Not arguing against it, but curious on how you assessed this-
"...The algae will feed directly on the ammonia before the nitrates."
Thanks.
"...The algae will feed directly on the ammonia before the nitrates."
Thanks.
Anybody use an Algea scrubber?
- Thread starter Thalassa
- Start date
This stud shows what algae (Chlamydomonas acidophila) feeds on depends on other factors like amount of phosphorous and carbon dioxide available. And if I read it correctly, nitrate is preferred over ammonium for photosynthensis and growth under low carbon dioxide conditions and/or phosphorous availability. There's also reference to a different species of algae that takes in ammonium first in conclusion.
Nitrate or ammonium: Influences of nitrogen source on the physiology of a green alga - PMC
In freshwaters, algal species are exposed to different inorganic nitrogen (Ni) sources whose incorporation varies in biochemical energy demand. We hypothesized that due to the lesser energy requirement of ammonium (NH4+)‐use, in contrast to nitrate ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
So the question is what species is grown in an algae scrubber?
Last edited:
I have two of them the large ice cap and the large clearwater both water fall style. I love them because they keep my tanks glass clean I only need to scrap it every few weeks instead of every few days. I have a huge bio load so it helps with the phosphate but not so much the nitrates but to be fair they are rated by cubes feed a day and I feed about 1 1/2 cups of food that has to be over 40 cubes lol. By far the most effective thing I have used is the sulfur denitateor
What have been your results witht his? I had a 600” screen waterfall on my old tank and i kind of gave up a hog system seems like was easier for freshwater. I’d be curious to see what it does.
I just started it will post results in a month or so
created this tread to track
Algae Scrubber experiment
Algae scrubber experiment: Hi Guys. Just got my algae scrubber in the mail today, thought I would document the delta after it starts working. it is a hog2. This is my baseline 2 weeks no water change calling it a little under 40ppm sea-chem nitrate (pretty consistent with previous results)...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Always find it interesting to see the different view point between reef keepers and fresh water keepers. Algea scrubbers and refugium are common place with reef keepers, less so in the freshwater side. Some of the simple things can have massive effects. Changing filter socks every 3 days reduces nitrates, phosphate by up to 40%, roller fleece can reduce it by 70%.
I know a few people who have roller fleece, large refugiums with good amounts of coral and are now having to dose nitrate, phosphate to the tank.
I know a few people who have roller fleece, large refugiums with good amounts of coral and are now having to dose nitrate, phosphate to the tank.
