how to make my scrubber better?

[Anartica]

about 3 weeks i startet my scrubber.
it,s about 20cm x 15cm, with 16w light and a 800l/h pump.
it,s growing dark brown algea, im cleaning it every 7 days.
my nitrate are at 25ppm now, it was at 50ppm but i have taken several water changes since then.
how do i get the green algea to grow?
do i have to oppgrade somethings?
I have a 240litre tank with 2 percula,9 chromis varldis,1 banana wrasse, 1 mandarin , 2 anemone and corals.
my tank is over run by GHA and cyano.
its 9 monts old.

[SantaMonica]

Many problems.

Without even asking how much you feed, I can tell from the diatoms on the back wall that filtering is really low.

1. Biggest problem is the light is too small, too far away, and not pointed at the center of the screen. Plus it looks blue (should look warm reddish). You are losing 3/4 of the little wattage that there is.

2. It's a 1-sided horizontal screen that is letting water fall through the screen, so it's not even as effective as a horizontal of the same size.

Fixes, from easy to hard:

1. Put a sheet of white acrylic or plastic under the screen, to hold it flat, and to keep the water from running through the screen, and to keep it close to the light.

2. Put flexible reflectors inside the box, to keep the light in. (http://www.santa-monica.cc/Flexible-Reflector_p_15.html)

3. Find a lower "K" bulb... 2700 or 3000K is best.

4. Get a 45 watt bulb instead.

5. Rough the screen up a lot more, on both sides.

6. Rebuilt it, 2-sided.

[Anartica]

Many problems.

Without even asking how much you feed, I can tell from the diatoms on the back wall that filtering is really low.

1. Biggest problem is the light is too small, too far away, and not pointed at the center of the screen. Plus it looks blue (should look warm reddish). You are losing 3/4 of the little wattage that there is.


2. It's a 1-sided horizontal screen that is letting water fall through the screen, so it's not even as effective as a horizontal of the same size.

the holes on the screen is so small that the water only run over the screen

Fixes, from easy to hard:

1. Put a sheet of white acrylic or plastic under the screen, to hold it flat, and to keep the water from running through the screen, and to keep it close to the light.

2. Put flexible reflectors inside the box, to keep the light in. (http://www.santa-monica.cc/Flexible-Reflector_p_15.html)

3. Find a lower "K" bulb... 2700 or 3000K is best.

it,s a 3500k

4. Get a 45 watt bulb instead.

5. Rough the screen up a lot more, on both sides.

6. Rebuilt it, 2-sided.

how close shoud the light be?

[SantaMonica]

As close as you can get it.

[Anartica]

is this light good enough http://shop.conrad-uk.com/1/2-a2-uk0646040__osram-reflector-lamp-r50-40w-e14-r50-40-spotlight-.html.
im thinking one on each side?

[SantaMonica]

No that is incandescent. It must be fluorescent.

[kerry]

You want the curly-Q type in the 2700K range.

[SantaMonica]

If you are going to use a spotlight, get a CFL one.

[Anartica]

do anyone now where i can buy cheap CFL online?
are there other lightning i can use?

[kerry]

walmart online

[Anartica]

i cant find a 40 w cfl bulb.
when they say it,s 14w but is the same as a higer W, what do they mean then?

[kerry]

You want its true rating not what is replaces or is equivalent to. 23w here http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=cfl+light+bulb+23w&ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0 26w here http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Energy-Smart-CFL-Bulb-26W-Soft-White-Spiral-2pk/16911702 42W multi pack http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bulbrite-Industries-Bulbrite-Industries-42W-High-Wattage-Compact-Fluorescent-Coil-in-Warm-White-Set-of-6/19645896

[Anartica]

would 2 x 14w on each sides work?

[SantaMonica]

If you have a 40 square inch screen, you want at least 40 watts.

[Anartica]

wont it be good enough? i can,t find any higher W here

[kerry]

That online wall-mart has a 6 pack of 42W

[Anartica]

but i gess those are 120V, here i need 220V

[kerry]

You would need a transformer, I do not know of any 220v stuff.

[SantaMonica]

Go to any hardware or home improvement store.

[Anartica]

shoud i go for 4x 20w or 4x 30w? then i will use both sides of the screen.

[kerry]

I use about twice the light as inches. For instance my screen is 6x6=36 inches and run 2 44Watt CFL Curly "Q" bulbs. This is what works for me, SM as a pretty good guide to this in other posts. Like here, http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?1419-New-sizing-guidelines . Also Floyd has a great instructional here!!! http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?1291-Algae-Scrubber-Basics-The-Summary

[SantaMonica]

2 x 23w

[Anartica]

Do you mean only one light on each side?

[SantaMonica]

Yes, your screen is too small to catch the light from 2 bulbs on each side.

[Anartica]

how close shoud the light be?
i also have a problem with bubbles coming out the tubes where the water run in to the aquarium, how do i solve it?

[SantaMonica]

3 inches.

Try a "T"...
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/User91LitresOnSG-1.jpg

[Anartica]

I have oppgrated the lights to 2 23 w, my screen had to be cut to fit so now its 15x12cm, how much food can it handel when it grow right?

[SantaMonica]

46 watts is about 2 cubes if 2-sided, or 1 cube if 1-sided.

[Anartica]

its 2 sides whit one bulb on each side

[SantaMonica]

2 cubes, when it is growing good.

[Anartica]

this is 4 days growt, how is it locking?
is it not suppose to grow green?
somting im doing wrong?
light is on 18 on and 6 of, but for 2 days the light was only on 12 h (problem with the timer)
my tank is not locking good now, the stupid bubble brown algea has tanken over my tank.

[SantaMonica]

Looks good for a new screen at 4 days.

Did you rough the screen?

[Anartica]

it still the same screen as before.
i roughed up the screen more today.
when shoud i see improment on the nitrate and algea?

[SantaMonica]

After you clean 3 or 4 full screens.

[Anartica]

how is the best way to clean it?
i have used a tooth brush, but after doing some reading it looks like its not good to use a tooth brush?

[Ace25]

I use a toothbrush for the first 4 cleanings (first month) to remove the slimey and brown stuff that grows initially, after some green gets rooted down to the screen I then switch to using an old credit card for scraping.

[SantaMonica]

You always want to get black stuff off.

[Anartica]

how is it looking now? this is now the 6 week. its seven days growt.

[SantaMonica]

It's good for 7 days. Try 10 days.

Also take the screen out of the slot and clean the slot with a toothbrush.

Brighter light will probably help too.

[Anartica]

I cant fit bigger bulbs in there. Would it help to take them closer?

[SantaMonica]

Try 1 inch closer (2 or 3 cm).

[Anartica]

i had to take everything out of the tank, becouse i tougth the tank was leaking, the living rock was in bukets for a week before i got the tank up again.
so i gess i will get a ny cycle?, i filed up the aquarium with new saltwater.
how will that efeckt the scrubber?
the fish and corals are in a other aquarium.

[SantaMonica]

Scrubber will be fine.

Hope that the rock did not die too much.

[kentth]

When I have to drop my tank, I put eveything in a large plastic tub. I then drop a pump in the tub, attach to some pipe and and create a spraybar to circulate the water. I put rock, snails, fish anything I can find live into the tub. On one of the returns I attached the AS screen. light it up. and I am good to go. Longest time l had everything is a tub was 10 days. did not loose a thing. Mr scrubber actually worked better on my temp tank (tub), then it does on my reg tank.

Kent

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's because taking everything out changes the flow patterns and you have a big bacteria die-off, or mini-cycle, which may or may not be visible, but causes the scrubber to get huge growth. I saw the same thing when moving systems.

[Anartica]

it looks to be hard to take the light closer, the light is in a plastick glass to protekt it from water, the cup is scrued to the back of the boks.
i have reflecktor tape inside the box, it isint the best reflector i think, shoud i find somthing better?
im also switching to a black box, will that help some?

[SantaMonica]

Will have to see how it all looks.

[Anartica]

here some pitcures

[SantaMonica]

Well it looks much better than your first one :)

I think you could remove the glass around the bulbs, if you put a splash-shield over the pipe. Also you could put reflector material on the lid too. And you could probably use 33 watt bulbs.

But overall I think it will do a good job. Let it grow 14 days.

[Anartica]

this is 8 days growt, why is the green algea only growing in patches?
is this good growt now?
i aint feeding so mutch at the time

[SantaMonica]

Clean off all the algae when cleaning. This will allow green to get hold of all the screen.

[Anartica]

shoud i clean it now or wait more days?

[SantaMonica]

Now

[Anartica]

today i made my scrbber box bigger so i could get bigger bulbs, i put in two 30w bulbs 2 houers ago, now yhe bulbs aint working, the bulbs isint getting any water on them.
my guess is that they got to hot, i have them in jars, but air comes in.
whit out stronger light my scrubber wont grow.

[SantaMonica]

Pics

[Anartica]

.....

[SantaMonica]

What are N and P?

[Anartica]

N is 5pmm P i dont now, but probaly high, im having a big algae problem

[SantaMonica]

If you bulbs are working, get pics of the screen at 10 days.

[Anartica]

would 2 23w on each side be to mutch?

[SantaMonica]

No, but all the light must be reflected to the screen.

[Anartica]

those reflector you sell, do you send to norway?
i cant find any good reflector here.

[SantaMonica]

Yes of course. Or just google or ebay "plastic mirror"

[Anartica]

i have a smaller scrubber on a 10 gallon, the first 2 weeks i got nice green hair algea, but after i cleaned it, it grows brown, do you now why? is it becouse the nitrate got higer?

[SantaMonica]

No, it is because nitrate got lower. Green algae needs lots of nutrients to grow tall. If the nutrients are less, then the growth stays thin and brown.

[Anartica]

but the nitrate went from about 20ppm to 50ppm

[SantaMonica]

How many hours are the bulbs on?

[Anartica]

it was 6 on and 6 of 6 on and 6 of but i changed it to 18 houers today

[SantaMonica]

Ok let's see the growth after 10 days of growing.

[Anartica]

how is it loking now? why is it so bubble?
this is 9 days growth and 9 days sinse i put 2 more 23bulbs.

[SantaMonica]

Is not bad. Clean and grow another 9 days.

[Anartica]

how is it loking now?
when will it grow better?
shoud i cut down on light time?
14 days growt.

[SantaMonica]

Are you sure lights are on 18 hours?

Flow is strong?

[Anartica]

Are you sure lights are on 18 hours? yes

Flow is strong? what is strong flow? , its a 800l/h pump

could it be to litle flow?
i can try to film it.

[SantaMonica]

Let's see film

[Anartica]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggTeDA4tnk&feature=youtu.be

[SantaMonica]

Can you lift the screen to film the water falling off the bottom?

[Anartica]

is this flow good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmt0kYsl5P8&feature=youtu.be

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yes

[Anartica]

but why isint it growing good yet?

[SantaMonica]

Are you cleaning everything off of the screen?

[Anartica]

no, theres always something left

[SantaMonica]

Try clean it all the way.

[Garf]

I am glad you are still going for this scrubber stuff considering it hasn't worked for you yet. When all the obvious things have been covered with no results you must go for non-obvious methods;

Clean your screen back to canvas, reduce your light, reduce photoperiod. Then when you get green (and you will), start increasing light and photoperiod gently to guideline amounts. (this may take a couple of weeks) and bobs your uncle Fanny's your aunt.

[SantaMonica]

I think he is getting die-off, from weak light, and from not cleaning the screen all the way. In waterfalls, dark growth always means weak light.

[Garf]

Dark growth can either be not enough light or too much light, but in this case it seems as though (looking at the pictures) the algae is being nuked by too much light.

[SantaMonica]

In waterfalls, dark growth is not enough light because there are too many nutrients in the water relative to the photons needed to grow chlorophyll (green), and thus the excess nutrients form materials other than chlorophyll. This dark growth blocks light, and the roots die and let go in just a few days.

If there is already growth, then too much light (burning) gives a yellow rubbery growth, because there are not enough nutrients (usually iron) relative to to the photons. Adding iron, or reducing lighting hours, will always fix this. If there is not already growth (new screen), then an over-lighted area will get just a light tan growth.

[Garf]

I would say that the majority of the screen is a translucent slime, rather than dark growth. Also, this slime has blocked the holes in the screen causing reduced turbulence. After 4 months of trying this, a resolution would be well earned.