addicted2coral scrubber build..

[addicted2coral]

i just built my first scrubber.. its going on my 170 gallon system.. i have a 120 gallon tank for display, also have a 40b display plumbed to my bedroom.. with two 30 gallons as my sump...

its still new, and has been changed contsantly.. started off as a 125 on the far wall of my living room.. well.. it cracked spilled salt water everywhere... then had another 125 and hated the overflow.. then i got this 120.. so the stuff has been moved 4 or 5 time since feb.. once i had a little stability i went and changed it from a 120 with 30 gallon sump to w7 bhat i have now,.

so its young, i used pukani rock, and i have phos issues.. just added more fish and new tanks.. so my nitrates went back up... phos hangs around since the befinning at around .06 to .09..

anyway i built a scrubber with a rubbermaid, two cfl 23 watts, big reflectors, 8 by 8 screen, mag 7 with 3/4 inch pipe feeding, and 1 1/2 pipe returning.. i have 255 gph on 8 inch span.. my first upgrade will be within the next two months to leds.. 4 reds and on blue on each side... more controllability with this method and i will not worry about having enough,..

before the start my tank used around 1dkh a day worth of alk, 7 ppm of calcium, and not real sure the uptake of mag as i dont dose often.. but it stay kinda high.. 1500
levels are 9.2, 410, 1500.. raising calc at the moment.. i want my levels to be 9.5, 440, 1360

here is the build

35693570357135713572357335743575357635773578357935 8035813582

[SantaMonica]

Nice reflectors.

Change to 33 watt bulbs, 2700 or 3000k "warm" or "soft", 18 hours.

[addicted2coral]

Yeah I know under wattage. I am gonna keep the 10 dollars and use it to buy LEDs like Kerry's setup.

[addicted2coral]

Or I could cut the screen. One thing that makes me think its ok is that one side is out of the light. So that makes 7 inches wide, and the lower 1.5 inches is out of light. So that puts me back in the correct ratio.

I am probly completely wrong. I could cut the excess a screen off.

[addicted2coral]

4 days growth

3604
3605

7 days growth

3606
3607

i turned the flow up just a bit.. didnt measuer the flow but was told to increase flow to hlep with the uneven growth.. also moved bulbs back 1/2 inch on each side...

please let me know anything to do to make it better!! i really like this

[SantaMonica]

Looks perfect. Let go 14 days.

[kerry]

Looking good a2c!! I am with SM on this one too!! Get a good week or two before you do anything drastic so you have good info on where you have been and where you go after making changes so you know if its good or bad.