My name is Jason Langer and I am Foursquare Aquatics. I am also a long-time cabinetmaker and woodworker. And all of this has led me to here; Foursquare Aquatics.
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Foursquare Aquatics is a privately owned and operated small business with the primary focus of producing high quality built and performing algae turf scrubbers. I have been in the marine aquarium hobby since 1992 and I have a real passion for reef aquariums; the fish, the corals and the invertebrates. I have been in the woodworking industry for over twenty years. I have years of experience in desi
gning and building my own projects; cabinets, furniture, built-ins and artworks. The combination of my profession and hobby has led me to creating many projects for the aquarium hobby. Back in the summer of 2016, I decided that I wanted to add an algae turf scrubber to my 120gal reef system. A few months of research and design led to the building of my first ATS unit. The first unit contained only one LED light fixture; as my space was limited. I installed the unit in early winter of 2016 and seeded the screen with algae from a local reef hobbyist. The algae began to grow immediately and my nutrient levels maintained at a consistent level. That ATS unit ran on my 120gal system until I tore the system down in the winter of 2017. During this time, I was working on a new design that would include a second light and also remedy some of the imperfections of the first design. I was approached by a fellow club member, Bill Capman who taught at Augsburg University, about building some ATS units for a new biology lab at the university. In the summer of 2017, we had come up with what would become the design for the updated ATS unit. I ended up building four of these units for the Augsburg University biology lab. With the revised design set, I scaled the design for a smaller unit to use on my own system. The very first of these units were built by the spring of 2018. One of the units was be installed on my upcoming new 120gal build and the other was for show. I brought the display unit to the local club’s expo and it generated some interest from local hobbyists and professionals. I was approached and asked if I would allow one of my ATS units to be tested at Bulk Reef Supply. If they found the ATS unit to be of value, they would be interested in offering them for sale on their website. After months of testing, Bulk Reef Supply was interested and we sat down for the first of many meetings. In the summer of 2018, I created the business identity of Foursquare Aquatics. The Foursquare Aquatics name combines two of my more empassioned interests; craftsman style homes and marine aquariums. The next identity that needed to be created was that for the ATS units themselves. After many lackluster ideas, I started to look at the ATS unit itself. It was a shiny black box; that’s it. What was going on inside of it was a mystery. This idea reminded me of the Egyptian black granite sarcophagi that were used to bury the sacred Apis bulls. The name of the bulls made for a great name for these mysterious black boxes. As the year continued, I worked on many other aspects for getting Foursquare Aquatics and the APIS ATS units ready for production. By late winter of early 2019, the first order of the APIS-300 ATS units were placed, manufactured and delivered to Bulk Reef Supply. On the 25th of April, the APIS-300 ATS units were launched on the BRS website.
25/06/2024
The wait is over! I received my copy of Coral Magazine!
The issue contains an article that I wrote that shares my experiences of running one of my Foursquare Aquatics Algae Turf Scrubbers on my personal 120gal reef aquarium. I have been documenting the results of the scrubber for a few years along with how much food I was feeding and what elements I was dosing. And for the entire year of 2023, I tested the nitrate and phosphate levels of the system every single day! So if you’re interested in reading about how I run my scrubber and the results that I achieved, pick up a copy and give it a read.
There’s a saying in the reef keeping that goes, “Before you take someone’s advice about how to keep a reef tank, take a look at their reef tank.” Well, you’re in luck! I also wrote a second article that features my reef tank for the Aquarium Portrait. There’s plenty of information and photos of the corals and fish that are thriving in my reef that utilizes an algae turf scrubber.
Read a book or magazine!!!
Enjoy!
05/05/2023
Looking inside of the APIS series of Algae Turf Scrubbers with the drawer removed reminds me of something. 🤔
May the Fourth Be With You!
02/02/2023
Five weeks ago, I messed up after harvesting algae. The feed pump didn't run for three days and I cooked the remaining algae on the screen. I took this grievous error as an opportunity to see how my algae culture would respond.
It responded incredibly well.
Once I got water flowing back over the screen, I started documenting my nitrate and phosphate levels daily. I expected these levels to rise for some time before the algae culture re-established itself on the algae screen. Rise, they did. But I was surprised to see that the algae started to regrow quickly and the nutrient levels flattened out after the first week and then started to decline after the second week.
It has been almost six weeks since the error and I can confirm that the scrubber is back to running at its performance. The algae harvests are robust and the nutrient levels have dropped considerably.
Since I have been documenting my algae harvests and nutrient levels, I have been able to see a substantial benefit of running the staggered photoperiod and the effectiveness of using an Algae Turf Scrubber to manage the nutrient levels in my reef system. (See photos for graphs.)
22/12/2022
Staggered Photoperiod.
What's a staggered photoperiod and what does it do?
A staggered photoperiod when you cycle your lighting ON/OFF multiple times per day.
Most hobbyists running an algae filter will run a continuous overnight photoperiod. The lights will turn ON at 9PM and turn OFF at 9AM running for a total of 12 hours of light per day; or one cycle per day. A staggered photoperiod breaks up the 12 hour photoperiod into multiple shorter cycles. The lights are ON for the same number of hours per day but increases the number of cycles per day. The increase in lighting cycles provides the algae more times per day for respiration and boosts algae growth.
My staggered photoperiod is as follows...
Set OFF
If Time 22:00 to 06:00 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 09:00 Then ON
If Time 11:00 to 12:00 Then ON
If Time 16:00 to 17:00 Then ON
If Time 19:00 to 20:00 Then ON
I am running a total of 12 hours of light per day; 8+1+1+1+1.
I document all of my algae harvests and other factors pertaining to my system's nutrient management.
My APIS-300 was yielding algae harvests with weights (squeezed dry) from 28-41 "grams per day".
In July, I switched from the continuous overnight photoperiod to a staggered photoperiod and the weights jumped from 44-68 "grams per day".
After four months of running the staggered photoperiod, I switched back to the continuous overnight photoperiod to see if my results would also switch back to previous levels. Sure enough, they dropped back down to 32 "grams per day".
After two months of lower harvested algae weights, I once again switched to the staggered photoperiod. The immediate results verified my experiences of an increased algae production yielding lowered nutrients.
While running the staggered photoperiod, the nitrates in my system dropped significantly and I needed to dose nitrates to keep them elevated. (I prefer to keep my nitrates around 16-20ppm since I keep a large number of LPS and NPS in my mixed reef.)
You will also see that I dose Captiv8 Aquaculture's Isol8 MT to maintain a number of minor and trace elements; Iron, Iodine, Molybdenum, Cobalt, Manganese, Nickel, etc. It is important to replenish these elements into your reef as they can be depleted quickly from algae filtration.
A shout-out to Posch for introducing me to the idea of running a staggered photoperiod.
20/08/2022
Here's some of the collected data that I've been compiling over the last six months.
Prior to the first changes made in April, my APIS-300 was consistently keeping my nitrate levels around 12-16ppm with a 10 hour photoperiod.
You can see that there's an increase in algae weight when I increased feeding for the NPS corals in March; nitrates also jumped above 24ppm. There's another increase in algae weight when I started dosing Isol8 MT to replenish those depeleted minor and trace elements associated to algal filtration. And there's the significant increase in algae weight when I started the staggered photoperiod in July. The algae weight begins to drop off in August when the nitrate levels start declining rapidly and eventually bottom out. Nitrates dropped to 2.3ppm on July 29th and I began dosing ESV Nitrate to get above 10ppm. Due to a busy/bad week in August, nitrates bottomed out at 0.0ppm on August 17th. I am now dosing 20ml of nitrates daily until I reach 16ppm again.
Here is perhaps the more important observation.
When looking at the records for July, you can see that the daily food inputs drop while the "daily" algae weights continue to rise thus causing the nitrate levels to rapidly drop.
I did not include any phosphate test results as I wasn't confident in the results my testing was giving me. The Hanna ULR Phosphate Checker was giving me +0.90ppm errors up until August 3rd while the Red Sea test kits were giving me results around 0.10ppm. Since the Hanna checker started registering readable results two weeks ago, they have dropped from 0.82ppm to 0.28ppm. The Red Sea kit still shows much lower results but I am now out of reagents.
Water samples have been collected to send in for ICP testing.
31/07/2022
So I checked on my algae drawer last night and decided that it was already time to harvest. Again.
After just one week, I am pulling out as much algae as I was during the two week cycles prior to the staggered photoperiod.
Eight day cycle; 522g (squeezed).
But what is really remarkable is that my nitrate levels have plummeted over the last three weeks. I would say that for the last year, my nitrates stayed around the 24-32ppm range.
On July 9th, my nitrate level tested at 28.6ppm.
On July 21st, nitrate level tested at 11.1ppm. 🤔
July 26th: 6.9ppm. 🫣
And last night, July 29th: 2.3ppm. 😲
All I have changed is the schedule for the photoperiod; the total number of hours has remained at 12 hours per day.
I have included a photo of the Frozen Food Tracker calendar that list the amounts of foods fed daily. I have only been feeding LRS Frenzy blends and PE Mysis since May 24th.
I will be dosing ESV Nitrate to get my nitrates back top into the double digits before I see any negative effects from my corals.
What is concerning is that my phosphates haven't dropped at all. In fact, the phosphates have risen slightly and tested at .16ppm tonight with the Red Sea test kit but the Hanna ULR Phosphate Checker is blinking 0.90 (tested three times). (I will be placing an order for the Hanna PO4 Standards to verify that my checker is working correctly.)
I test the nitrates and phosphates with both the Hanna Checkers and Red Sea test kits to verify.
Can staggering the photoperiod create such a dramatic change in algae growth and nutrient reduction?
22/07/2022
I don't think that I could've waited another day to harvest the algae from my scrubber. When I pulled the drawer out, the water level inside the drawer was within two inches from the top. I didn't want to risk the drawer to overflow and cause any issues within or outside of the unit. So instead of the usual fourteen day cycle, here's the results from a twelve day cycle.
Twelve day cycle; 812g (squeezed).
This is by far the largest harvest that I have experienced with my system. I have not changed any routines in regards to feeding, dosing or other maintenance. This explosion of algae growth over the last month has been due to running the staggered photoperiod throughout the day; this is still only 12 hours of light per day!
I'm excited about this!!! I took a lot of photos.
Check out the photos and their descriptions for more information.
Water test results show that the nitrates dropped from a consistent 24ppm to 10-12ppm. Phosphates remained steady around 0.10ppm.
19/07/2022
I’ve been trying out a new photoperiod schedule for the last few weeks to see how it affects the algae growth.
Since the last harvest, this how much algae has grown over the last nine days.
10/07/2022
Last week, I discovered nine days into my harvest cycle that one of the lights was accidently turned off at the switch. That side of the algae screen showed little algae growth compared to the other side. I turned the light on and let the scrubber continue to run with the uneven amounts of algae growth. I justified my decision by saying that I wanted to see the difference in the amount of algae grown after that first week. (I have stated before that I find that there's an explosion of growth after Day 10.) I'm really glad that I let it go.
Fourteen day cycle; 629g (squeezed).
With having the right side of the screen only getting five days of direct light, it looks very comparable to last week's photo of the left side. For the first handful of days, the algae grows as long fine strands. Then after the first week, begins to curl and develop into a thick but airy mat.
The algae weight also shows a considerable difference after the first week. The right side had 160g of algae while the left side jumped up to 473g of algae; almost triple the weight.
I believe this is the largest algae harvest that my system has produced in fourteen days. Whether this is due to the staggered photoperiod or not, "I don't know." But it is the only change that I have made recently to my maintenance routine. Same amount of foods being fed. Same minor and trace element dosing. Same amount of water flow.
If I would've had both lights turned on for the whole cycle, could I have harvested almost 1kg of algae in two weeks????
01/05/2022
Here's a look at harvesting algae today from my APIS-300 Algae Turf Scrubber that is running on my 120gal mixed reef system.
Thirteen day cycle; 521g. (squeezed dry weight).
The 521g of algae roughly translates to 4 cups; two softballs.
This is three consecutive large harvests over 400g of squeezed algae; two of those over 500g.
I took some "processing" photos of my harvesting the algae from the algae screen. I use the scraper to "shear" the algae off the screen like wool from a sheep. The mats of algae were thick and still looked viable underneath; although you can start to see patches of detritus (decaying algae???) beginning to show up. You want to make sure that you are harvesting the algae before the layers underneath begin to die off releasing the bound up nutrients back into the water.
I am currently running my APIS-300 with a photoperiod of twelve hours of light per night. I am harvesting algae every two weeks; give or take a day.
06/03/2022
I was asked to share [more] photos of my reef tank online, so here's a batch of them from the past couple of photo sessions.
120gal Mixed Reef.
Montipora, Goniopora, Alveopora, Bernardpora, Lobophyllia and Tubastraea.
Tonga shelf rock with TLF ReBorn CaRx media for substrate.
Foursquare Aquatics APIS-300 Algae Turf Scrubber, Reef Octopus Regal 200-SSS Protein Skimmer, Geo's Reef CaRx, Neotune Systems COR-20 return pump, Ecotech Marine MP40QD pumps (x4), Neptune Systems SKY LED Lighting (x2) and Neptune Systems APEX Controller and modules.
ESV B-Ionic Salt Mix, ESV Transition Elements, TLF Acropower, TLF ReBorn CaRx Media.
LRS Frenzy Blends frozen foods, PE Mysis, PE Mysis Flake, Reef Nutrition liquid feeds and Aquaholic Aquaculture Brine Brew.
27/11/2021
It's SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!!!
As a small business, I thought it was time that I offered a sale on some Foursquare Aquatics Algae Turf Scrubbers this weekend.
This is the first time that I have offered the APIS series of scrubbers for direct sale.
I have a very limited supply of APIS-300 units available for immediate delivery.
The APIS-300 will be discounted to $1050; shipped to your door.
If you're interested in purchasing an APIS-300, visit the website and send me an e-mail requesting your APIS-300. I will reply to the orders as they are received to let you know payment information and request delivery details. (Shipping within ConUS only.)
Here's the link; https://foursquareaquatics.squarespace.com/contact
This sale will run through this weekend, so your e-mail should be sent before 11:59PM on Sunday, November 28th.
I will update this post in the comments if and when all of the units have been sold.
If you're interested in the APIS-60 Algae Turf Scrubber unit, also send me an e-mail. I have all the parts for a small number of those units but they are not ready ready for delivery. They will be assembled over the next couple of weeks.
If you have any questions, please send an e-mail.
Thanks!
JASON
19/11/2021
A Foursquare Aquatics milestone has been achieved!
The 100th unit of the APIS-300 Algae Turf Scrubber has been completed and is all boxed up for one random (and lucky) customer!
To celebrate this milestone, I have added a Foursquare Aquatics merchandise gift pack inside the box.
The gift pack includes four pens, four can coozies, an extra towel, an adjustable ball cap and two tee shirts (sizes M and L).
I would like to express my gratitude to those that have supported me with this venture. It's a rewarding feeling to realize that I have built 100 of the APIS-300 ATS units and I couldn't do it without your support and patronage.
Thank you!
27/09/2021
And we're back on track!
Fully recovering from the extended harvest cycle last time, the algae screen was full of healthy looking algae.
Fifteen day cycle; 457g (squeezed).
Looking back at the last harvest, I let it go for twenty days and I had a much smaller algae weight than this time at the normal fifteen days. I know that there's multiple variables that would contribute to this. But the most obvious observation was that the algae growth was thick and stayed completely attached to the screen; no die off.
I would also mention that I probably fed a tad heavier this past week more than usual due to adding a new fish to the reef.
11/09/2021
Twenty day cycle: 413g (squeezed).
I should've harvested algae last weekend but since it was MACNA 2021, I said it can wait until Monday. Monday came and went and so did the rest of the week; thus the extended harvest cycle.
This is also a good example of what happens when a harvest cycle goes too long. The algae begins to die underneath and releases from the screen.
I also needed to remove and clean the spray bar as many of the holes were getting clogged with algae as well. And when water flow is limited over the screen, the purple slime algae shows up. I should've cleaned the spray bar the last time as I noticed the purple slime appearing on the top of the screen already.
There's a lot of should've's in that last section.
I've included photos of the screen after scraping to show how well the algae will recover over the next two weeks.
22/08/2021
An album collecting the harvests from my Foursquare Aquatics APIS-300 Algae Turf Scrubber that is running on my 120gal mixed reef system.
The APIS-300 has been running on this system for three years.
The lighting photoperiod has been dialed in to 10 hours/day.
The APIS-300 is keeping my heavily stocked and heavily fed reef within my preferred water parameters of 10-16ppm of NO3 and 0.04-0.08ppm of PO4.
I document my algae harvests by taking photos of both sides of the screen along with the weight of the algae. The algae harvests are squeezed "dry" prior to measuring the weight eliminating as much free water weight as possible.
The dates, harvest cycle lengths and harvest weights are included on each photo.
22/08/2021
02/07/2021
As Foursquare Aquatics celebrates its third year, the APIS-series of algae turf scrubbers will now include a branded towel to assist you in keeping your work area clean and dry.
-300 -60
05/06/2021
Removing nutrients from your reef aquarium doesn’t have to be messy or disgusting. It can be lush and clean.
I try to harvest the algae from my APIS-300 every two weeks. The harvests have been averaging 450-480 grams of algae after the water had been squeezed out.
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Videos
Nine Days Growth with a Staggered Photoperiod
I’ve been trying out a new photoperiod schedule for the last few weeks to see how it affects the algae growth.
Since the last harvest, this how much algae has grown over the last nine days.
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Growing Algae Has Gotten Me Here
My name is Jason Langer and I am Foursquare Aquatics.
I have been in the marine aquarium hobby since 1992 and I have a real passion for reef aquariums; the fish, the corals and the invertebrates.
I am also a long-time cabinetmaker and woodworker. I have been in the woodworking industry for over twenty years. I have years of experience in designing and building my own projects; cabinets, furniture, built-ins and artworks.
The combination of my profession and hobby has led me to creating many projects for the aquarium hobby. And all of this has led me to here; Foursquare Aquatics.
Back in the summer of 2016, I decided that I wanted to add an algae turf scrubber to my 120gal reef system. A few months of research and design led to the building of my first ATS unit. The first unit contained only one LED light fixture; as my space was limited. I installed the unit in early winter of 2016 and seeded the screen with algae from a local reef hobbyist. The algae began to grow immediately and my nutrient levels maintained at a consistent level. That ATS unit ran on my 120gal system until I tore the system down in the winter of 2017.
During this time, I was working on a new design that would include a second light and also remedy some of the imperfections of the first design. I was approached by a fellow club member, Bill Capman who taught at Augsburg University, about building some ATS units for a new biology lab at the university. In the summer of 2017, we had come up with what would become the design for the updated ATS unit. I ended up building four of these units for the Augsburg University biology lab.
With the revised design set, I scaled the design for a smaller unit to use on my own system. The very first of these units were built by the spring of 2018. One of the units was be installed on my upcoming new 120gal build and the other was for show. I brought the display unit to the local club’s expo and it generated some interest from local hobbyists and professionals. I was approached and asked if I would allow one of my ATS units to be tested at Bulk Reef Supply. If they found the ATS unit to be of value, they would be interested in offering them for sale on their website. After months of testing, Bulk Reef Supply was interested and we sat down for the first of many meetings.
In the summer of 2018, I created the business identity of Foursquare Aquatics. The Foursquare Aquatics name combines two of my more empassioned interests; craftsman style homes and marine aquariums.
The next identity that needed to be created was that for the ATS units themselves. After many lackluster ideas, I started to look at the ATS unit itself. It was a shiny black box; that’s it. What was going on inside of it was a mystery. This idea reminded me of the Egyptian black granite sarcophagi that were used to bury the sacred Apis bulls. The name of the bulls made for a great name for these mysterious black boxes.
As the year continued, I worked on many other aspects for getting Foursquare Aquatics and the APIS ATS units ready for production. By late winter of early 2019, the first order of the APIS-300 ATS units were placed, manufactured and delivered to Bulk Reef Supply. On the 25th of April, the APIS-300 ATS units were launched on the BRS website.
![I was asked to share [more] photos of my reef tank online, so here's a batch of them from the past couple of photo sessi...](https://img3.voofla.com/530/615/3116199005306153.jpg)
