Bulb Suitability - UK Supply

[Cheesy]

Hi

First posting here so please be gentle :-)

I've been reading the threads both here and on Ultimate Reef, has anyone tried the new super high output T3 CFL daylight bulbs with their scrubber? The largest looks very bulky at 4" dia and 12" long but the smaller ones do seem ideal the UK link is here - http://www.mygreenlighting.co.uk/replacement_bulbs/daylight_bulbs/952.html They may be too fragile/dangerous for use in a constricted area like the sump though, has anyone tried these or something similar?

Also I'm coming back to a reef set up after an 8 year absence from keeping a tank (long story so wont bore you with why I stopped). The system I would be setting up would be around 100 gallons with high output LED lighting over the main tank and filtration by live rock/Algae scrubber. I'm not really interested in keeping hard corals but would want soft corals and once the tank matures, bubble tip anemones (I kept a Malu in my old set up which hosted a breeding pair of pink skunk clowns) - Would I be able to cycle the new tank from scratch using just a scrubber or would I need additional filtration/skimmer until the scrubber became established?

[inkidu]

Welcome to the forum.

Try the super high output T3 CFL daylight bulbs we are after all just growing algae.

Never deny the power of the algae.

Safety first, then duty.

Or do I have that backwards.

Good luck.

[SantaMonica]

If the rock was dry (meaning "dead") when you got it, then there is nothing in the rock that you need to keep alive. So "dry" rock, no matter what it's called, will not benefit from a scrubber (or a skimmer either). Preparing dry rock is easy because you WANT the ammonia to build up to high levels, so that the proper bacteria will build up in the rock. This bacteria will then remove ammonia when you put it in your tank.

"Wet" rock, meaning rock from the ocean or an established tank, is different. It DOES have live stuff in it, which is why it's called "live rock". You want this stuff to stay alive because it filters and feeds your tank. However, much of it died on the way from the ocean to you, and if you put a lot of this rock directly into your tank, you may get too much ammonia from it. So for larger amounts of rock, you want to "cure" it in a separate container. But here is where the super, gigantic difference between skimmers and scrubbers really shows: The living things in the rock are kept alive by food particles, but are killed by ammonia. So if you only have a skimmer on the container (which removes food, but not ammonia), you take away the food that the little animals need to live, and you let the ammonia stay, which further hurts the animals.

A scrubber, however, leaves all the food in the water, even if the "food" is dead and decaying stuff. This "stuff" is not harmful at all; it's the ammonia that is harmful. The "stuff" is actually food for the critters that came with the rock. Scrubbers remove the ammonia (that's what algae eats), so the critters in the rock will still have food to eat, without being killed by the ammonia. A skimmer, however, removes the food that the critters need to eat, but does not remove the ammonia. Thus the critters are starved, and killed, at the same time. So if the rock is "wet" and is supposed to be "live rock", then using a scrubber instead of a skimmer will allow the rock to keep the most life possible, and in many cases will eliminate a "cycle" altogether.

So if you are curing live "wet" rock, you don't need or want to add anything to get a cycle going. But if you are cycling dry rock, then you will need to add some food to get things rotting.

Faq for more info: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68 (http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68)