A Look Back at the Aquaricare Algal Filter

Staring at the space above my sump last night, I thought about how to integrate a separate refugium. This reminded me of an article I wrote about refugiums years ago in the pre-chaeto days as once again, the old Aquaricare Algal filter came to mind. This early refugium algal filter stood out to me as it was less bulky and shallow allowing for good light penetration with less light. This much I knew, but last night I learned a lot more when a casual search led to U.S. Patent #5,536,398.


Patent #5,536,398 - 'Algal Filter For Water Treatment'


Patent #5,536,398 - 'Algal Filter For Water Treatment' is a great read (seriously, read it) and a glimpse into the bright mind of Mark Reinke - the man behind "Mark's Marine Fish, Inc." and the Aquaricare algal filter.

Staring at the diagram above, the first thing that stood out to me were the angled ramps in the middle (#402). What were those for? So I began to read the abstract and found this:

"Each angled baffle is placed in the box so that the baffle plates (402) and the supports (202) on the which the trays rest alternate; that is, water flowing through the box is first directed downward through the trays by a baffle plate and then contacts a support that directs the water upward through the trays. The water will then be forced downward by the next baffle plate and upward by the following support. By directing the water up and down through the lattice of the trays (222,224), the system produces the desired turbulence, enabling the most productive growth and metabolic activity of the algae growing on the trays."

This is best illustrated in figure 5:




Wow. My mind started racing at this point. What Mr. Reinke achieved here was creating the desired turbulence for algae growth without mechanical means (that could be prone to failure) like the Adey's Algal Turf Scrubber design. And he did it with a much more low-profile design.

Further reading and scrutiny of the illustrations revealed that a lot of safety was built into this filter. An ramp at the exit of the filter smoothed the flow and allowed plankton and other organisms to exit with a better chance of being unharmed. And, in the event of power failure, the ramp prevented the water from escaping - creating a reservoir that kept the refugium critters and algae alive. (this algal filter could be driven by a plankton friendly air-lift as well) Heat and moisture vents were built into the hood (209,214). And there was even a backup water outlet (310) should the main outlet (308 ) get clogged!

(This overview covers the basics, but you really should read the abstract if you are interested in how algae filters work or looking for another refugium design. It is easy to read and an eye-opener.)




The Aquaricare filter is an interesting story in our early reef aquaria history that is worth telling. It is of my personal belief that it was ahead of its time. There were simply not a lot of people keeping saltwater aquariums in the late '80s and 90's as there are now and much less using refugiums and algal filters.

Furthermore, when the Internet started to take off, Mr. Reinke made what was truly a bizarre Web site that tried to force you to read a long, vertical sales-pitch on a black background with highlighted text leaving you guessing where the links to the actual filters were.



Thanks to the Internet Archive, I can show you this site. Just try to find a way to buy these filters: MMFI, aquariums, filters, algae scrubbers, surgers, lights, wet-dry, protein skimmers, algal turf scrubbers, etc



I remember being exasperated. It took several attempts for me to find a picture of the actual Aquaricare filter shown here:






Reading old forum posts on the Internet, I wasn't the only one and the Web site left many feeling that this was some goofy aquarium gimmick thought of in the same way as the Eco-Aqualizer. It is a shame. As a result Reinke's [STRIKE]Web site faded out in 1997, nine years[/STRIKE] (2nd pass shows that web site was left online with broken links through 2004 - unclear when he stopped selling these) after he first started making these in 1988. (This patent covers an improvement on the original Aquaricare filter. I am not sure if it was ever released.)



I think with refugium's acceptance and popularity these days, had Reinke stuck it out or released it later and had a NORMAL web site where it was easy to see the products for sale and buy them, this would be a different story. I, for one, would buy one, if I only could.


matt


[click to enlarge]












Source:
Patent US5536398

 

will you be building an ATS for your new reef ?

cool article by the way

 

Don't know at this point. But I was thinking I needed some kind of slim refugium and I thought of this.

Thank you. I was hoping it would be.

 

HMM might have to break out the acrylic, this seems interesting just need some time and a good chance to do a break down of the system.

Love the article.

 

Site was on longer than I thought. Where are these things? Anybody? I can't find on ebay.

 

I bought a 3 ft version many years ago and used it for a freshwater planted tank . I used 5 13 watt cf 6500k bulbs over top of it and it worked so well at removing co2 that the ph became very high. After some experimentation I found that if I turn the lights above the algae scrubber off while the lights above the main tank where on and the algae scrubber on while the tank lights where off the ph remained stable. I realize that this is a saltwater site I wanted to thank you because I am trying to get back into the hobby again after a disaster killed my fish 6 years ago and was searching for info about my scrubber. You should of seen the papers I had to sign just to get the brochure. This person took great effort to keep his ideas only to his customers. I am by contract never allowed to use this ?technology? without one of his scrubbers, build a diy scrubber, or share info about it. Although how you enforce growing algae is beyond me. I have read and saw a picture of an algae scrubber only reef tank at algaescrubber.net I think that meant it didn't even have a protein skimmer. There is something about removing all the gizmo's and letting mother nature take care it herself that appeals to me. When I did have the scrubber running the testing chemicals never detected nitrates etc.. I am playing around with idea of having a ph controller turn on and off the lights above the scrubber but I doubt that would work. I would like to thank you because until I read your post I forgot all about the baffles. Now I only need to remember where I put them. I am planning to build a led setup for above the scrubber and hook it up with the tank I am cycling right now. Does anyone know if this guy is still selling these or still alive? The site says it has not been updated since 2005.

 

Thanks for your information! 8) I was hoping this post would bring out some users of this filter.

So you still have the Aquaricare? Can you post some pics of it when you get a chance? I'd love to have those on this thread.

AYe.. what you discovered there is a technique called Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis or RDP for short. THat is cool that you figured that out on your own. Some overlap the times by about an hour to maintain without much of a shift.

Heh. That adds to the part of this story that I find so interesting. I feel that this filter had/has merit and his Web site and marketing techniques were just bizarre and led to fewer sales in my opinion.

If I had one, I would still run a skimmer. I like skimmers.

I actually tried to look him up. I called his old business phone numbers and searched the Net to no avail before I posted all this.

I hope that this story will pull him (Mark Reinke the maker/creator of Aquaricare filters and Mark's Marine Fish) out of the woods some day and get him to follow up here.

Thanks for joining 3reef inkidu and PLEASE post pictures and more information when you can. I would really appreciate that.... and if you ever want to sell it... talk to me.

matt

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. Seems like not a hard thing to ask for pictures unless you had to sign a contract to even receive his product. In some ways given the great lengths he used to keep his products his own I will respect his wishes till I know otherwise. I am not kidding the way I remember it this was a several page contract I signed and returned to him and then I received the brochure. It is just like the picture and I have only just started to cycle the tank, i.e not much to look at. I am curious about the improvements you mention and he had larger models the might be more interesting. I look back and think that also the contract would have made good reading now. I do remember back then that the whole idea seemed laughable to some, especially since I was using it for freshwater, to even use an algae scrubber. I think some peoples bad results might have more to do with "the devil is in the details". If I remember right even his add in FAMA seem odd, i.e. one whole page mostly black and white. I don't know much about protein skimmers or saltwater but they do seem to work by replicating nature which is inline with what Mark Reinki taught me. lol Would you add sand to his algae scrubber if I was using it for saltwater? I wonder how many of these these things he sold? How much flow should it have? My scrubber has a 3ft by 6 inch grow area. I guess the answer would have to do with the kind of light, fresh or salt, and the intensity but an approx. might help. I like the idea of using an air lift. Can you get much flow from an air lift? I am assumming that it would have to be sitting directly over the tank. I am far from an expert. On one side of it above the pat # there is a X-XXXXXX #. What that might be I have no idea. Doing some searches there seems to be at least one person who got ripped off around 2005 ???. All my experiences have been good with the man and his product. I hope any of this helps and if anyone can help me with some of my ?'s including what happened to Mark Reinki I would appreciate it.

 

I understand your concern with a contract like that. But I'd be surprised if it applies to sharing pictures of it on your tank. Plus, even his patent is about to expire. (I'm trying here! hehe)

 

there are big bucks in this