Algae Scrubber

[SPotter]

Bry,
what size tank do you have again and how are you supplying the flow to your scrubber? pump or from the overflow? I would definitely stick to the 18 on and 6 off, you will be suprised how quickly the algae will begin to grow. As far as the lights go, are you planning on lighting both sides of the screen or just one?

 

[Bry17nyc]

i have a 90 gal tank and its being supplied by the overflow..as a return pump i have a mag 9.5

i dont know if i should light it up on both sides because i see that the back side get a little less flow so i think ill just put to 42watt in the front side

 

[SPotter]

are you able to calculate what the actual flow thru the screen is? You should have about 500 gph based on the size of your screen.

 

[Bry17nyc]

NO I HAVENT CALCULATED IT YET...ILL DO THAT TOMORROW..ONCE I GET HOME FROM WORK...but i dont think is that fast..but ill check

 

[Ant?nio Vitor]

Bry,
what size tank do you have again and how are you supplying the flow to your scrubber? pump or from the overflow? I would definitely stick to the 18 on and 6 off, you will be suprised how quickly the algae will begin to grow. As far as the lights go, are you planning on lighting both sides of the screen or just one?

My oppinion is that using the most natural cycle aproaches is allways better...

that is why I use the algae scrubber method, and removed my skmmer.
So 12 hours of light is the optimum. (at least for me)

allthough if I light it for 24 hours, I can get more growth...but that dependes on the variety of the algaes, for more types of algae, I prefer the 12 hour period. (more algae species on the scrubber)

I light it contracycle...when the aquarium light is off, the algae scrubber is on.... less pH swings.

I even have several fishes on my sump, and macroalgas, an mangrove trees it's my second tank...

whithout the skimmer, I have lots of space.

I use only 12W of leds, it's enough...and in one side, off course if my nitrates went up I would use the other side as well...
the problem is with the food I gave to the fish.

flakes based on spirulina do have more PO4 ratio than NO3 than frozen mysis, po4 is the limiting factor for the algae grwoth.
with frozen mysis, I get some build up of NO3.
In my case it's better to have No3 being the limiting factor than PO4, why?
because cyanobacteria can handle the extra po4, without the no3 (it can use atmosferic Nitrogen)...

I had 0 no3 and 0 po4 for many months with my experience...of course lots of cyanobacteria on the algae scrubber...

 

[Bry17nyc]

i have it contracycle aswell...
its been a 9 days and this is how it looks so far
it has brown algae and a couple of small patches of green

is this normal?
should i clean it even though is like this

 

[Ant?nio Vitor]

Don't clean it, it's doing great.

 

[SPotter]

the screen should be cleaned every 7 days regardless of growth. With that said, something doesnt seem right. After 9 days you should have a lot more growth on your screen.

Questions.....
What kind of light did you decide to use?
How much are you feeding daily?
Need to know the flow going thru the screen as well.

 

[Ant?nio Vitor]

the screen should be cleaned every 7 days regardless of growth. With that said, something doesnt seem right. After 9 days you should have a lot more growth on your screen.

Questions.....
What kind of light did you decide to use?
How much are you feeding daily?
Need to know the flow going thru the screen as well.

He could have low light, or he could have a very "clean" water, Why it should be cleaned?

I only clean my screen, after some deepness of the algae , sometimes half centimeter...

In the beginning it takes more time to get algaes attached, My algae turf did that, more growth after 3-4 weeks than in the first week. For a better and quick start, the plastic surface must be roughed with sandpaper...

Please when you clean the screen do not take all the algae, let some stay...it grow faster next if you do this.

 

[SPotter]

I agree it takes time to develop growth after 9 days he should have a lot more than that. If he has a clean tank then why either with the scrubber?

Steve

 

[Bry17nyc]

the screen should be cleaned every 7 days regardless of growth. With that said, something doesnt seem right. After 9 days you should have a lot more growth on your screen.

Questions.....
What kind of light did you decide to use?
How much are you feeding daily?
Need to know the flow going thru the screen as well.

so far i have 1 42 watt cfl bulb
and about the flow...it fills one gallon in 17 SECONDS so in an hour it would fill around 212 gallons..so im guessing thats what flow through the whole screen
i didnt feed for almost 2 days because frozen food ended but i started feeding 1 1/2 cubes per day

 

[SPotter]

Ok flow should be around 490 gph so you are way low on that. you flow sounds a little low for that size tank as well. What kind of pump are you using? you can improve the screen flow by making it narrower and using a light on the other side.

What type of reflector are you using with the light?

Key ingredients to an ats....flow, light and feeding.

What live stock do you have in your tank?

Steve

 

[Bry17nyc]

mines is feeding from the overflow...
i need to go buy 2 reflectors and another light.. ill do that this week when im off from work

can i feed it through a stronger pump from the refugium?

 

[SPotter]

definitely can feed with another pump from the sump/refugium. Look around for a Mag 7 or 9 will give you the flow that you need.

 

[Ant?nio Vitor]

Ok flow should be around 490 gph so you are way low on that. you flow sounds a little low for that size tank as well. What kind of pump are you using? you can improve the screen flow by making it narrower and using a light on the other side.

What type of reflector are you using with the light?

Key ingredients to an ats....flow, light and feeding.

What live stock do you have in your tank?

Steve

Flow it could be faster yes, mine is around 1500-2000 liters per hour (around 350-500 GPh), but that depdends on the size of the scrubber, mine is about 40 cms.

I have now 2 small projectors (two sides iluminated) with 4 leds each from Cree white xpg, at around 800 mA each.

I have a fighting problem with cyano now, even some zones with cyano in the scrubber cannot grow algaes.

Nitrates bellow 1, about 0.2 ppm with salifert test.
phosphates not measurable...