Scrubber for Red Sea Max Will It Work HELP

[gasha]

Scrubber for Red Sea Max Will It Work

[SantaMonica]

Yes, if you follow the basic guidlines. Make sure to read through the basics...

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36 (http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36)

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=37 (http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=37)

[worley]

Try and get the bulb as close to the screen as you can without touching or getting too much water on it (make sure it's splash proof!), or use a plastic/glass guard, and try and get some sort of reflector over the bulb(s) too.
What's the dimensions of the screen itself, and how much water flow will there be over it?
This is the same sort of design as the one I'm currently building, actually in the middle of putting the 240W of lighting together now! (3ftx2ft screen roughly and a 6x2x2 tank).

[gasha]

Where do i start the unit has a 19" x 5" screen and 800 lph pump on it and 18" bulb t8 http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=112&PROD_ID=01015820031001 and i am getting no growth one week in

[worley]

The pump is about right, you need 35 us gal/hour per inch, or 130l/hour/inch so 6" = 780l/hour.
Can you get some photos please?
How far is the bulb from the screen?
Have you roughed up the screen with very coarse sand paper?
Have you seeded the screen at all with any algae from the tank?
Have you got the light on a timer?

[gasha]

How far is the bulb from the screen? Its about 3" from the screen
Have you roughed up the screen with very coarse sand paper? I roughed the screen with a wire brush
Have you seeded the screen at all with any algae from the tank? I did try but dont think it took to it
Have you got the light on a timer? Bulb is on 16h off 8h
Is the bulb power full enough? colour temp ?

[worley]

All good, the light I'm not sure about, you'd be better off with a standard 2700k T8 bulb from your local electrical shop.
T5s give more light intensity for the same wattage. Have you got a reflector (even if it's just tin foil behind the bulb)?
What's the volume of water in the tank?
You want to aim for 0.5 to 1W per US gal of water using T5s or compact fluorescent bulbs with a reflector.

[gasha]

the volume of the tank is 130l less rock ect

can you advise on t5 as i am getting lost on what to order

[worley]

so we'll say around 29-30 us gal, so the 15w of light is right on the bare minimum, if not too low because it's T8.
You could get away with doubling up with two of those T8 bulbs, preferably bog standard 2700k bulbs you get from a local shop (not fish shop), and putting a reflector behind them.
That way you won't need to buy two new starters for the bulbs.

[SantaMonica]

Try to get the bulb 1" from the screen. Also, you have enough room for two bulbs.

[gasha]

Ok i changed the bulb yestersay and ordered another controller think i can fit another bulb in . one problem i will never get bulb 1" from the screen. for the reflector would mirrored plexiglass work


so we'll say around 29-30 us gal, so the 15w of light is right on the bare minimum, if not too low because it's T8.
You could get away with doubling up with two of those T8 bulbs, preferably bog standard 2700k bulbs you get from a local shop (not fish shop), and putting a reflector behind them.
That way you won't need to buy two new starters for the bulbs.

[SantaMonica]

Yes would work great, or this:

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com ... c-338.html (http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/grow-light-reflectors-c-338.html)
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com ... c-125.html (http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/reflective-film-c-125.html)

[gasha]

Still not working i have added another t8 the 2 of the them have standard bulbs in them increased flow to 1000 mirrored behind bulb still no growth after 7 days

[SantaMonica]

Impossible. There must be a major problem that you are just not seeing. Post several pics of the whole thing, the screen, and a vid of the flow if you can. My first blind guess is your screen is way way way too smooth.

[worley]

Impossible. There must be a major problem that you are just not seeing. Post several pics of the whole thing, the screen, and a vid of the flow if you can. My first blind guess is your screen is way way way too smooth.

That or the tank has no fish/food with 0 nitrate/phosphate/ammonia/nitrite... My bet is with SantaMonica's suggestion though ;)

[gasha]

Ok slight update added plastic screen and 5 days later i have a dark yellow substance growing is this normal

[worley]

Yeah, make sure you clean it after 7 days.

[gasha]

i thought for the first time i had to leave it 3 weeks

[worley]

http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36
No, still clean it every 7 days, however, read the scrubber basics post, I point you specifically to this part:


The screen usually starts out with green hair algae in just three days (which still works great!), but after a few months you should start seeing the super-powerful dark brown/red stiff "turf" algae. The only maintenance is to remove ("harvest") some of the algae from ONE HALF of the screen once a week. Thus, since this screen has two sides, you just do one side per week. If you choose a one-sided sump screen (described below), then you just do half of that side per week. Remember you will see mostly a green hair algae to start with (for several weeks), but eventually you will have a stiff reddish brown turf (a few months). So when you do your weekly harvesting, remove/washoff the green algae first, and leave behind any reddish turf you find. Do this by "scrubbing" or "massaging" the green algae in your sink with tap water running over it, kind of like you are washing your hair. This will remove the green, but will leave the brown/red. And even when you are removing the green, don't clean it completely... try to leave a little bit so it can start growning again quickly. Do this for several months until reddish/brown turf fills the screen, like this:
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/SeededSideBeforeHarvestSmall.jpg

At this point you can start removing the turf itself along with the green hair; do this by "scraping" it using a razor blade or metal scraper (it is much harder to remove this reddish/brown stuff). Don't scrape it super clean though; leave some roughness behind. And remove less of the turf, and less often, than you have been the green. The red/brown turf is a much stronger filter, and it grows much slower, so you want to keep a lot of it on your screen to do most of the filtering. But it can only do it's job if the light is not blocked out by the green, so always keep the green "rubbed" or "massaged" off of the red/brown.

[gasha]

the screen now is covered in cyno

[worley]

the screen now is covered in cyno
When this happens on my screen I take it out straight away and use a shower to hose it off (try and do it into a bucket and throw it on your plants - good fertilizer, but it can block up your sink if you let it go down the plug!).
Just hose it off now, use your fingers gently if it doesn't all come off with the shower. Then rinse it once more when you're done, shake it out and put it back in.
Cyano has a habit of covering all the other algaes and smothering them, so best to get it off ASAP.
If it comes back, clean it again, but give it 2-3 days between cleaning.

[SantaMonica]

Something is wrong, post some pics.

[gasha]

going to go t5 ho can you suggest tubes that i can get in the uk

[gasha]

Couple of pics does my screen look ok

[gasha]

screen

[gasha]

its been running 3 weeks

[SantaMonica]

You are turning the light off each night?

[gasha]

no the scrubber runs from 1600 -0800

[SantaMonica]

Did I read that you raised the flow to 1000? gph? lph?

You have one or two layers of screen?

[gasha]

1 sided screen and 1000 lph pump

[worley]

no the scrubber runs from 1600 -0800
Just to verify, the pump is still running 24x7 right? Only the lights should go on/off.

[gasha]

pump is running 24/7 how do you think the screen is looking

[worley]

There does seem to be a lot of cyano on it, try and rinse it off under a shower every few days, without taking any green algae off if you can.

[gasha]

is it normal to get cyno at the start

[SantaMonica]

Is the tanked stocked, and you are feeding?

Do this: Get another layer of screen, scratch it up with a hole saw on both sides, and lay it over your old one. I think that since your flow is so strong, and your screen is not like a catcus, algae is letting go.

[gasha]

right i am going to have another go after months

all i get is cyno and a bit of green so i ordered these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390097050449&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250370099726&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

can i have your advice on these

[SantaMonica]

6500K is ok for now. When you replace the bulbs in three months, get 3000K