Marksfish
10-16-2011, 12:35 PM
I have been running a scrubber in one form or another since January. I have never been able to get past the dark green/ slime algae stage, I have also had a flow problem due to a wonky slot!! I had been taking about 80- 100g of algae per side, per week which wasn't great. Phosphates were 0, but nitrates hovered between 5- 10ppm. I had been using 4x 30w cfl, but couldn't get them replaced with bayonet fittings, so then dropped to 4x 20w cfl.
I kept reading SM saying that if you have difficulty geting green to increase light, but I didn't have that option, until...... I found some 45w cfl on eBay. I made some modifications and fitted them. I was a little disappointed that the growth didn't improve, even after using a iron supplement. I had been religiously cleaning every 7 days.
SM then brought out the new recommendations of 10- 14 days between cleaning, so I tried the 10 day gap. What adifference:
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd122/marksfish/MFUK/DSCF1001.jpg
So an extra 3 days has taken me green and with a 300% increase in algae harvest weight :D . A point worth noting though, is that the side with the 2x 45w bulbs, produced slightly less algae that the side with 2x 20w bulbs. I have also finally reached the 0 nitrate target on my Salifert kit.
Mark
I kept reading SM saying that if you have difficulty geting green to increase light, but I didn't have that option, until...... I found some 45w cfl on eBay. I made some modifications and fitted them. I was a little disappointed that the growth didn't improve, even after using a iron supplement. I had been religiously cleaning every 7 days.
SM then brought out the new recommendations of 10- 14 days between cleaning, so I tried the 10 day gap. What adifference:
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd122/marksfish/MFUK/DSCF1001.jpg
So an extra 3 days has taken me green and with a 300% increase in algae harvest weight :D . A point worth noting though, is that the side with the 2x 45w bulbs, produced slightly less algae that the side with 2x 20w bulbs. I have also finally reached the 0 nitrate target on my Salifert kit.
Mark