1st UAS scrubber

This is my first go at a scrubber. I feed roughly 1/2 cube a day at the Moment so I'm using a 4x3 scrubber. Very basic only using a 12watt cfl bulb and tin can as reflector. My sumps running externally temporarily as I cracked my origional one.

This is just a test but I plan to do a waterfall scrubber

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps9018178e.jpg
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa2c28ae7.jpg

Here's a picture from around 7 days of growth.

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps820b6be8.jpg

How does it look so far, should I be getting better growth?

Tanks been running for around 7 months so far. I've been using Red Sea test kits for no3 and po4. No3 doesn't register with any colours keep getting a blue unlike any other and po4 is always 0.08 so I need to get some elos test kits as I'm not happy with those results.

Let it go 14 day; should thicken up.

Also if you could put a white plastic sheet behind the screen, it might help.

I'll put some acrylic mirror behind and see how it goes.

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps0cc0ad24.jpg

Better picture of today, I think I can see some green growing now.
Lights are on 18 hours a day too much or ok?

Seems fine.

Will this actually work or is it to basic?

Basic is good

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...psaf725beb.jpg

Getting better, but I came home from work to see my glass and sand covered in green. I wiped the glass and stirred the sand so my issue is, will this kick in before I get hair grass or bubble algae or shall I run some rowaphos as well?

I really want this to work but I can afford to have a major breakout.

Make sure all the bubbles hit the front of the screen; not the back. If the bulb is "warm" or "soft" and running 18 hours, it should be green in a few days.

Getting some green patches today, looks promising.

All bubbles are hitting front.

Quick question if I change my screen will it go through the brown algae stage again?

Yes. You can speed it up by rubbing some old algae on the new one.

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...0554CDB583.jpg

At what point shoud the brown be cleaned?

Ignore the white it's just some filter floss that caught.

14 days.

An update incase anyone is interested :rolleyes:

Day 12:

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...9EB77EB823.jpg

There we go.

I'll be cleaning tomorrow (day 14) should I remove everything or leave some green?

Remove most all.

I cleaned it on Saturday, still no green but I'm getting red algae. Is it normal?

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...226b4a0453.jpg

I've got my sump fixed so now the bulb is about 4" away from screen with aluminium foil behind it and a 20w bulb instead of 12w as the reflector isn't as good. I also blocked the airstone from light as it was getting covered very quickly.

It's normal for higher nutrients. Clean all of it off, so you can see the white screen.

Might not want foil in the water.

I'm not having much luck with this so I'm going to do a 2 sided waterfall. Using 2 cube a day, would it be 6x4 with 12w on each side? Also can you have too much flow?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ericsson

I'm not having much luck with this so I'm going to do a 2 sided waterfall. Using 2 cube a day, would it be 6x4 with 12w on each side? Also can you have too much flow?

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Size and light looks ok for 2 cubes. You don't want the flow squirting all over the place, but good flow is important when the screen really gets going. As long as the water forms a continuous sheet of flow from the bottom of the screen it is deemed adequate.

So a eheim 1000 would be ok? Should I use 16mm or 25mm pipe

Would these be ok to use? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12W-LED-35...ht_4838wt_1301

Can also get these with all 660nm bulbs, do you think up they would be any good?

Those are ok for a small screen.