculation aswell i guess a good 3k lph pump for a fbf can be picked up for pennies

[Pufferpunk]

Just by adding 5ppm pure, buffered VC to any tank should reduce nitrate close to 0.

[By_a_coo]

I did search and didn't find anything about it. PP, could you please explain to me how vitamin C works on nitrates?