Dark growth

[icebrg5]

I've got an upflow algae scrubber already but its not the greatest design.
Made it out of a rubber maid container and have a screen and airstone attached and i do get a lot of brown and red growth but very little green.
It's been running for about 2 months now but i think my problem is when i clean it off nearly everything is coming off the screen and nothings sticking to it after its cleaned so then
it takes awhile to grow again.

[SantaMonica]

Sounds like a weak light.

[icebrg5]

I just replaced the bulb.

It was a 23w cfl 2700k

The new bulb is a 26w cfl but i didn't realize until after i got home that its a 6500k


Will that make a difference or should i switch back to the 2700k bulb?

[icebrg5]

Light has been about 4-5 inches away from the scrubber as well.

Should i move it as close as possible?

Also how should the bubbles be flowing in the scrubber? In front of the screen? or in back of it? or right in the middle and breaking on the screen.

It was right in the middle but with doing that i noticed that a lot of bubbles were being collected on the algae and not breaking.So for the last few days its been in front of the screen.

[SantaMonica]

A pic would be good.

[icebrg5]

I tried getting a picture but only had my iphone to use and if i use flash it flashes to soon and the pic is to dark to see and if i turn the light on and the flash off and try to get
a picture all i get is glare from it. Algae is still growing though even with the new 6500K bulb on it and with the new air stone i put in it seems to be working ok. I'm gonna give it a week or so and see what kind of growth i get and if its not at least the same as the old bulb then i will switch back to the 2700k bulb and move the bulb closer to the screen.

[icebrg5]

Well after a week of using the 6500k bulb i saw very little to no new growth so i switched it back to a 2700k bulb today and its a 43W actual usage bulb instead of the 23w like i originally used.I will wait 7 days and then post the results.

[kerry]

The 2700K will work the best, what size is your screen? Did you read the guidelines for the scrubber screen sizes? Also rough up your screen more, if its all coming off easy it needs to be rougher. Your screen CANNOT BE ROUGH ENOUGH!!! These scrubbers work if they are built right. Take your time and invest into it and it will show results.

[icebrg5]

Screen is 5 x 5 roughly and i did follow the guide lines the best i could. Algae sticks to the screen pretty good i think i was just over cleaning it before and instead of just scrapping off the screen i was taking a tooth brush to it and basically getting everything off without even trying.

I'm gonna let it go another week or so with the new bulb and then just scrap off what i can and not over do it on the cleaning. I think that's where i went wrong for the most part.

[icebrg5]

Should i attach my screen to the back of the box with silicon or let it hang?

Right now its hanging in the middle and is attached through zip ties at the top.
The issue i have with this is sometimes the screen gets pushed into the stream of the air
bubbles and then all the algae on the screen gets tiny bubbles stuck over all of them.

[SantaMonica]

Leave it for now; bubbles will not hurt.

[icebrg5]

Leave it for now; bubbles will not hurt.

Finally got some pictures when i took it out for cleaning.5444544554465447

This was roughly 2 weeks worth of build up without a cleaning.It had a lot of air bubbles mixed in it and they are still shown in the pictures and the third picture is the back side of the screen where it gets no light since its in an enclosure. I did manage to scrap a good amount off the screen. I didn't use a toothbrush this time since i wanted some left on the screen.You can't see it very well but there was some green on the screen but nothing like what i thought it should look like.

[SantaMonica]

Yes really need more light, and a cleaning down to the white screen.

[icebrg5]

That growth was from a 26w 6500k bulb for a week and then i switched to a 43w 2700k bulb for the 2nd week.

I saw very little growth with the 26w 6500k bulb so i replaced it with the 43w 2700k one.

Now i will give it a week or so and see what just 43w 2700k bulb can do for it.

Also running the light about 2 inches from the screen and on for 18 hours and then off for 6.I do get algae build up on the acrylic in the sump
in front of the algae scrubber but i also scrub all that off when i notice it building up which is usually once a week.

Should i increase the amount of time the lights are on?

Also what should my bubble flow be like? the bubble wand i have now puts out really fine bubbles and if the screen is behind it its almost hard to see the screen because of the amount of super small bubbles filling in front of it. If i move the screen to the front/middle then i get a lot of bubbles building up on the screen.

Here is a link to a video that shows what my air flow looks like. Its using the same bubble wand i do and its putting out just as much as mine does in the algae scrubber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rvhTgK98Q

[SantaMonica]

Well those bubbles seem good.

Lights should be 22 hours a day.

[icebrg5]

Will change the light settings.

Also so it doesn't matter where the bubbles flow? behind middle or in front of the screen?

[SantaMonica]

Must rub the front:

http://www.algaescrubber.net/WhyBubbles.jpg

[icebrg5]

Changed my setup so the bubbles flow right in the middle of the screen rubbing the front the entire time and i also changed it to 22 hours on time now.
Even with the large bubble flow i can still see plenty of the screen so hopefully i see some big improvement with the growth in the next week or two.

[icebrg5]

Here are the results

8 days with the new bulb on 22 hours a day and bubbles rubbing the middle of the screen.

Growth was dark but not as dark as before on the front but the growth on the backside of the screen was almost black just like before.
Also had an orangish spot in it which i have never had grow before. Any idea what the orange is?

I know i have high nitrates for sure. No idea what phosphates are at as i have no test kit for that. I do weekly water
changes and run a skimmer and uv sterilizer as well.

I did a full cleaning down to the white screen again. It wasn't cleaned to the white screen before just scraped really good.

545254535454

[SantaMonica]

Another full cleaning. If it does not grow lighter, it will need need even stronger light.

The spot is pods eating.

[icebrg5]

How long should i let it go before cleaning?

[SantaMonica]

Now.

[icebrg5]

Now?

I just cleaned it after taking the pics down the the white screen.

[SantaMonica]

Then 7 days.