How long will it take to see effects?

[cyberseer]

Hey guys,

Just wondering, how long does it take to see some effects on reducing N and P with the scrubber? With seeding purchased from inland aquatics. Thanks much.

[worley]

With a pre-seeded mesh, you could expect to see changes anywhere from say 2 days to a week

[cyberseer]

Thanks worley,

I stop by Inland Acquatics last week and picked up a mesh last week, just installed it yesterday. i only got 1 23w 27000k CFL lighting on 1 side at the moment. Not sure about the light at all, but that's the only bulb i have atm. Crossing my fingers now, I really need to get the 40ppm N down. Thank much for the great information Santa monica, and thanks again for the reply worley.

[SantaMonica]

That's bulb is a good start, but add one to the other side of the screen when you can. And even better, 33 W bulbs. The more light, the faster the N drop and the more you can feed.

[cyberseer]

thank SM,

33w at 2700k? or should i go for something higher? like 6500k?

[SantaMonica]

2700 should be good. Especially if it looks "pink".

[Patrick Pending]

33w at 2700k? or should i go for something higher? like 6500k? - I currently use both, a 2700k on one side and a 6500k on the other. At the moment the best growth (possibly double) is on the 2700k side.

Here in the UK the 2700k are cheap and readily available whereas the 6500k are about six times dearer and very few places stock them. The expected lifespan of most CFL's seems to be only about a year.

Cheers,

Pat. Pending

[cyberseer]

well, I couldn't find any 33w lamps at my HD here, so I got a 42w instead. :) Like SM said, big = faster, right? ^^
From what I read, keep lights on 24/7 at the beginging, does that apply to with seeds too? or I should go with 16 on 8 off?
I will take a picture of my lazy man diy in a bit to post here, would appreciate much if you guys can point out anything that should be changed.
Anyways, couple of days now, no change in water chemistry yet.

[SantaMonica]

It's looking like 3 months in the max for CFL bulbs. Maybe 6 months for T5HO, although not sure.

[kcress]

Where does it say 24hrs ON? Everything I see is 16 ON 8 OFF.

[Patrick Pending]

Where does it say 24hrs ON? Everything I see is 16 ON 8 OFF. - Absolutely, lack of dark period will slow down growth.

Cheers,

Pat. Pending

[cyberseer]

I read the 24/7 for fresh start on SM's original post on RC, and was wondering if it would be same for seeded mesh from Inland Aquatics.
But I got mine setup for 16 on 8 off for now.

Pics of my diy
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0087.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0086.jpg

My problem areas besides the high N and P.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0083.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0081.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0082.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0084.jpg

Please comment on what I can do to improve a bit more, thx guys.

[cyberseer]

I can not get the front light any more closer, so I got a bigger light instead, its a 42w @ 2700k. The light in the back is still the 23w@2700k.
Total cost of setup is about $25.
10 for the 42w bulb.
6 for the clip on lamp from HD, the one in the back is free, snacked it from my sister.
about 9 for all the fitings and ball valve.
not bad for a diy, cost effective is key :P more money to buy all the corals i really would like to add later on.

[cyberseer]

Here is what mine look like after 7 days
Front side with the seed from IA
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0096.jpg
Back side started blank.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_0097.jpg

What is this oil spill looking like stuff I have? Didn't realize we could get crud oil out of our tank :lol:
Should I be cleaning now? And no drop in Nitrate as of yet, still at 20ppm :(
Anyone use API phosphate test? Mine is giving me wired readings, coz I get a very light tint of yellow out of my test water, and that color is not on my saltwater color chart, it is however on my freshwater chart.

Thanks guys

[Patrick Pending]

What is this oil spill looking like stuff I have? Didn't realize we could get crud oil out of our tank - you can actually extract oil and make bio-diesel from algae. I doubt any of us are likely to get enough to run our cars with unfortunately. :mrgreen:

Cheers,

Pat. Pending

[SantaMonica]

What you are seeing is the type of algae that grows when nutrients are very very high. As nutrients come down, the growth will get less like oil, and more like regular brown algae, and then eventually like green hair. Your IA turf, however, will stay the same. Go ahead and do weekly cleaning, and be sure to keep any slime/oil/green hair off of the turf, or else they will shade and kill it.

After you've cleaned your screen two or three times, you'll see the drop in N and P.

[cyberseer]

Well, here is an update after 50 days from install.

Hole Tank
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3337.jpg

Problem Areas
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3338.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3339.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3340.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3341.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3342.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3344.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3347.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3350.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3351.jpg

Current Scrubber Setup
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3353.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3354.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/cyberseer/IMG_3355.jpg

After 50 days, my NO3 is reduced to 5 to 10 (need a better test kit, can't tell the difference between 5 and 10 on those API tests). PO4 not sure yet, coz ran out of tests, but last one reads 0. No skimmer for almost 4 weeks. No water change for 2 week. Feed 2x a day for the fish, 1 cube a day for the fish and softies. BTW, changed a bigger CFL on 2/16/09, it's now a 65W with output of 300w. Big difference in growth. The growth in the pic is about 3 days worth.

[cyberseer]

Another question, at what point can I expect to see some Coraline Algae growth?

[kcress]

cyberseer; Thanks for the update! What's the algae by your overflow teeth doing?

[cyberseer]

cyberseer; Thanks for the update! What's the algae by your overflow teeth doing?
Oh, took a while to understand that question. Haha. Coz i got rid off the overflow box. Drilled my self 2 1" holes. now with the box gone, i just found my self lots of room in my tank. Anyways, if you look at the hole tank pic, where the PVC 90 is where the overflow box used to be. haha.

[SantaMonica]

Spots of coralline start forming after your phosphate has been zero for a few weeks.

[cyberseer]

YEAH!! Tested this morning coz i was bored, got a 0 NO3 reading, had to double, and triple the test to confirm that I wasn't dreaming/sleep walking/imagining thing. Like that presentation says, this has got to be one of the happiest days of my life in this hobby/dark hole. Also, I can answer my question per title of this thread now. It took 50 days to see effect ( could be sooner, but I didn't test for like a week and half before yesterday.) and 51 days to result. :) what a beautiful day it is, no rain, and no NO3.

[worley]

Yay, that's great news!
The algae scrubbers really do have a huge positive impact on the tank, well worth the wait.
If only it was easier to get pre-grown screens, especially in the UK!