Not so effective in my ATS

[sheung]

I 've setup my ATS for my 50L tank for 5 weeks. I clean it every week. The screen is full of half green and half brown algae.
The No3 does not drop. It is around 100 ppm. My screen is 3"x12" (single side horizontally) . There are 8 fishes , 1 anemone and 1 shrimp in my tank. Can anyone help me?

[worley]

Hi there, got a bunch of questions for you:

What bulb/lights are you using? (type, power, colour temperature).
What flow of water are you getting over the screen?
Have you manually removed as much algae from the tank as possible?
Is the screen one layer of screen material or several on top of each other?
Are you cleaning it so that there's nothing left?
Also, can you get a few photos of the tank and the scrubber please?

[sheung]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3741660166_43ee95f048.jpg?v=0

I use 6400K 13 W, the pump rate is 500Lph. I use a one-layer plastic plate as my scrubber which will be full of algae in 4 days after each cleaning. I clean half o the plate each time.

[SantaMonica]

Post pics of the following:

Take the screen out when full, and show how much algae is on it.

Clean half, and take another pic.

Pile up the algae removed, to show how much it is.

[sheung]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2484/3765007558_570d741fc1.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2632/3765007682_5e1057fb90.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2431/3765007844_55d9e52401.jpg

The first image is the screen after the last cleaning 7 days before. The screen is about 6 weeks old.
The second image is the newly added screen which is 1 weeks old.

The no3 still has not dropped. It is around 100 ppm.

[worley]

What sort of material are the screens made from?
Have you roughed it up?

[sheung]

just plastic plate roughed with sand paper.

[SantaMonica]

Ok I have the fix: Replace the bulb with [TWO] 23watt 2700K CFL floodlights:

http://www.buylighting.com/23-Watt-R40- ... 1r4023.htm (http://www.buylighting.com/23-Watt-R40-Compact-Fluorescent-Flood-2700K-p/tcp1r4023.htm)

Get clip-on holders:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/ClipOnLight.jpg

Remove the reflectors (since floodlights have their own), and put the light ON TOP of the screens like this:

http://www.radio-media.com/fish/5galNanoLight.jpg

One bulb for each section of your screen. And don't forget... 6 hours off each day.

Your screen will explode with growth, and the nitrate will be gone. At this point, you can decide to keep both bulbs, or go down to one. One bulb will only work with one section of your screen however, so you'll have to remove the second section if you do this.

[sheung]

Thank you. I will try it.

[NateDiggity]

So how is it working out?

[sheung]

Because of the space, I have added another 14W lamp. Although there seems to be more algae (mainly brown), the N03 is still around 100ppm.

[SantaMonica]

Did you put a layer (or two) of plastic canvas over the screen?