SM100 week 6 algae check

[thatgrimguy]

Week 2 after installation Screen (always cleaned on 7th day)
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-09-11174208.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-09-11174218.jpg

Week 4 (sunday)
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-09-25181647.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-09-25182127.jpg



My questions are:
1.) Should I be cleaning every 7 days? Less, more and why.
2.) My plumbing backed the water up an additional .5 inch or a little less... is this a major issue?
3.) My nitrates are around 5 and my phosphate around .07ppm, about how long should I expect to reach 0?

[Aeros]

That's pretty good for a newer screen. We'll need some more info to determine nutrients. Stock? Feeding? Tank size? Algae issue in DT? Lighting on screen? Approx flow on screen? To name a few.

If you want to boost your algal growth from yellow to green add iron or up the flow and feed more.

[thatgrimguy]

That's pretty good for a newer screen. We'll need some more info to determine nutrients. Stock? Feeding? Tank size? Algae issue in DT? Lighting on screen? Approx flow on screen? To name a few.

If you want to boost your algal growth from yellow to green add iron or up the flow and feed more.
210 gallon
1 cube of random frozen foods every day
half sheet of nori every day
1ml of oyster feast every 3rd day or so (kind of randomly to be honest)

I have some film algae, the tank overall is pretty new though. Finished cycle this summer. There are some brown diatoms on the rock and sand bed, nothing major. The nitrate and phosphate has dropped from 20 nitrate the day of install and I didn't get a phosphate tester till well after the scrubber was installed.

The bulbs are the standard SM100 bulbs. 2t5ho. I have about 900-1000gph. my counting skills aren't that great, I have no rhythm :(

[Aeros]

Sounds like a great build. Wish I could do it all over from the beginning with what I know now 8)

As for what you're doing in relation to reducing your PO4, and N. Your flow rate sounds great. Lighting is good. That leaves: Feeding more, or better still, directly dosing iron. It will green up the growth on your screen and shorten your tine to zero points PO4/N.

The nori adds some iron to tue system too, maybe not enough in such a large volume to benefit the scrubber though.

I hate to recommend any brand product (goes against my DIY nature), but Kent Marine makes a fresh water planted tank supplement of iron/manganese that seems to be common and cheap; and works.

Alternately, you can buy iron supplements pills at the grocery store, disolve them in water, let tue filler settle to the bottom, and pour off your very own iron solution.

Once you get green, you should notice a larger drop in PO4/N. As for a timeframe it really depends on how quick the green occurs. Keep in mind your system volume is quite a lot, meaning because you have more water, you have more P/NO4 then a smaller system with higher readings. Accordingly, it will take longer to pull out your nutrients even if lower PPM due to shear amount.

Hope that helps, and isn't too "explainy" 8)

[SantaMonica]

Does not look yellow to me. See my pics I posted today of real yellow, in areas where flow cut off.

Feeding is basically nothing, so low growth is about right. Let it go 14 days in order to get some algae strands into the flow.

Lower your flow; you are loosing valuable 3D space at the bottom.

The only indicator is diatoms on the rocks and sand. There should not be any. Monitor them as your growth gets past day 10; they should disappear.

[thatgrimguy]

Thanks everyone. I cut the flow back some, no idea how much, enough to drop the water level a bit. And I won't clean again till a week from Sunday rather than on Sunday. The diatoms are really not bad and they are a LOT better than before installation. The unit has dropped me from over 20 nitrate to under 5 now. So it's definitely working! Just wanted to make sure I was getting all I can out it.

[thatgrimguy]

Ok, here are the pics of my 15 day growth before cleaning. Still a small amount of diatoms on one part of sand bed. Everything else has pretty well cleared up. The two balls of algae were pretty thick lol. Definitely more hair, but still not thick...

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-10-12152859.jpg

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/thatgrimguy/210%20Gallon%20Mixed%20Reef/2011-10-12152839.jpg

[SantaMonica]

You can start feeding more now, and the diatoms will still probably go away.

[thatgrimguy]

I am now feeding 2cubes, a full sheet of nori and about 1ml of oyster feast and 1ml of selcon each day.

I had a large fish die which was trapped where I can't get to him. The lobster and other clean up crew has taken care of most of it, but I still think that is the reason my diatoms have increased this week.

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