Tomservo's new waterfall

[tomservo]

Wow, where to begin? After I did that water change a while back, the scrubber started growing in again. More recently, like a month ago, I started dosing nitrate as my phosphates seemed to be getting high, I was getting some cyano on the sand and a bit on the rocks. The dosing worked, the scrubber took off and so did the skimmer (I have bio cubes in). Anyways, about 10 days ago I changed tanks and sumps, lost a couple colonies in the move but I am happy with the results. The new tanks sit on the same stand, but the display is 24x15x16 (14" water height, same as before) ~20 gallons, and the sump is 20.75x15x12 with 10.75" of water in it, about 15 gallons.

So the new setup didn't have a built in upflow scrubber, as I don't feel they work as well as the waterfall type, after some extensive testing with a LFS. I built today a HOB waterfall scrubber that will mount on the back of the sump. I'll drive it with a MJ1200 I have laying around. Basically the same 6x6" screen, although it'll be more like 5.5x6.

Can I have the thread moved now that the tank no longer uses an upflow scrubber, or should I start a new one?


FTS.. Don't have a whole system shot, but the sump sits on the stand just below the display and also has an LED light.
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[Floyd R Turbo]

I would just start a new thread...

[tomservo]

Well, everything is looking great and getting better and more color every day. I'm really happy with the way things are looking, and the caulerpa growth is under control at least. I have some phosguard coming and I hooked up the scrubber today. I took off basically all of the chaeto and most of the ulva came off, but not all. There is some hair or turf on there too. The screen is exactly the same size as the previous UAS, as I simply re-used that one, it was the perfect size when placed sideways. There's a bit of black plastic over the top of the loop as well. I had to modify it a bit, added a piece of lighting diffuser to the "ramp" that goes all the way to the water, as there was splashing and noise. Also had to add a ball valve as the MJ1200 was too much, big time. Maybe you could grow algae at that speed but the noise was unacceptable. So it's valved down to whatever - as much flow as will not splash. A lot lower flow still provided complete flow across the screen, all the way to the bottom.

I have some pictures as well. The corals are doing great, and I just did a 10 gallon water change today (about 29%). My KH has been a bit down lately, like 6.2 or so, so I have been adjusting my dosing to compensate. Changing the dosing interval is too time consuming so I just change the concentration of the solution.. Also, since I don't want massive jugs, I use 1L containers which last ~2-3 months. My doser only goes in 1 second intervals so the minimum dose is ~1 mL. I dose 12 times a day with two different pumps.