Sabbath's Daughters prized 20g with a HOG.5

[sabbath]

Looking for advise on what to do with this AUS. I have a HOG.5 on a FO tank with a bio-wheel still in operation. I'm getting flack for the algae and looked to get a aus ats to remove the algae. She feeds about a half a cube a day. I started the leds at 18 hours a day and found that it was just burning the turf on the scrubber and dropped it to 10 hours 2 weeks ago. I also drilled bigger holes in it. Here is a few pictures. What do you think?

1st is tank at 4 weeks
2nd is screen after 2 weeks
3rd is tank at 6 weeks

[SantaMonica]

You can open the bottom and side holes as much as you want, which will help the screen fill in. Or you can reduce hours more, until it fills in. Reducing hours is probably better because you can add them back later.

[sabbath]

You can open the bottom and side holes as much as you want, which will help the screen fill in. Or you can reduce hours more, until it fills in. Reducing hours is probably better because you can add them back later.

Thanks, Do you think I should drop the hours to 8?

[Floyd R Turbo]

The UAS just takes time to fill in. Right in front of the LEDs is usually the slowest. I don't know if it's possible to put a diffuser in front of them, but that would help.

Also if the tank is only 4-6 weeks old, you should expect that initial algae bloom and just let it be, it'll go away on it's own I would think. Did I interpret those dates correctly?

[sabbath]

The UAS just takes time to fill in. Right in front of the LEDs is usually the slowest. I don't know if it's possible to put a diffuser in front of them, but that would help.

Also if the tank is only 4-6 weeks old, you should expect that initial algae bloom and just let it be, it'll go away on it's own I would think. Did I interpret those dates correctly?

Thanks Floyd, I see now how I wrote that poorly. The tank is about a year old. The dates are for the new scrubbers time line.

I was thinking about a diffuser too. I wonder if a small one could be double stick taped to the outside of the glass. It could be cut to fit just inside the light box. Or would the tape just pull away from the heat?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yes, in fact that is perfect. The diffuser material I use is from Lowe's, it's Plaskolite brand and has a green and white sticker. Try to find one that is busted on the corner then as for $1 off (they are only $5), you're going to cut it anyways. Cutting it is fun if you don't have a table saw BTW. Watch out for flying pieces!!

The smooth side double-stick tapes to glass easily using double-stick masking tape. You could probably do it with scotch tape too, or make rolls out of tape like when you hang a poster. Heat should not cause them to detach as the glass would wick that away quickly, just check it every once in a while for the first few weeks or so to make sure it's in position

[SantaMonica]

Once thick growth fills in, however, diffusing won't make any difference... the growth will be all over, and the bubbles will make their way through it, causing turbulence throughout the whole thing.

[sabbath]

Okay Thanks