Ulva Scrubber

[ScooterTDI]

I've been running a DIY algae scrubber that is a little unconventional since it is a "trough"-style scrubber and not a "waterfall" style scrubber. Originally I was cultivating typical hair/turf algae on a screen, but then ulva started to grow in the trough. At first, I considered it a bit of a nuisance since it didn't root firms to the screen and sheets would often slough off, but it was able to easily outcompete the turf algae on the scrubber. I decided to modify the scrubber to specifically cultivate ulva by weaving in a bunch of zip ties that project 1-2" out from the surface of the screen to catch and hold the ulva in place (seen as light green zipties poking out above the algae in the attached picture). This works fantastic now and everyday I remove a handful of ulva that I either toss out or feed to my urchins (daily harvest shown in attached picture). Basically all herbivores love ulva, so it makes a great food source if you have tangs, urchins, sea hares, etc. Just thought I'd share this since its been working so well for me. I see the following benefits:

 

-Easier (and less messy) to harvest algae than scraping turf off a screen. All you have to do is grab a wad.

-More efficient nutrient removal since it grows substantially faster than turf algae

-Free food source

-More consistent nutrient removal since you only removal a little at a time instead of scraping the screen clean as you would for turf algae. When growing turf algae, I found that algae growth in the display tank would fluctuate depending on how long it had been since I had cleaned the screen. 

 

[lowsingle]

Nice, looks like a good food for tangs 

 

Darren