SantaMonica
Reefing newb
You are supposed to remove the screen before cleaning, so that nothing gets into the water. Do that next time.
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Coming in 2012:
Algae Scrubber II
(nano owners rejoice)
Algae Scrubber II
(nano owners rejoice)
arkansasboy
Reefer Wannabe
I did. I cleaned it with FW outside. The algae has been there for a few days now.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
You can siphon it out, or stir it up so that it gets pumped back to the display.
arkansasboy
Reefer Wannabe
I am still cycling and my rock is starting to turn that same color as well as some of my sand. Is this normal?
hi, i am very interested in using an algae scrubber and have read most of your thread on here.
i have in an wall tank, both sides are exposed and the sides of my tank are the only places to hang components and even those are very limited on space such that i don't have room for an overflow.
i have a 47g tank that i'm using a canister filter on and i would like to remove it and run an algae scrubber but i dont have enough room on the sides as seen in the photos for a overflow and my tank is not drilled for a sump.
my only option seems to be to install an algae scrubber above my tank, pump water into the bucket or reservoir, and then gravity drain it back into the tank. is this correct? any other methods considering my predicament?
i notice that quite a few things have changed since the first few pages of posts. would it still be accurate that i would need a minimum of a 7x7" screen with a 245gph pump siphoning water from the tank into my "bucket"? i feed about half a cube of frozen mysis a day and at the moment the tank is only a FOWLR with plans to get into soft corals.
did the design you had for the nano tank pan out and would the be suitable for my application or perhaps you have the drawings of those so i can fab my own? i am a very DIY-capable kind of guy.
thank you in advance for your insight and counsel!
i have in an wall tank, both sides are exposed and the sides of my tank are the only places to hang components and even those are very limited on space such that i don't have room for an overflow.
i have a 47g tank that i'm using a canister filter on and i would like to remove it and run an algae scrubber but i dont have enough room on the sides as seen in the photos for a overflow and my tank is not drilled for a sump.
my only option seems to be to install an algae scrubber above my tank, pump water into the bucket or reservoir, and then gravity drain it back into the tank. is this correct? any other methods considering my predicament?
i notice that quite a few things have changed since the first few pages of posts. would it still be accurate that i would need a minimum of a 7x7" screen with a 245gph pump siphoning water from the tank into my "bucket"? i feed about half a cube of frozen mysis a day and at the moment the tank is only a FOWLR with plans to get into soft corals.
did the design you had for the nano tank pan out and would the be suitable for my application or perhaps you have the drawings of those so i can fab my own? i am a very DIY-capable kind of guy.
thank you in advance for your insight and counsel!
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Yes.
You might want to wait for the new version of algae scrubber, which will be posted next year. They will work no problem. Otherwise you are correct.
The new sizing guide is much smaller. A 3 X 4 inch screen would be fine.
It was put on hold in order to get the new algae scrubber version ready.You can still try making it yourself... but it's very hard.
thank you for your prompt reply and help.
i don't have room to use a typical CFL reflector unless i can find smaller ones. my opening is about 7" high by 38" wide so LEDs would be easier to insert into the larger area above my tank while i build my system. which LED lamps sold in the open market have been shown to be successful with algae scrubbers? perhaps since my screen will be quite small (5"x5") i can use a CFL bulb and just make my own reflector with my hands within the space above my tank. how many actual watts would you recommend with a CFL curly bulb? a reflector might not even be necessary i guess with such a small screen?
thanks!
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
I can't recommend any leds'. For cfl, use the guide:
An example VERTICAL waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:
1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen)
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen)
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen)
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen)
10 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen)
5 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen)
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)
High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.
An example VERTICAL waterfall screen size is 3 X 4 inches = 12 square inches of screen (7.5 X 10 cm = 75 sq cm) with a total of 12 real watts (not equivalent) of fluorescent light for 18 hours a day. If all 12 watts are on one side, it is a 1-sided screen. If 6 watts are on each side, it is a 2-sided screen, but the total is still 12 watts for 18 hours a day. This screen size and wattage should be able to handle the following amounts of daily feeding:
1 frozen cube per day (2-sided screen)
1/2 frozen cube per day (1-sided screen)
10 pinches of flake food per day (2-sided screen)
5 pinches of flake food per day (1-sided screen)
10 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (2-sided screen)
5 square inches (50 sq cm) of nori per day (1-sided screen)
0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
0.05 dry ounce (1.4 grams) of pellet food per day (1-sided screen)
High-wattage technique: Double the wattage, and cut the hours in half (to 9 per day). This will get brown screens to grow green much faster. Thus the example above would be 12 watts on each side, for a total of 24 watts, but for only 9 hours per day. If growth starts to turn YELLOW, then increase the flow, or add iron, or reduce the number of hours. And since the bulbs are operating for 9 hours instead of 18, they will last 6 months instead of 3 months.
Just curious as to why it was so important to have 1 sq. in. of screen per gallon of water in the past and why it has changed to amount of feeding? My requirement would have been 10x7.5 and now I have built a 3x4... Previously you would have said that this size doesn't filter half as much, it filters much much less. What changed?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Experience
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Nice to have all that room back there...
old 5k0ol
Scurrilous
+1
Oh how easy life would be with that much space.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Two updates:
1. The cyano stage: Some people, who start using a scrubber for the first time, get rid of their nuisance algae but then get some cyano that they never had before. The reason for this is that cyano is able to "fix" it's own nitrogen, which means it is good at getting the last nutrients that are available. However, once these last nutrients are removed, the cyano will go away too. And the more powerful the scrubber is, the quicker this happens.
2. High coral-growth theory: Some people are wanting faster growth with their SPS corals. In a scrubber-only tank, when there are no other filters, you have higher amounts of dissolved and particulate food in the water than if you had other filters running. However, the lighting remains the same. In other words, growth requires light and food; a scrubber-only tank has more food, but the same light. My theory is that if you increased the light too, you would get much more growth; possibly more that natural levels.
This is based on watching "traditional" SPS tanks with lighting problems (low light/food ratio): The corals grow slow (if at all), and tend to stay brown. When the lights are fixed/replaced (high light/food ratio), the colors brighten up and the growth starts again. However a scrubber-only SPS tank has much more food in the water, yet still only has "traditional" amounts of lighting. So the light/food ratio is low again. So my theory is that if you increased the lighting to more than "traditional" levels, you would get "more than traditional" SPS growth. Bleaching is less of a concern in a scrubber-only tank, because of the larger quanitity of food that is available (studies have shown that more food reduces bleaching).
1. The cyano stage: Some people, who start using a scrubber for the first time, get rid of their nuisance algae but then get some cyano that they never had before. The reason for this is that cyano is able to "fix" it's own nitrogen, which means it is good at getting the last nutrients that are available. However, once these last nutrients are removed, the cyano will go away too. And the more powerful the scrubber is, the quicker this happens.
2. High coral-growth theory: Some people are wanting faster growth with their SPS corals. In a scrubber-only tank, when there are no other filters, you have higher amounts of dissolved and particulate food in the water than if you had other filters running. However, the lighting remains the same. In other words, growth requires light and food; a scrubber-only tank has more food, but the same light. My theory is that if you increased the light too, you would get much more growth; possibly more that natural levels.
This is based on watching "traditional" SPS tanks with lighting problems (low light/food ratio): The corals grow slow (if at all), and tend to stay brown. When the lights are fixed/replaced (high light/food ratio), the colors brighten up and the growth starts again. However a scrubber-only SPS tank has much more food in the water, yet still only has "traditional" amounts of lighting. So the light/food ratio is low again. So my theory is that if you increased the lighting to more than "traditional" levels, you would get "more than traditional" SPS growth. Bleaching is less of a concern in a scrubber-only tank, because of the larger quanitity of food that is available (studies have shown that more food reduces bleaching).
kevvin27
Reefing newb
Hey SM, I've been having trouble with my scrubber since I installed it in my new tank about 6 months ago. I took the screens off of my old tank and they were pretty old and starting to grow more red turf than green hair. I read somewhere that the redish brown algea will grow on older screens so I replaced one and now all it's growing is this flourescent greenish yellow slime stuff. I've tried cleaning them every day or 2 for a while and tried leaving them for a full week but nothing is changing. The green hair algea is growing everywhere but the screens. It seems to grow mostly below the screens under the water line and on the return nozzles in the display even though I keep pulling it off and removing it from the tank.
The tank is about 33 gallons, I feed about 4 pinches of flake food a day and 1 or 2 frozen cubes every 3 or 4 days. The screens are each 5.5" x 6" (They were done for the old guidelines on my old tank). I use 2 curly 26 actual watt cfl bulbs for 18 hours a day and the flow is about 400 gph. The screens are exactly 4" away from the facing edge of the bulbs.
The picture of the redish coloured one looks a lot more yellowish green than it really is and that's about 1.5 weeks growth. Every time I scrape it all off it just grows back like that.
I would really appreciate some advice on what I should change to make it work right. Thank you.
The tank is about 33 gallons, I feed about 4 pinches of flake food a day and 1 or 2 frozen cubes every 3 or 4 days. The screens are each 5.5" x 6" (They were done for the old guidelines on my old tank). I use 2 curly 26 actual watt cfl bulbs for 18 hours a day and the flow is about 400 gph. The screens are exactly 4" away from the facing edge of the bulbs.
The picture of the redish coloured one looks a lot more yellowish green than it really is and that's about 1.5 weeks growth. Every time I scrape it all off it just grows back like that.
I would really appreciate some advice on what I should change to make it work right. Thank you.
Attachments
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
That's when you need to scrape all the turf off, so the green hair can attach to the screen.
It's just that it slowly displaces the green hair; so you need to remove it down to the white screen.
That's because it's back to a new screen; that's how new screens start out. Better to scrape an old screen down to the white plastic.
The growth looks ok to me. You can let them go 14 days if you want.
Because the new screen cannot hold on to thick growth yet in the middle; so it lets go.
Just let them keep growing, and never replace them unless they rip.
hi -
i'm getting ready to put my system together. i have a 46g tank. it is fish only right now but i anticipate having corals and feeding quite a bit. at the moment it is 1 frozen cube and some flake each day. the flow will be 400gph. the screen is 10" (w) x 13" (l). it must be and is a one-sided screen. i went to home depot and got the CFL bulb below (42w) and a reflector housing for it to place it 4" away from the screen.
the algae scrubber "tank" is tall and rectangular. the bulb reflector clip will be pinched on the right of the short side of the rectangle and aimed diagonally at the screen's one side. here's a crude drawing.
should i add another 42w CFL and reflector on the left side? do i have sufficient flow?
with and without the 2nd CFL and reflector, how many hours should i have this setup ON a day?
thanks for your help!
i'm getting ready to put my system together. i have a 46g tank. it is fish only right now but i anticipate having corals and feeding quite a bit. at the moment it is 1 frozen cube and some flake each day. the flow will be 400gph. the screen is 10" (w) x 13" (l). it must be and is a one-sided screen. i went to home depot and got the CFL bulb below (42w) and a reflector housing for it to place it 4" away from the screen.
the algae scrubber "tank" is tall and rectangular. the bulb reflector clip will be pinched on the right of the short side of the rectangle and aimed diagonally at the screen's one side. here's a crude drawing.
should i add another 42w CFL and reflector on the left side? do i have sufficient flow?
with and without the 2nd CFL and reflector, how many hours should i have this setup ON a day?
thanks for your help!
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
For a 150 square inch screen, you want at least 75 real watts on each side. For 1-sided like yours, you want all 150 watts on one side. You have 42.
It's true that you are not feeding much at all, and thus what you have now will probably work fine, even at 9 hours per day. But ideal, for best green growth, you want a lot of watts per square inch.
It's true that you are not feeding much at all, and thus what you have now will probably work fine, even at 9 hours per day. But ideal, for best green growth, you want a lot of watts per square inch.
