Hart's SURF2

[hart24601]

I have had my surf 2 almost a month. I have noticed very slow growth, two weeks ago I put in a hair algae mat and some chaeto from my other tank and the algae has done well but the growth on the scrubber surfaces is still slow with a few of the stands now showing a tiny bit of green. Condition initially were 1ppm po4 and 20ppm no3. I have wondered about increasing flow through the scrubber, similar to the concerns Floyd has so I thought I would post. I recently made a couple modifications to the surf 2, nothing that can't be undone, but I wanted to try it out. I took a maxijet I had lying around and ran a hose to one of the holes in the bottom of the scrubber to increase flow. I also added 90 degree elbows to the air line intake on the bottom as the water was pushing the bubbles out, and the 90 degree fitting solved that problem. With no permanent modifications there is now quite a bit of water going through the scrubber and seems to be working well. I did raise the lid a bit to accommodate the increased volume leaving the scrubber. I would have liked to use a powerhead that sucks air in for even more bubbles, but I had this lying around. I can always change this back if it doesn't work well, but I think it should give an improvement. I have not had this going long enough to evaluate if there is increased performance. I have a flow control valve from my old tlf reactor that I dialed down the flow a bit. Hoping to find a sweet spot.

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

The thing to look at is the number of hours of light, not the flow. Impossible to tell without pics though.

I'm guessing the hours are too many.

[hart24601]

I have been using a 4hr on 1 hr off (ok 3.8 hr on) in 5 cycles a day for around 19 hours per day on. Think I should change to one long period for 22 hr a day? I kinda like the flow modification, it seems to be working nicely.

[SantaMonica]

Need pics

[hart24601]

Not really much to show. The green is bits of chaeto as I removed the ball for the photo and didn't want to wash every little bit out. The green grabber is bright white still and the rope has just started to discolor a small amount. I can't tell what color the rope has on it, there is not enough no there for me to tell. There is no growth on the scrubber from what I can see, although the chaeto seems to like it ok. I only put the chaeto in there after I saw absolutely zero growth or color after 2.5 or 3 weeks.

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q492/Bret_Hartman/scrubber_zps250936d7.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Go to 18 hours on, 6 hours off. Remove the chaeto, it is shading the attachment material.

You are getting growth at the waterline, which is where it sometime starts. However I'm thinking your bubbles are low, because the growth would also be on the strings if they were agitated enough. A vid of the bubbles would help.

[hart24601]

Thanks for the help on lighting! No idea changing to 18/6 would make such a huge difference. Still have the extra flow hooked up but in past couple days the strings have quite a lot of growth on them! More growth in past two days then past two weeks with old lighting schedule. Not sure what happened to the pic or other posts tho.

[hart24601]

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q492/Bret_Hartman/scrubber_zpsc475a1c5.jpg


How does it look?

[SantaMonica]

Much better.

[hart24601]

Update:

The growth is much better. The box isn't full of algae and not tons of growth on the strings, but I have only a 65 I am running it on and only feed about two pinches of flakes a day. I am going to retest tonight, but my last weekly results were 0.00 phospate and ~10ppm nitrate so it must be running well to have po4 at zero. I don't mind some nitrates in there if phospate is 0 plus the softies and clams like a bit of nitrate anyway.

[budblue]

Update:

The growth is much better. The box isn't full of algae and not tons of growth on the strings, but I have only a 65 I am running it on and only feed about two pinches of flakes a day. I am going to retest tonight, but my last weekly results were 0.00 phospate and ~10ppm nitrate so it must be running well to have po4 at zero. I don't mind some nitrates in there if phospate is 0 plus the softies and clams like a bit of nitrate anyway.
hi hart :)
any more pics going
and you still on 18hrs

[budblue]

hi hart
any more pics going
are you still on 18hrs
I have a floating scrubber the same
started mine on 18hrs with no joy
moved down to 16 and then 14 with no joy again
I have just turned down to 10hrs
hopefully it will start to grow
I did have lush green turf but only in the 4 holes

[hart24601]

46584658

[hart24601]

I was still doing 18/6. Any reason to try 20/4?

[budblue]

46584658

thanks:)

[SantaMonica]

If 18 hours is not burning, then yes try 20.

[hart24601]

4720

My 1st true harvest. I pull a little out each week, but nothing photo worthy till now.

[SantaMonica]

Nice! Looks about 5 grams.

[hart24601]

4751

Harvest from today. Sad I am getting more and more algae in the display.

[SantaMonica]

Where?

[hart24601]

4752

Horrible pic. It's short and clumpy but soft. There isn't tons, but it's spreading.

[SantaMonica]

Well I don't see any in the pic, but if it's only on the rocks, then P is coming out of the rocks.

[hart24601]

Not good pic, but it's right smack in the middle. The dark stuff. I doubt it's P coming out of the rock. It is ceramic vitarock and was put in at the same time as the scrubber, when the tank was 1st set up.

[SantaMonica]

I think it is a sponge.

[hart24601]

Haha, I would hope that by now in this hobby I could tell the difference between a sponge and algae! I have been dosing phyto for some small clams and that has spurred the algae growth a bit.

[hart24601]

Figured I should give an update. I fear that I am no longer surf2 only filtration, I have added a fuge light and chaeto with gfo. Like I said before I started this on a rebuilt system with aquavita ceramic rock and no display issues but running the surf2 alone has not been adequate to stop algae from developing in the display. It started with a little turf in the photos and that has really gained speed despite manual removal and now bryopsis has appeared. I am leaving the surf2 online alongside the chaeto in hopes of getting this under control. The DT is a 65g and I feed 1/4 cube a day max. I have a huge clean up crew and a few with good cutting power like chitions and urchins but still the DT growth is too much and I don't want it to get even worse. Lights are reefbreeder LEDs. Perhaps running a skimmer alongside the scrubber would have produced better results. So from here on out I can't report results with a scrubber only system.

[SantaMonica]

What are the tests?

[hart24601]

I have dosed with Kent techM for the bryopsis so the mg is high as desired. Nice thing is that the bryopsis has already started fading in just a couple of days, but I pulled my carbon out and decided to wait on gfo until treatment is complete as both could pull the mystery compound that kills the bryopsis. Of course tech M will not have any impact on the turf but one battle at a time.

Mg = 1800
Ca = 480
pH = 8.25
NO3 = 15-20
Alk = 7.85 dkh
PO4 = 0.11

For the longest time I had PO4 of 0.00 but never could get nitrates under 10ppm and the turf started growing. After that phosphates began to rise. Once the bryopsis dies off I will run gfo in there with carbon.

[SantaMonica]

Well if you are still harvesting about the same amount, then that would be a reason. Really need a nice big handful.

On my 4 units, the one with the strongest bubbles growth the most every time. Maybe you can increase your air.