3.4. Treatment effects
3.4.1. Flow rate, shading, pulsing, and calcium seed addition
Table 3 shows p-values, using a Tukey adjustment for a multiple comparison of means, for different flow rates, pulsed versus constant inflow, calcium seed addition, and shading for: (1) dry weight of harvested algal biosolids, (2) percent P in the harvested algal biosolids, and (3) TP removal. For different flow rates, the table shows statistically different results for both dry weight and TP removal. These p-values support the conclusion that flow rate has an effect on dry weight, and subsequently, TP removal for algae scrubbers. However, different flow rates create different P loads (g/d) for each scrubber. As a result, the observed effect of flow rate could be attributed to changing P loads for inflow TP. These results indicate significant differences between each flow rate for dry weight and TP removal, suggesting the effect of flow rate is not simply the result of changing P load.