Algae Turf Scrubber

Okay almost done building my sump (omg I love egg crate) I want to add an ATS an was wondering can you put an ATS between the first and second baffle, let the water just flow over the roughened plastic canvas with a light on it? In theory this should work right?

 

Yes. Egg crate sure tends to accumulate algae, it seems even when there is no algae elsewhere

 

Are you talking about submerged, between a set of up/down baffles, or are you talking about attached to the downstream side of one of the baffles so that the water cascades over the screen (open-air)?

 

Well I am not sure witch way to go, if submerged I would have an airstone under it to make it like an upflow ATS, or I could put it after and just have the water flow over it, Witch way would be best?

 

Either way should work, as long as you don't do submerged without an airstone, that doesn't work so well. Beyond that it depends on how you build it.

If open-air, you can so the regular roughed up canvas or the mortar screen, if submerged you can't do just the roughed up canvas, it doesn't work well underwater. Haven't had anyone try the mortar screen in a UAS but in theory it should work, problem is that the mortar is intended to be a sacrificial layer for a waterfall screen so it will wear away, and you're left with the regular canvas which doesn't do well underwater as far as growing algae. That's when you might instead try some kind of permanent surface like the quartz rock. I've tried to embed/bond sand to a canvas screen and it just doesn't work very well. Tried many different methods until the mortar idea was brought up, since then I've abandoned that other effort