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srusso
04-13-2012, 06:45 AM
Went to the local chain picked up an anchor bubbler.... Saw the same one Floyd got, but it was cracked in 4 or 5 pieces.
I noticed this one, I had once had a bubbler made of a same stuff. $6.59... I know big spender!!! right??!! could have gotten the $1.59 stone, no no not for my UAS test!!!

The funniest thing was buying something called "anchor" and having it float like a champ! LOL

just testing it in the water now, and I think I may have found the best one for the job!!!

Nice perfect even controlled bubbles, in a perfect line!!! Off to go make a screen!!!

kerry
04-13-2012, 06:55 AM
Kewl, keep us posted. I hope to get a screen wet this weekend finally!!

srusso
04-13-2012, 07:25 AM
Made my screen, added a bubble catch at the top, I figured It would help keep the screen in the bubble lane.

kerry
04-13-2012, 07:26 AM
It looks like that will work good!!

Floyd R Turbo
04-13-2012, 07:27 AM
Oh damn man, I saw that one too and opted for the bigger stone. I'm going to petco again today man.

On the floating issue, it's not so much of a problem if you think about it, because the screen attached to the top will stop it from floating up any further than the screen can get at the surface. Unless it up ends and floats horizontally.

Either way, using a few pieces of reef safe epoxy should do the trick to weigh it down.

srusso
04-13-2012, 07:30 AM
Unplugged the air for a second and noticed this... screen trapped tons of bubbles on it. This picture was taken with the air off....

I think I hit a homerun on bubble size!@

srusso
04-13-2012, 07:33 AM
quickly before I go, I scrapped the screen differently. On a glass table, wet with using dry wall saw.... OMG so much easier, almost no mess and the screen came out fanatic... took me less then 5 mins...

srusso
04-13-2012, 07:35 AM
ALSO, will not have lighting on it till after the weekend... sucks I know!! Going camping already running late! talk to everyone soon!

Floyd R Turbo
04-13-2012, 07:58 AM
I found the best method of roughing the screen is to start with a piece larger than what you need, then just use the hole saw. I have 2 different hole saws, one is a Dewalt and has really sharp teeth, and another that does not. Either works fine, but the key is that you just hold it with your fingertips lightly and skim it across the screen, with a slight pressure. Change directions every couple passes, go random all over, etc. The after you're done, you trim the excess and your screen is rough everywhere. If you are doing a slot tube, then you tape off the top edge and don't rough that up. I recently did a 16 x 4 screen for the e-shine scrubber this way and it turned out perfect.

kerry
04-13-2012, 08:02 AM
I use a PVC saw to rough mine. I hold it at a 45-ish degree angle and pull back in different directions then turn it 90 degrees and repeat. I use one of those wooden clamps with the two threaded adjustment rods to hold it down. http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQeuO1BTYMU5LKz5_orRHpgCmAtPbfG3 j2In-rR5T8uxNLymeP3

Floyd R Turbo
04-13-2012, 08:05 AM
I should do a video of the way I do it. It is not difficult and does not require any thing but a board underneath it. You don't need to push down hard. if you do that's when you snag and tear.

kerry
04-13-2012, 08:09 AM
I have done it both ways. Either works fine for me. The PVC saw works the fastest for me mostly due to the fact that my PVC saw is sharper.

srusso
04-16-2012, 12:15 PM
So the scrubber is officially running with lighting as of yesterday! Very happy with my air stone and screen so far... Bubbles stay tight to the screen and get stick to it very well. No live stock in the tank right now, but it just cycled so there will be extra N's and P's in the water column. Had a flame angel in my sump that I removed from the tank, to have him be the test fish... he jumped out of my sump before the UAS was ever built... so I am going to see about getting some mollies after work today. I hope they will be okay with a quicker FW/SW change.

kerry
04-17-2012, 06:04 AM
I have tried to acclimate mollies in a couple hours and it does not work for my. I have mine acclimated since Friday to 1.002 to 1.010 as of last night and they seem to do ok with this slow increase.

srusso
04-17-2012, 11:15 AM
I have tried to acclimate mollies in a couple hours and it does not work for my. I have mine acclimated since Friday to 1.002 to 1.010 as of last night and they seem to do ok with this slow increase.

Should be easy enough to bring the salinity down, thanks for the tip!
So I am guessing your first try failed. What salinity did you start with and end with on that attempt?

kerry
04-17-2012, 02:17 PM
I dripped slow at full 1.025 for about 3 hours and it was a fail.

srusso
04-17-2012, 06:30 PM
No growth for day two, then again... there isn't any load either... going to get the mollies soon...

srusso
04-17-2012, 06:33 PM
The tank will be about 1.014, hoping I can get them changed over in about 10 hours... Once they are in I will raise it over a week or two to normal salinity.

I hear when mollies are kept in SW they bread well and have strong fry... looking forward to that...

kerry
04-17-2012, 07:10 PM
I want them for to breed in my SW tanks so my fish have natural prey to feed on and have some natural instinct as well.

srusso
04-19-2012, 07:57 AM
My screen is still bone white... I will post if I get any growth.

srusso
04-20-2012, 05:15 AM
Day 4
No bio load, buying fish on my drive home tonight

srusso
04-20-2012, 05:07 PM
diatom growth doubled today when I got home.

srusso
04-21-2012, 03:39 PM
Got three mollies today, two female and one male. Started converting them to SW, the tank is 1.010 so brackish really... That will be slowly upped during the weeks.

srusso
04-21-2012, 06:05 PM
we are home...

srusso
04-21-2012, 06:09 PM
make that two males one female........................

srusso
04-22-2012, 04:32 PM
Week one
You think I should clean? I am thinking about just leaving it... the green will grow through or on the diatoms is my thinking.

As we all thought, algae is growing on the air stone. Maybe needs a light blocker? Much like the waterfall slot designs benefits from...

SantaMonica
04-22-2012, 05:05 PM
Grow more.

Floyd R Turbo
04-22-2012, 06:34 PM
yours looks like mine - lots of dinos

kerry
04-22-2012, 08:05 PM
I cant get my first UAS to do anything more then it did the first 12 hours. My 125G FW is getting some very stringy algae going but its just a few strands. This however has my old pleco in overdrive, I have never seen him this active over a bit of algae, its like the stuff on the screen is different then the little bit that grows on the rocks. He is ignoring his pellets to eat the algae on the screen LOL.

srusso
04-23-2012, 01:30 PM
Today - day 8

SantaMonica
04-23-2012, 01:38 PM
Stronger light?

srusso
04-23-2012, 04:01 PM
Stronger light?

No way! Green is coming, this is just like the waterfall scrubber.

Floyd R Turbo
04-23-2012, 04:32 PM
+1 on that. I got pics and video coming. it doesn't appear to ramp up any quicker than the DAS

srusso
04-24-2012, 05:10 AM
we may have a problem...

kerry
04-24-2012, 05:17 AM
LOL, my pleco does that in my 125G too. I had 1-1.5" long green algae hairs going on this fresh water one last night but was to lazy to get a pic so I figured I would this morning but nope, the pleco go it all LOL. I did have more algae hair on the glass then I did my screen. My 10G mollies tank is now acclimated to 1.019-ish and that screen has stalled, its doing nothing.

SantaMonica
04-24-2012, 07:03 AM
I think the mesh that you put around returns inlets might work.

Floyd R Turbo
04-24-2012, 07:24 AM
Kerry, SW and FW algae are different. Transitioning the tank from one to the other will result in the algae dying

kerry
04-24-2012, 08:07 AM
I figured it would be hard to grow but not this hard. I have only brought it up from 1.016 to 1.019 salinity in about 5-6 days time. I figured in this amount of time I would have seen some brown stuff but its nothing, and I mean nothing. Looks like a brand new screen, I only had a little burst of green the 1st 12 hours then nothing. I figured it would die off as I raised the salinity but I have not seen any growth since to die off.
Maybe I am assuming its going to grow in the first place??? I figured in the last few days I would have seem something but, I am water change to keep the ammonia at bay so this could be another reason its not growing.

Floyd R Turbo
04-24-2012, 08:25 AM
My screen took 2 weeks to start to turn green. Check out the latest vids on my thread. The algae is just now green on the screen and sticky (meaning it doesn't rinse away under slow running water).

I think the thing about SW is that like any plastic material you immerse in SW, it is a bacterial feeding ground and grows stringy slimy stuff quickly. Every single piece of plastic canvas that I have immersed in SW grows brown gooey slime, and this is no different. Time will tell if you can get past that stage and have the green fully take over once the screen is 'cured'. It appears there is no different (shorter) curing period for a submersed screen. It also appears that just like the DAS, it still takes much longer for a screen to ramp up in SW over FW.

What I'm waiting for now is the green explosion.

srusso
04-24-2012, 04:52 PM
More of the same, brown today... no need to take a photo

srusso
04-30-2012, 09:45 AM
Sorry, no new pics b/c there hasn't been need for one. Still growing diatoms, fish keeping it to a minimum.

srusso
04-30-2012, 05:07 PM
Day 14

Green hair growing on glass in front of screen in two spots. Green will be growing on the screen soon, I can tell. Should I clean, "make room" for GHA? I am inclined to let it grow and not mess with it....

SantaMonica
04-30-2012, 05:13 PM
Yes let it grow. What is different about the glass than the screen?

srusso
04-30-2012, 05:51 PM
So my latest addition are what I am calling the easy off hooks!!

Here is a video of it in action...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyrN7VJNGE4

srusso
04-30-2012, 05:52 PM
Yes let it grow. What is different about the glass than the screen?


Closer to the light then the screen, technically its the closest thing to the light....

srusso
05-01-2012, 06:34 PM
Day 15

Screen has the slightest bit of green growing.
I brushed off most of the diatoms when I was attaching the hooks last night.

Finnie
05-08-2012, 07:12 AM
Hi. I would like to ask you what you used for the blue bubble catch at the top. Do you think I could get by without that part? Also, where did you get your easy off plastic s-hooks? I hope you don't mind- I am planning to copy your model!

srusso
05-08-2012, 03:21 PM
the bubble catch at the top is the "rim" of the lid of a glad plastic container, I will post a pic tonight.

the s-hooks are may own creation, made from a plastic that becomes malleable when put in very hot water, hard again when put in cold. However they really could be cut from any plastic or acrylic, cut cut the shape you need...

SantaMonica
05-15-2012, 09:38 PM
Green?

srusso
05-22-2012, 07:26 PM
Yeah, sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been growing green for some time. Not much, however with Bud's latest addition, the clear plastic report covers.... I had used them once in my water fall design... Not any good in that setup... Salt creeps very well on it... Under water that of course wont be an issue. I will be posting some new pictures soon...

srusso
06-17-2012, 07:27 AM
Update! Sorry its been so long!

Well the screen is growing but it's also being groomed all day. I have cleaned it only once. Mainly b/c this female Molly (who killed the two males) has kept the screen so bare there is nothing to clean...

So it's just the one Molly in a 30 gallon, water is perfect, and well... Not just one any more...

About 15 fry, and she getting ready to to drop more...

Floyd R Turbo
06-17-2012, 09:19 PM
Well they've got a nice food source LOL

kerry
06-19-2012, 11:08 AM
Are these FW or SW. I acclimated mine to SW.

srusso
06-19-2012, 05:30 PM
Are these FW or SW. I acclimated mine to SW.

yeah they are salt now

srusso
06-19-2012, 05:32 PM
You think a hippo or yellow tang would eat the fry? Or be able to catch one? Thinking that once I have enough breeders I could start feeding fry as a live food source.

kerry
06-20-2012, 08:42 AM
I have put two into my SW 150G, the female is PG so I hope the other fish in there will eat the fry when they pop out. Once I have another batch of fry in my 10G I am going to put two in my 40G as well (later I will have two/three females per male if this works). I am not sure is the tangs will eat the fry, I have a yellow eye Kole tang that I hope eats fry too, if not, my clowns, damsels, and cardinals will.

srusso
06-22-2012, 04:59 PM
Test UAS Tank Update
10 day old Molly fry

No screen cleaning (only the once)
No water changes
Feed carefully
Fish eat mostly new growth

Dont forget to set to HD

http://youtu.be/FQhLs_iGBYk

http://youtu.be/VyIJ-oh5sB0

kerry
06-22-2012, 05:13 PM
Looking good sir, I only had a few fry make it the first go around, now I have a sock over the suction side so this next batch should be much bigger.

MorganAtlanta
06-23-2012, 05:15 PM
If you don't clean the screen, you aren't exporting any nutrients... except the fry, I guess.

srusso
06-25-2012, 06:08 AM
If you don't clean the screen, you aren't exporting any nutrients... except the fry, I guess.

That is correct, water tests clean... Fish are growing fast and look healthy. I am sure I will have to do a water change soon.

Also I will have LEDs for this tank soon, we will see if this makes a difference.