New scrubber

[Donj]

Hope someone can answer a question for me, on my new tank build, a 125 long, my 90 was getting a little crowded, so I set the 125 up, built a new sump from an old 40 long, and added a white plastic tub on the other end, this was added to receive water from my algae scrubber, the scrubber has been on a week tomorrow, already getting a good bit of growth, mostly brownish ( by the way transferred all liverock and livestock, sps, lps, and fish ) I assume maybe diatoms, question is, the tub or vat is getting a brown slimey growth as well, should I leave this alone, wipe it down or what, there is not alot of growth on screen but it is covered in brown, do I still clean on 7th day, thanks for your time, Donj.

[SantaMonica]

It's because your scrubber light is not contained, and is illuminating the tub. Use better reflectors, or move the lights closer to the screen.

[Donj]

i built this scrubber based on your specs,youve been a great help to me, ive used the plastic screen, roughed up, 2 8'' reflectors,with 23 watt cfls, 1 on each side, light 4'' off screen, my return is a mag 18 to 1'' pvc teed to a 3/4'' pipe which my screen is attached to, flow is about 500 plus gph to scubber, i did not use a darkened acrylic box though,when you did your bucket version did it work for you? and how did you keep diatoms or any algae out of a white bucket? I really dont know how to keep light out of my vat as the lights are at least 6'' down in vat with a 1.5'' hole drilled at 7'' up from my 40 gal sump into the vat, ill try to get pics, any advice from you would be most helpful, as I really would love to see this work. one side note, there has been zero algae on my glass, hope thats a good sign, thanks,DON

[SantaMonica]

It will work, but some people don't like growth in the sump. The more you can shield the light, the less growth you'll have in the sump. Once nutrients come down really low, the growth in the sump will slow down or stop.

Less glass cleaning means less nutrients in the water, so it's working well so far. Pics would be nice.

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone529.jpg

[Donj]

last pic was from day one, after 7 days cleaned screen,i am now on the 6th day of week 2,will post a pic before cleaning,do i just clean one side or clean completely? again thanks 4 all your help,Don

[SantaMonica]

Nice wide reflector.

You can make the screen less wide if you want... the part outside the reflector does not do any good and just uses up flow. Or you can add another light.

Clean the whole thing.

[Donj]

I have another light on the other side( can't see it in the pic.) if you think I should I'll add 2 more, the growth in just 2 weeks is impressive, my question is, should I clean it all the way down on 2nd cleaning, I will post you a pic.[img]

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/IMG_0356.jpg

[SantaMonica]

The situation is that it is a wide screen, and the part of the screen that is not in front of the bulb is not doing anything but wasting flow. So you can add another bulb for that area, or save flow by reducing the screen width.

Clean it all off each time.

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/IMG_0374.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Starting to burn the algae. Increase flow, or move the bulb back, or reduce the number of hours, and/or add iron.

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/IMG_0373.jpg

[Donj]

Ive added 2 more lights,close to 100 watts, trying to post pics,Im not to swift on a computer maybe I should ask one of the kids for some help, SORRYhttp://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/9929fb24-1.jpg

[Donj]

cool it worked, I gotta thank you Santa Monica, im sure this is going to work,allthough Im still runnin my fancy skimmer, im starting to get bright green algae,most of it is the darker,but it is hair algae, also Im starting to see what looks like dust in the display tank,do you think these are pods? Ive noticed at lights out,much more extension on polyps, you think thats due to pods? thanks again SM

[SantaMonica]

Yes, white "dust" specs = baby copepods.

And yes on the polyp extension, especially at night which is when they normally open. After you remove the skimmer (and any other mechanical filter), you will get even more extension/openings. And then filter feeders will start popping up.

[Donj]

hey SM, Ive got a question,maybe you can clairify something for me,and probably MANY others. you say to clean your screen completly,at least every 7 days,some cases even more,Ive been cleaning down to the bare screen with a toothbrush, the problem is, when I clean its as if im starting all over again,in other words,like day one,no algae growth for the first couple days,then same thing,just brownish growth with a little green here and there. Am I doing something wrong here or what? as my pics show, ive got plenty of lighting and I think Ive got enough flow, Ive even started dosing iron, Ive allways had high nitrate levels about 30ppm,they dont seem to be going down, should I start leaving some growth on the screen? thanks for all your help,Don. by the way I was born n raised in Santa Monica,that was a long time ago though,now in the Chicago land area, BRRRRRRR.

[SantaMonica]

Now that you are getting green, you can leave some on the screen after you clean. After a while you won't be able to get it all off anyways. Your nitrate won't start going down until you clean off three full thick screens of green.

Do this: Cut the screen vertically into two halves, and clean one of them every 5 days. This will give 10 days growth on each one.

[Donj]

ok,SM, ive cut the screen in two,having to clean about every 3 days because for the most part I seem to only able to grow dark algae,with a spot here n there of bright green,as for the bald spots where my lights are, I saw where you recomended to someone else this is a good problem to have, too much light, just shorten the hours lights are on, which I did yesterday,by 3 hours. There is something I could sure use your advice on, my scrubber drains into a 18 gal. rubbermaid tub,and from there back into my sump, I have rubble rock with a bit of sand for to pods to thrive in, in the tub, I am getting alot of algae growth in this, and I mean ALOT, looks like mostly GHA, the kind im trying to get on my screen, is this a good thing? Ive got tons of pods, no algae in display, should I drain this vat and clean it out or let it be? because of the way Ive built this system I realy see no way to shield the vat from my lights without a total teardown and new design, could you help me out on this, SM? Im trying to somehow come up with the $$ for a SM100, maybe after the holidays,hope you still have them. thanks

[SantaMonica]

Leave it in there. If your display is the way you want, then it's working.

[Donj]

wasnt happy with the results i was getting, so I built a box out of 1/4" acrylic, got a couple oddessy T5 HO lights,did a little rearanging in sump area and made it work, I think ive got a decent scrubber now. heres a pic.

[Donj]

ok then, that didnt work, let me try again http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone607.jpg

[Donj]

here it is after 5 days, still very dark green brownish and slimey http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone618.jpg

[Donj]

here is another 5 days before 2nd cleaning, was running 6500k bulbs that came with light, last week went with the 2700k you recomended,will see if it makes any diff. is this dark algae because my nutrients are to high? still about 30 ppm on nitrateshttp://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone608.jpg

[Donj]

im still running my skimmer, when do you think I should go without it? when no3 drops? or now? am not useing any other filtration exept skimmer and ats[

[Donj]

I would just like to add a little something about scrubbers, even though im not getting the green hair algae yet, the benefits so far have been incredible, the life in my system is thriveing, the amount of little critters from having an ats is unbelievable,with lights out I can take a flashlight and see what seems to be millions of little critters. I have a 125 gal. tank with a fairly heavy bioload,with fish and mostly sps and lps coral, all are doing very, very well compared to when they were in my ninety gal. with no ATS. About 4 weeks ago, I added a pair of mandarins ( male n female ) the male had a shrunken belly at my LFS since then he has put some weight on, I would never have attempted this in a system thats been up for only a couple of months, its hard enough to keep 1 mandarin alive,much less 2, but there not only alive,there getting fat :D , this is pleasing to me as this is one of my favorite species of fish. The coral growth is mind blowing as well, just gotta say thanks for your site, as I would have just kept on blowing more $$ on equipment I dont really need, had I not stumbled upon this site. THANKYOU http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone580.jpg

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone171.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Glad to hear things are growing. Yes dark growth is from the nitrates. What bulbs do you have?

[Donj]

they are the 2700k pulsrites as you recommended on one of your threads, theve been in for 4 days now. will it make a big diff. in growth going from 6500k to 2700k? also nutrients high, should I cut down a bit on feeding? I feed about 2 cubes frozen and some nori sheet for the tangs. thanks

[SantaMonica]

2700 is the best, although not by much. More important is the light-power from new bulbs.

Just let it run and see what happens. If your drain is small enough the water level might start rising and you will get some 3D growth.

If you had some more corals, then I'd say remove the skimmer. But you don't really have enough corals to eat all the food particles. You can do it if you want.

[Donj]

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff371/djdawg/Pictureoffphone619.jpg I have a 1" bulkhead in the bottom corner, water in bottom of scrubber flows to drain about an inch deep all the way through, that inch of water is full of HA, just not bright green,so,I dont know if thats considered 3D growth

[Donj]

by the way the lights I bought are called oddessy,from top dog sellers on ebay,they are 24" 48watt T5HO , The pair were only $79.00 with free ship, there made in China, but seem like nice lights for the buck, sleek, with slide out extensions on both ends, which makes it fairly easy hook up to the ats box

[ShanGo]

by the way the lights I bought are called oddessy,from top dog sellers on ebay,they are 24" 48watt T5HO , The pair were only $79.00 with free ship, there made in China, but seem like nice lights for the buck, sleek, with slide out extensions on both ends, which makes it fairly easy hook up to the ats box
hi m8 do you have a link plz

[Donj]

I dont have a link, shango, but go to ebay,in aquariums look under lights, then check for topdogsellers in there lights. I cant say how good these lights will be in the long run,but for the price im impressed, ballasts are are not housed in the fixture which make them very light and sleek. also no built in fan, maybe someone else may know more about this brand,hope this helps you...

[marineguy]

For cheap lighting check this link out. http://www.reefshops.com/lighting/t5-t5ho-flourescent/