NATURAL NITRATE REDUCTION in YOUR FISH TANK: An Algae Scrubber Update
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Many fish keepers struggle with controlling their nitrate levels. In nature algae lowers nitrates and carbon dioxide while at the same time adding oxygen to the water. Algae scrubbers harness the benefits of this natural process.
Removing the nutrients needed by algae, the scrubber also helps to reduce algae in other parts of the aquarium, like rocks and glass.
Here’s a follow-up and update on the Santa Monica Filtration algae Scrubber. You can visit their website here:
www.santa-monic...
Music Credit: "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel
Thanks for stopping by. You're very appreciated!
Ben, good job on your video. It’s just a little vague on how much your algae scrubber is helping. Are you at 10-20 ppm of nitrate after 7 days after a 50 percent water change, etc? To make a better calculation of how your scrubber is helping, I would advise to do a before and after test during a specified time period (you may already have this data, but it wasn’t clear in the video). I have had my DIY algae scrubber for 3 1/2 years now. What I do is a 50 percent water change, test the nitrates, wait 7 days (or however long you wait for a water change depending on your bio load), feed your normal amount of food to your fish, and then test nitrates at the end of the period. BEFORE you run this test, you need to have your scrubber off during 7 days. Do a 50 percent water change, test the nitrates, wait 7 days and do a nitrate test then. This will give you your normal weekly nitrate accumulation in ppm. Maybe you already have that info? Then, with the algae scrubber on, you can determine how much nitrates your algae is absorbing during that period. That will give people a much better idea at how your algae scrubber is working. For my scrubber, it works better in the summer with warmer temps (when my tank is about 84-85) than the winter when my tank is at the minimum of 76 degrees. My bioload is about 20-25 ppm of nitrates every 7 days. In the summer, my scrubber can give me about 12-15 ppm of nitrates reduction a week. In the winter, it gives me about 5-8 ppm of nitrates a week. In the summer, I can stretch my water changes to about once every 10-14 days before I hit 40 ppm. In the winter, I’m back to weekly water changes. With algae scrubbers, bigger is better. If I wanted to really eliminate nitrates, I’d have to increase the surface area of growth and light by 5 times of my current algae scrubber, which unfortunately isn’t possible for me and most people. I really like having an algae scrubber though as it almost eliminates algae growth in the main tank. At any rate, good video and thanks for the discussion.
Thank you Eric for both watching and for the detailed comment. I might do another follow-up and include some of your suggestions to provide a more controlled evaluation. My review is a bit anecdotal and not quite as scientific as some would prefer. For now, it's just one guy's take on this scrubber.
As long as you teaaching ,I’m learning,thx Ben
Thanks for watching Amir
Very interesting, and I'm sure these units can only be doing good things in any type of aquarium. Regarding costs, my suggestion is always to make use of Birthdays and Christmas. Some of the Best Equipment makes great gifts for keen fishkeepers.
colinbarsby smart! Great idea 👍
Hi Ben, Ross from the land of down under here (Australia) Totally love your videos keep them coming, i am new to Africans have a peacock/hap tank. I was a Discus lover and breeder.... Really addicted to these stunning beautiful African haps/peacocks! Keep up the great work, i am learning a lot!
Ross Mascaro Thank you for watching Ross. I too was into discus and might get back to them someday. I wanted something with a little more variety and got addicted to ACs. Thanks for visiting the channel!
Great video Ben. Good to see a few select fellow aquarists doing experiments to improve water quality for our fish
Thank you HM HC. Always will to learn and try a different angle. Thanks for watching.
Just by looking at tanks including yours with the scrubbers I can see the difference in your water clarity it has a more crisp look in my opinion, I plan on running a in-line uv sterilize on my canisters, do you think they are the same one just stores algae ✅✅💯💯
They do something different. The in-line "twist" UV units are great for reducing unwanted things in the water including pathogens.
Several of my friends run them and are very happy with what they do. They help to clarify the water too. Very different from what the algae scrubber does.
Ben Ochart thank you for the information I got you 👍👍✅✅💯💯
Correct... a UV if anything, adds nutrients to the water by killing plankton.
Thanks for the review Ben! Very interesting indeed, I am going to look into this further. I would have thought your algae would be the same between the two systems based on the same water supply. I guess this would show you the types of algae issues you could have in your system if your tank maintenance was not maintained. Amazingly, algae seems to lower nitrates better than adding plants? Thoughts? To me the volume of algae produced does not seem to be a great amount, but reduced the nitrate levels nicely for that volume of tank.
Other factors come into play like how much is being fed (bio load) and total water volume. In an ideal world I'd probably be running two HOG2 units on a 100 gal. Still, I'm very happy with the nitrate levels I'm getting.
Yes algae grows, and consumes nutrients, much faster than plants. The 135 had higher amounts of nutrients which results in darker slime growth. The 100 has lower amounts, which always results in lighter colored hair algae. But it must be removed (harvested) to get the nutrients out of the water.
Excellent video and info!!!
Thank you Paul!
Great video buddy glad that is working in the 100 beautiful tank by the way
Thank you Ry Mac, much appreciated.
Great info Ben
Thank you Dan. I'm glad you enjoyed.
Hey Ben, I’m sorry to report that this particular unit has been a bust in my 210. There has been no significant reduction in Nitrates despite the unit unit growing significant amounts of algae. Perhaps I need a larger, or multiple units in my tank to make a differenc. Anyways thanks very much for sharing as usual.
Denny's Aquatics I’ve had my DIY scrubber for 3 1/2 years. You really need a lot of surface area and a lot of light to really make a dent in your nitrates. My scrubber in my sump is pretty big, and it doesn’t do the job I originally hoped it would, but does help stretch out the time in between water changes. More in the summer than the winter. I am currently looking at other methods to help reduce nitrates and water change frequency
Hi Denny, a 210 would probably need 2 or 3 of the HOG2 units. The "2" is how much food you feed each day.
So are you still scrubbing? After all these years ? Updates
About to add one to the sump under a 300 gallon that I’m in the middle of setting up
Have been waiting to hear the results. Some of your comments were not as positive. Will be checking out their website though, but I let algae grow on the back and side of my tank. It doesn't get the great light yours does, but I do see some of my fish enjoying a snack now and then. I am thinking of trying Dr Novack's anoxic filters boxes. What is your opinion on them? wife of JP
Not familiar with Dr Novack, I'll check it out. Yes, I saw comments from others that didn't think it was helping as much. I respect those guys so you really got to do your own research before pulling the trigger on a unit like this.
java fern is working for me at the moment still gets nibbled but grows alot faster and the pups from the plant go in sump until big enough to go in main tank
I have a little java fern in my 60. I might add some more in the future. Thanks for watching.
Great informative video, thanks for sharing 👍👏👏👏👏👏
You're welcome Efrain.
Ben. As you know I’ve been runnin two for maybe a month or so prior to you establishing yours. While I think it helps some....it’s effect has not justified its cost. I purchased my units and you know they’re not cheap. The drop in Nitrates has been almost negligible. And mine have been on a 75.
I get it. You would think two HOG2's on a 75 would be really eating up nitrates. Are you getting good algae growth on both?
Hi, something does not sound right... If you can post pics (or more pics) at AlgaeScrubber.Net then we can see what might be changed
Santa Monica Filtration yes. I will send you pics of both of the HOGs. I’ve been in discussions with you via email since Installed. But haven’t communicated since they HOGs seeded steadily.
Ben Ochart yes Ben. I get nice quick growth. I can see the panel full out about 4-5 days after scraping. Again. I wish it would mitigate the nitrates better for the price. It does help. I don’t want to say it doesn’t. Just not what I expect for a Pricey investment
It's doing the trick!
Seems to be making a difference. Thanks.
That hat seems familiar,Do you play on the water as well as in it?
Hello Robert. The hat is from Sweden and represents the three kings / kingdoms that got together to form Sweden.
I wish I could afford a unit. Using pothos for now since I'm on a tight budget!
I've heard good things about using pothos. You might consider a DIY algae scrubber. Joey, the King of DIY has a couple videos on the subject.
Yes he has a nice vid on DIY'ing our upflow scrubber.
Also Ben for a 240g 2 can work
Yes, and if you are running a sump you can put them down there, out of view, and get the same positive results.
Ben Ochart thank you, I running my tank with 2 fx6, also I make contact with the company but for $500 bucks I think is better to continued with 75% w/c once a week 👍
Why the heck would you discard all of that wonderful, fresh algae?
I did give a little to my pleco. What would you have done with it?
The price for them is ridiculous.
I’m sure this unit works ok for your 100 gallon tank however I don’t believe it’s as effective as you think .... when do you test your water the day after your water change or at the end of the week also how many fish do you have in that tank and what are there sizes seems to me your
100 gallon is way under stocked compared to what you had before if you put it back in your 130 and had the same amount of fish as you do in your 100 I bet your nitrates would be even lower due to water volume ... no offence Ben but those units are way overpriced and really not a substitute for water changes or the other cheaper methods of nitrate reduction...
It was a good video and very informative for anyone wanting to buy one ....
Lots of factors to consider CN. My comments are not a well controlled scientific controlled experiment and should be considered an anecdotal review. In the future I might do something a bit more controlled. Thanks for watching.
Hi CN, the nutrients removed (meaning, the amount of algae removed) contains the same nutrients no mater what size tank. But, the effect it has on a tank depends on the size of the tank (the total nutrients in the water).
Tank tour anytime soon? 😊👍
What would you like to see?
Ben Ochart, just got the mini tour on your latest video, thanks!
You have immaculate tanks.
What ever happened to this?