RAIN2 Advise

[Dutch Snoots]

Hey gang.

I have upgraded to a 92 gallon corner saltwater tank 1 month ago. I kept the live rock from my old setup (4 years old), and put in 60 pounds of new live sand. Currently, residents are 3 anthias, 1 flame angel, 1 lawnmower blenny, and 1 longnose hawkfish.

I’m trying to run it with only a RAIN2 in the sump, which I purchased in March – no other mechanical filtration. Currently running 2 of the LEDs, 20 hours a day. I feed 1 cube of frozen food and about 1 gram of pellets daily. I am cleaning the screen weekly with a plastic scrapper, getting about 5 grams of growth after a week, pic attached.

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I have never really gotten the algae growth I expected in the RAIN2 and am starting to see hair in the main display. A lot of the algae is slimy red/orange as opposed to hairy/stringy green algae. Any ideas/advise on getting the system tuned up?

Thanks in advance!

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

Phosphate might be coming out of the rock, and going into the sand. Moving the rock would have killed off a lot of the periphyton on them, and this will be decaying now into the water. But since the rock is new it will not have much phosphate in it, and will absorb it until a balance is found.

Looks like the 2 lights might both be at the bottom; you can instead have one at at the bottom and on the other side put one at the top.

Reduce to 18 hours a day.

Use a toothbrush to get the orange off the screen; it will block GHA from attaching.

Feed double if you want. Since you don't have tangs, you could feed lots of pods for the anthias.

Let the darker growth from the top of the screen grow down onto and over the orange lower part; Let it go longer than a week so it can do this.

See how it looks in two weeks.

[Dutch Snoots]

Thanks, the feedback is very much appriciated. I’ve made the changes and will share the results soon.

[Dutch Snoots]

Hello again!

Still lots of red/orange growth on the screen...

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Scrubbed with brush

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Growth after 1 week

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Growth after 2 weeks

Algae growth in the main display is starting to get heavy. It is growing on the glass, rocks, and sand. Lawnmower Blenny looks SO FAT that I'm afraid he's going to pop! Water is testing fine - no nitrates or phosphates.

I am starting to suspect that the main display LEDs are part of the problem. I got them used from a friend - they have no identification and I have no idea how old they are or what spectrum they have. I'm currently looking into replacements...

Looking forward to the feedback. Thanks...

[SantaMonica]

No the display lights are not related. But if nutrients are testing zero, the nuisance growth on the glass should be green and only need cleaning every 2 weeks. And phosphate should be coming out of the rocks, causing more GHA on the rocks. And if you have a sand sifter, the sand should be clean. Pics would help.

Which lights are on? Try one on the top, and on the other side have one on the bottom. Only 2 lights, 18 hours.

And try dosing some iron.

[Dutch Snoots]

How much iron should be present/measured? I've never tested/dosed this before...

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Here is the light configuration for the RAIN2. Currently running 18 hours on.

Will post photos of the algae on the glass/rock/sand this evening... Thanks.

[SantaMonica]

Ok try just 1 light, on the top.

[SantaMonica]

For iron, Kent's Iron+Manganese is good... just follow the label. Or feed lots of nori.

[Dutch Snoots]

Photos from the tank:

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Algae on Glass - I scraped part of it off to install the pump

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Algae on Rocks

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Algae on Sand

[SantaMonica]

OK just do the 1 light at the top for now.

[Dutch Snoots]

OK, adjusted to 1 light at the top and started dosing iron. Will post an update on the scrubber's performance this weekend.

[Dutch Snoots]

Here are the photos of the scrubber this morning...

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Direct lighting

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Indirect lighting

What should my next action be??? Wait for more growth on the screen? Scrape the screen? Scrub the screen?

The algae in the tank is getting quite thick in some areas, do you have a preferred ratio of snails per gallon? Also, when posting pictures is it more helpful for you when the scrubber pump is running or off?

Thanks in advance!

[SantaMonica]

I re-read your info and saw the rock are 4 years old, just transferred to current tank 1 month ago. With new sand. So since N and P are low in water, phosphate is coming out of the rock and going into the sand. So more growth on rocks is expected for several weeks.

Looks like you never cleaned the side glass.

Feed more.

Yellow needs to be pushed out of the screen holes. Just push a toothbrush into it. Only white or green should remain.

Snails don't matter.

Keep dosing iron more until screen grows less yellow.

Flow off, for pictures.

Plug the 2nd light back in, on opposite height level.

Most important is that all the stuff on the screen, tray pipe etc be brushed off into your sink. Do this every 3 or 5 days. Harder green stuff will start attaching to screen over the next months.

Go through 4 cleanings before checking progress again. Can't do much better than zero N and P.

[Dutch Snoots]

Here's the latest batch of photos. I've been scrubbing all yellow/orange/red off with a brush and scrapping green areas every 4 days. Still dosing iron. Two lights on 18 hours at opposite heights.

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Seeing more growth, but it's still more slimy than hairy... Looking forward to your response/feedback.

[SantaMonica]

Are you cleaning the whole screen both sides, and the tray? The last pics look like they have not been cleaned and pods are eating holes, or it's letting go.

[Dutch Snoots]

I have been cleaning (brushing back to white as needed) both sides every 4 days. Pics below are of the screen after cleaning. I cleaned/brushed the tray after days 8 and 18.

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Should I stick with the 4 day routine or change the frequency of cleaning?

[SantaMonica]

Ok clean the screen and tray every 4 days for now. I'll send a mineral supplement that I'm working on, to see if it affects it.

[Dutch Snoots]

Hey gang. Stopping by with a quick update. Just after new years the ATS really took off! Photos below...

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Algae is growing thick and dark, I'm harvesting between 20 and 30 grams weekly. The algae is still more oily or slimy than "hairy", but the RAIN2 is definitely doing its job. My tank has never looked better - no nuisance hair algae in the display tank!

Thanks SantaMonica for a great product and support.

[SantaMonica]

Looks great. Probably should clean more often though. And if you want you can brush the growth out of the holes.

Are you using all 4 lights? And did you use the mineral supplement?

And what happened to the tabs on the screen?