OhNoNemo
i love triggers
IMO and IME i would go with a scrubber ...
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
A scrubber is much stronger than a fuge, because the rapid thin flow on the screen removes the boundary layer of the algae.
lilyicu
FOWLR
I know that I am late to jump on board, how long do you leave the light on? 24/7?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
No, 18 hours.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
LA Fish Guys did a neat little scrubber review...
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz_Ya19_kOg]LA Fishguys, Episode 102 pt 3, Scrubbing with Algae.‏ - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz_Ya19_kOg]LA Fishguys, Episode 102 pt 3, Scrubbing with Algae.‏ - YouTube[/ame]
Marines_Wife
Reef enthusiast
OOOOOOOOO new videos YAY
andersoned14
Reefing newb
I just installed my scrubber three days ago, so I have a question already. This is on a 180 with no bio-load, just finished the cycle, some LR. Should I not expect any real growth untill there is fish in the tank?
staceyfenea
Reefing newb
Hey Bryan,
I watched the L.A. Fishguy video. Did I understand correctly? He did not clean the screens for 4 weeks the first time?
I watched the L.A. Fishguy video. Did I understand correctly? He did not clean the screens for 4 weeks the first time?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Both of you are correct.
staceyfenea
Reefing newb
Do you recommend on a new scrubber not cleaning the screens for 4 weeks?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Of course not.
Zissou
What about my dynamite?
I think he would've seen a larger improvement had he cleaned it on time, you can see where the algae on the screen has died off and turned into sludge. Definitely not the healthy, thick growth you'd expect to see. Anyway, it's nice to see that it still worked regardless.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
I mentioned to him that 14 days should probably be the limit.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
A reminder about lighting:
Stronger lighting is always better, until you start "burning" the algae. Burned algae will be yellow, because it is getting too much light but not enough nutrients from the flow. More light requires more nutrients, which give you more filtering.
So if you have yellow growth, increase the flow so that more nutrient are delivered to the algae. If you can't increase flow, then add some iron. If you can't add iron, then reduce the number of hours the lights are on. Do not reduce the wattage, however; stronger light for less hours is better than weaker light for more hours, because weaker light will grow darker algae. Stronger light grows bright green algae, which does the most filtering.
Stronger lighting is always better, until you start "burning" the algae. Burned algae will be yellow, because it is getting too much light but not enough nutrients from the flow. More light requires more nutrients, which give you more filtering.
So if you have yellow growth, increase the flow so that more nutrient are delivered to the algae. If you can't increase flow, then add some iron. If you can't add iron, then reduce the number of hours the lights are on. Do not reduce the wattage, however; stronger light for less hours is better than weaker light for more hours, because weaker light will grow darker algae. Stronger light grows bright green algae, which does the most filtering.
Dakwan
Reefing newb
wow, just read through all 96 pages. I am so pro scubber now... all 96 pages of that was pretty much drilled it in.
I'm out of town for the next bit but i'm excited to build one! I hate hate hate my skimmer so i'm excited at the prospect of getting rid of it.
I'm out of town for the next bit but i'm excited to build one! I hate hate hate my skimmer so i'm excited at the prospect of getting rid of it.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Looking forward to the pics....
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
This is an experimental fix for brown/black growth, and also for extending the life of the bulbs past 3 months:
1. Use bulbs with twice the wattage as recommended; so use 2 real watts per square inch (6.25 sq cm) of screen. Thus a screen 10 X 10 inches = 100 square inches would get 200 total real watts of light instead of 100 watts.
2. Run the lights for half as many hours as recommended; this would be 9 hours instead of 18.
3. Around 3 months, when the growth starts to get darker (because the bulbs are getting weaker), start increasing hours until it grows green again. When you reach 18 hours, it's time for new bulbs.
This does a few things: The first is obvious; you will get longer bulb life as long as you remember to increase the hours when you get to 3 months. But stronger light can also turn black/brown growth into green, no matter how high the nutrients are, if the light is strong enough. The trick is just to not burn the algae; thus the hours have to be less.
When the light is strong (compared to the nutrients), more of the growth is physical algae, and it's also more green (less proteins). When the light is weak (compared to the nutrients), more of the growth is DOC and dark physical growth (more proteins).
1. Use bulbs with twice the wattage as recommended; so use 2 real watts per square inch (6.25 sq cm) of screen. Thus a screen 10 X 10 inches = 100 square inches would get 200 total real watts of light instead of 100 watts.
2. Run the lights for half as many hours as recommended; this would be 9 hours instead of 18.
3. Around 3 months, when the growth starts to get darker (because the bulbs are getting weaker), start increasing hours until it grows green again. When you reach 18 hours, it's time for new bulbs.
This does a few things: The first is obvious; you will get longer bulb life as long as you remember to increase the hours when you get to 3 months. But stronger light can also turn black/brown growth into green, no matter how high the nutrients are, if the light is strong enough. The trick is just to not burn the algae; thus the hours have to be less.
When the light is strong (compared to the nutrients), more of the growth is physical algae, and it's also more green (less proteins). When the light is weak (compared to the nutrients), more of the growth is DOC and dark physical growth (more proteins).
Wes888
Reef enthusiast
What is DOC?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Dissolved Organic Carbon. Things like vitamins, amino acids, carbs.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Coming Soon: Good news for nano owners who want scrubbers. If you have not been able to easily put a scrubber below or above your tank, this might work for you. And you probably already have the parts to make it.
