HOG .5

[Kolawaia]

A little background. My tank is a 29 reef tank with LED lighting. My nitrates are undetectable and my phosphates at .25 and have been for a while. I suspect the algae in the tank is out competing the chaeto in my refugium. I over skim(swc 120) and have a small fuge. I saw the HOG UAS for sale and figured I'd give it a shot and perhaps it will help my algae issues. I don't feed very much. I broadcast feed my corals every few days with 2 tiny scoops of reef chili. I use RODI with Reef Crystals for my water. I ran phosgard but will no major affect.

So I received my HOG .5 on 4/8/13. It was installed in my refugium as thats the only place I had room for it. Initially I ran it 12/12 on off. Mostly when my DT lights were off. My tank is currently full of algae steming from one can only imagine. Heres a few pictures of my problem.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QVm2xoad2eE/UWeqIjWaZeI/AAAAAAAAAgg/2mE7QerrxWg/s699/13+-+1

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0IoR8LYE9qo/UWerdznbWVI/AAAAAAAAAh8/fM3we0VbgHQ/s699/13+-+4

As you can see its somewhat of a problem. The scrubber was slow starting how ever is now producing. At day 10 my screen looked like this

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2wbSNId8gVE/UXB0Dbu5I2I/AAAAAAAAAo0/YfXct_xlf9M/s906/13+-+1

after 20 days I did my first cleaning the screen looked like this

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3naU0lXyuUQ/UX3BwO6-bsI/AAAAAAAAAtI/3sO58_1Dc_0/w480-h852/13+-+1

I used a tooth brush in order to remove the algae from the screen. How ever that was done on 4/28/13

Now its been 5 days since and very little to no algae has grown back on the screen and phosphates are still testing .25 . Should 1 I be scraping the screen with a card instead of using a brush to leave more roots on? 2) Will the scrubber continue to uneffect the algae in the DT unless i remove it manually? and 3 is the screen just not mature enough yet for me to really see results in my dt?

[Floyd R Turbo]

You need to only gently clean a scrubber screen for the first month or 2 of cleaning. Scrubbing it with a brush removes all algae, depending on how hard you scrub it. Generally, even on a mature screen, I scrape it and then just sort of swipe it with the brush to get any loose algae off, leaving whatever I can on the screen.

I would just say you scrubbed it too hard. You need to let the holes fill in, and then don't remove the algae from the holes.

[Nick28]

you can use a brush just try not to puncture the holes on the screen. I would clean rocks with a tooth brush in a bucket filled with water and do a small watechange this will speed things up and make your tank look a lot nicer sooner.

[Kolawaia]

Thank you floyd. I did suspect scraping it with a card would be a better idea. Thank you for confirming this for me. Also do you run the scrubber while the dt is on or do you alternate it generally like you would with a fuge, or does it just not matter? Also in your experience why could you not run a scrubber say 20-22 hours. Caulerpa and Chaeto can handle 24/7 lighting why would GHA be any different or at least just a few hours or rest?

[Kolawaia]

you can use a brush just try not to puncture the holes on the screen. I would clean rocks with a tooth brush in a bucket filled with water and do a small watechange this will speed things up and make your tank look a lot nicer sooner.
Thank you nick I do alot of wc so thats not an issue. Generally I change 4-5 gallons out twice a week so close to an 80% change a month just because of the algae how ever such frequent wc may not be helping the scrubber any. Will go ahead and start brushing off some of that algae and do a 5 gallon wc today.

[Nick28]

Thank you nick I do alot of wc so thats not an issue. Generally I change 4-5 gallons out twice a week so close to an 80% change a month just because of the algae how ever such frequent wc may not be helping the scrubber any. Will go ahead and start brushing off some of that algae and do a 5 gallon wc today.

I had the same problem one time the algae in the tank was snatching up nutrients too fast and wc alone didn't work. I had to scrub rocks then do water changes.

I also considered a sally light foot crab or a bunch of big hermits to get nutrients back in cycle but never went through with it.

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

Chaeto can run 24 hours because it is so thick that is always has a "dark" side, and this dark side does not do any filtering. A scrubber is always "bright" and so needs rest. But you can always try more hours until it burns the middle. Just repeat what you did last time.

After about 10 cleanings, I'll bet your display looks much better :)

[Kolawaia]

Welcome.

Chaeto can run 24 hours because it is so thick that is always has a "dark" side, and this dark side does not do any filtering. A scrubber is always "bright" and so needs rest. But you can always try more hours until it burns the middle. Just repeat what you did last time.

After about 10 cleanings, I'll bet your display looks much better :)

Thanks SM, good to hear from the guru, knew you guys would be able to answer my questions/concerns. I know its not a problem thats going to get solved over night no doubt but especially the cleaning of the screen i needed some clarification on. Would u recomend also running the scrubber light during the time that the dt is on? or Does it not matter? I usually run it an hour in the begining and an hour afteer and let the algae rest while the main light is on to reduce any PH swings.

[SantaMonica]

You can try to reduce pH swings if you like, but the filtering will not be affected.