algae scrubber vs wet/dry

My system which is a basic Berlin system Berlin Method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is as follows:

Refugium with LR Chaeto and TONS of Kenya Tree, protein skimmer, thats it... All the bacteria needed are in the sand bed (about 3" deep), and the liverock. Oh and I do filter the effluent through a filter sock. Never needed more, except when I was using some LR ordered through the net, THAT I suspect was a bottomless source of nitrates IME... Most people around here don't use wet dry filters. I would like to add a GFO reactor sometime, but my current situation won't allow it (I'm broke).

 

With regards to algae turf scrubbers, it should be mentioned that the algae is periodically harvested in stages - removing the nutrients from the system.

 

Thats a VERY important point Matt. The Nitrates get locked up in the algae mat, and will grow so thick that the bottom layers will die off releasing back the NO3. I have to harvest mine every other day, although I have been holding off to get some to some people... I'm going to have to start chucking it again!

 

Thanks. Do you have a pic of your somewhere we can see Jason?

 

I have one from a few months after it started... My father in law has my camera since Christmas when I left it at his house!! :-(

I can't seem to figure out how to attach it unless it's really small -like 1/10 the size that it is...

 

Use this new 3reef feature:
3reef.com - Forums for coral reef aquariums, salt water fish, corals, inverts, protein skimmers, aquarium lighting and more! - 3reef Image Tools

 

Lets see if this works.

 

Its still tiny... But that is the first month for that tank. I'm sure you're looking to see if my tank suck or not to see if I know what i am doing. And as soon as I can pout a more recent pin up I will. This has been running for around 9 months now, and my growth has been great so far. Had a few setbacks (like overdosing Kalk) but overall I have been able to cut frags fairly often to keep this going and start my new setup which will hopefully be up next month!

The Pocillopara colony was from a previous tank, and all the other frags were new, except the mushrooms, and I kept a paly too.

 

Nice pic!
I was talking about the scrubber though... gotta pic of that?

 

No, I don't use a scrubber, just a refugium. But the principal is the same, scrubbers supposedly work even better though. At least thats what I have heard.