Various RAIN waterfall growth pictures

Here we will post pictures of growth that other people have had with their RAIN waterfall scrubbers. Don't forget to go to the last page of this thread, to see the new photos. To be notified when a new growth photo is posted, subscribe HERE

Our first growth example is a customer's fully grown RAIN2 that has been lifted off the sump in one step (easily done one-handed). Just think how much disassembly and cleaning you would need to do with anyone else's waterfall scrubber (even though we invented those in 2008).

This super thick, darker growth from high nutrients in the water is making good use of the very strong GEM5 lights. Also note how the textured bottom tray has held on to the growth (and even grown there) so that the growth did not fall out the drain hole. The next step of course is to just pull the red cap off and slide the Green Grabber screen out with one hand.


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(the red cap is a trademark of Santa Monica Filtration, and the tray is patent pending)

Growth Rings to the rescue...

The LED lamps in Santa Monica scrubbers (such as the GEM5 lights on the RAIN, and the sealed LEDs in the DROP) are strong enough to create "growth rings" on the algae attachment surface screens and rocks. Growth rings have darker algae growth on the outside of the ring, lighter growth on the ring itself, and no growth (just white surface) inside of the ring. This gives the advantage of self-adjusting ring size growth based on nutrients in the water, because the inside of the ring can handle higher nutrients (because of the stronger light) when the outside of the ring grows darker slime. And indeed, a common time to get growth rings is in high nutrient water, and, when the scrubber is fairly new. They may eventually fill in if conditions need it. Otherwise they just adjust in size.

The white surfaces inside the ring (especially on a DROP) also provide for more reflection of light back to the dark growth areas. And for waterfalls like the RAIN, growth rings further help to eliminate dying of algae that often occurs on waterfall scrubbers when growth gets too thick in the middle and blocks light and flow from reaching the screen. The growth ring keeps the growth hanging on longer here, without letting go, because light and flow can still get to the middle.

Growth rings require very strong lights, like the GEM5.

Attachment 7589 Attachment 7591 Attachment 7590

Nice growth sequence of customer's RAIN2, which would be similar on a larger RAIN4. The growth ring starts in the beginning, and enables water flow and light to reach the middle of the screen so that the roots there do not die. Then the ring fills in once the user's cleaning/harvesting pattern keeps the growth from getting too thick.

(the red cap is a trademark of Santa Monica Filtration).

Attachment 7614 Attachment 7615 Attachment 7616

RAIN2 holiday colors!

Attachment 7657

Here is a customer's RAIN4 with the red cap removed. Can you tell what caused the empty spots on the screen, from looking at the growth on the tray?

Answer: The growth got too thick, too fast, before the customer cleaned/harvested it. So it let go and landed on the tray. This RAIN is still fairly new so the attachment is not as strong as it will be later, so more often cleaning is needed when the screen gets thick and heavy quickly. Also, as is typical on new scrubber installations, the nutrients in the water are high and causing this darker, thicker growth.

No worry however, because the RAIN cannot overflow onto your flow, ever, because it's on your sump.

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"My 2-light version of the Rain2 has been working phenomenal I think it’s one of the best money spent on my tank, finally I keep control of my nitrates and phosphates, appreciate it and thanks for such an amazing product! In my case it helps a lot specially because I am handicap and only able to use one hand, so with the pole mount it’s a breeze for me to remove it to clean and harvesting the algae. Again excellent product" -- Simon Romero, Weston, Florida, USA

Attachment 7814 Attachment 7815

RAIN4 gets its first overdue cleaning/harvesting, complete with a great "growth ring" which keeps growth from dying in the middle of the screen.

https://youtu.be/T8WgRwzs3W4

Attachment 7869

View your RAIN2 growth as it hangs in the air...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9t7ZSSokgc

Attachment 7970

This customer's RAIN2 waterfall in saltwater shows some very dark slime growth that should have been cleaned sooner. Slime holds the most nutrients per square inch, especially dark or black slime which holds the most, but it must be cleaned sooner than hair algae because slime cannot hold on as long. And waterfalls especially, like this RAIN2 or any waterfall, don't have water surrounding the growth to hold it up the way our upflow UAS models operate (submerged). So when slime grows on waterfalls like this, it should be taken to your sink and brushed off sooner, like every 3 to 5 days, to get the most nutrients out of the water.

Attachment 7973

This photo shows the growth went too many days without cleaning, especially on the bottom tray, and the bottom layers got cut off from light and flow and turned a lighter color. This causes the growth to die and put nutrients back into the water; so the screen, tray, pipe and slot should be cleaned/brushed in your sink before this happens. Unfortunately you cannot harvest slime with your hand, but the patented RAIN lets you just lift up the tray and take it to your sink with one hand (example: https://youtu.be/zbgbCCpiJGc)

Here is a short version video of our RAIN4 waterfall scrubber in a saltwater reef sump. Why so much growth? Because of the super strong submersible waterproof GEM5 lights (5 real watts each) that do not lower their wattage when operated in the air; they keep full power above or below the water. And the 5 watts is not "equivalent" power like cheap metal frame lights (see www.LEDsafety.org) commonly use; instead it's the actual wattage of each light, which equals 10 watts of other LED lights, each. And there are 6 of these lights in each RAIN4, expandable to 8 lights.

The growth is thick enough to reach the LED dome lid and out of the wire outlet like a vine growing along a pole. In contrast, box style waterfalls like our original waterfall (www.ats2008.org) are a pain to disassemble for cleaning, but with the RAIN all you do is lift the LED dome lid up with one hand, and remove the red cap.

Note that this installation does not show a pole mount, which is included with the RAIN4 and is optional on the RAIN2.

Note also that you will not get this much hair algae growth with your waterfall algae scrubber, whether a RAIN or DIY. You will get less. That's why this was called "The Most". And waterfalls cannot hold on to dark slime growth as well as our bubble upflow UAS models; so even though dark/black slime holds the most nutrients of any growth and does the most filtering, you cannot expect dark slime to accumulate on a screen that is above the waterline.

The RAIN4 is available here: https://www.santa-monica.cc/product.asp?itemid=90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5B2bGBtA2s

Attachment 7992

Here is a customer's RAIN4 scrubber® in a sump. Note the waterline is touching the bottom of the tray; this eliminates any distance that water has to fall down a drain, and thus makes it dead silent. They tray can even go under water if needed, for room. The waterproof submersible GEM5® lights make this possible (see LEDsafety.org)

Not shown here is the easy one-handed removal of the dome lid off of the tray, or the entire dome/tray off of the pole mount. This is a patented function of the Rain models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlg0L_nmXPc

Inside of the LED dome cover of a customer's RAIN2, showing 2 of the 4 lights plugged in. One is at the top, and the other side at the bottom, so the screen won't be over-illuminated on both sides anyplace:

Attachment 7994

The tray of the RAIN2 and RAIN4 waterfall scrubbers not only catch falling growth from the screen, but also keep the growth growing on the tray. Then it can all be removed easily with one hand by just lifting up.

Attachment 8006

The very thin, rough, and white Green Grabber® screen material (shown here on a RAIN4) holds on to growth better than any other waterfall material. Thin is needed so the light from one side can reach the other side, to help keeps the algal roots alive. And the roughness, of course, helps the algae attach longer, without letting go. And the white color reflects more light back to the roots too. And as this photo shows, after a cleaning/scraping, the holes stay full so that it can re-grow quickly:

Attachment 8011

Customer's RAIN2 waterfall algae scrubber (patent 10,655,095) in saltwater shows "growth ring" which looks like a donut. Growth rings require strong lights, like our GEM5 lights, and allow thick deep growth with less detachment in the middle:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings

Attachment 8056

Example of good amount of water flow coming off the Green Grabber® screen on a RAIN2 scrubber® waterfall. Flow this strong is not essential, but you do want the water flowing off of the whole screen from end to end.

Attachment 8089

Dark growth like this means it could be cleaned sooner, and, the lights can be kept on for more hours each day.

Nice flow of water across the bottom of the screen:

https://youtu.be/zyCEAG3gxJM
https://www.facebook.com/10002530776...5484255971826/

Customer's RAIN2 (tm) scrubber with the LED dome lid taken off, and installed at the sump waterline of a saltwater tank. This installation is dead silent since the water has zero drop out of the drain, and it leaves lots of room above it. Can't tell how it's mounted, but looks like it might be on the optional pole mount, and some rocks are set on the white pole mount bottom plate.

Nice flow of water across the bottom of the screen; maybe too much flow, since you can see some spraying out of the red cap (and this is right after a cleaning, where the slot should have the easiest flow). Water cannot hurt the GEM5® lights, however.

Attachment 8110

Ring !
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings

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Green Grabber® screen removed from a RAIN2 waterfall algae scrubber in saltwater. It takes about 3 seconds to pull the red cap off and slide the screen out (once the dome lid is removed)..

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This RAIN4 screen has a giant growth ring which protects the center section from light-blocking and flow-blocking that often happens otherwise (see http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings )

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All other waterfall algae scrubber designs (which we created in 2008; see Ats2008.org) require you to disconnect and disassemble the unit to get to the growth on the bottom tray. This was a problem. The RAIN2 and RAIN4, which we created to solve this issue, allow you to lift off the LED dome lid with one hand so you can observe any growth on the tray, and then you can lift the tray off of the water pipe also with one hand (as shown) to take it to your sink. And you never have to turn off the water flow when doing this.

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One-handed removal of the RAIN2 (or the RAIN4) dome LED lid lets you get to the growth easily. In this photo, the water pipe is turned a bit so the growth is more visible. And now, with one more hand you can lift the tray and all the growth out, or remove the red cap and slide the screen out. Without turning off the water or disconnecting anything else.

Answer to question: Because in saltwater, scrubbers absorb nutrients much faster than chaeto refugiums and thus can be about 5 times smaller; and for freshwater, chaeto does not grow at all (the only other option is plants)

Attachment 8342

A rather packed RAIN2. Imagine if you had to clean this out of a scrubber box.


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RAIN2 which looks like the first week operating in high-nutrient water. One of the GEM5 lights is turned on, at the bottom on one side. Note the good even flow of water off the bottom of the screen.

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RAIN2 screen which has too much light, even though only a lower GEM5 light is turned on. Orange growth is from too much light, and not enough iron or other nutrients. The screen holes need to be brushed out, and some iron or nori can be added to the tank.

Attachment 8392

A full screen of light-green Cladophora species growth on a RAIN4 (tm) waterfall algae scrubber. Note the bottom of the tray is at the waterline, making it silent, while still allowing space below the tray to put things. There is good flow, but it is not very visible because it's inside the growth.

Attachment 8395

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSCKEsLB33A

RAIN2 waterfall algae scrubber from a saltwater sump, showing black slime growth that has just been brushed clean. Dark and black slime like this should be brushed completely off, including out of the screen holes, because the slime cannot hold on well to a waterfall screen (it can however hold on well to Green Grabber rocky textures in upflow models).

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...he-best-filter
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...-it-looks-like



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RAIN2 being scraped with a credit card, after being lifted up out of the tray:

Attachment 8416

RAIN4 in the first growth cycle

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https://youtu.be/DDKAQ66tG2M

This RAIN2 really needs to be cleaned/harvested sooner. The slime is great at filtering, but you don't want it letting go down the drain:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...he-best-filter

Attachment 8431

A RAIN2 with the cover off, and about halfway down to the waterline

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A nice growth ring on this RAIN2 screen:
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings

Attachment 8447

RAIN2 one-handed access to screen and bottom tray video

Attachment 8450

https://youtu.be/LbryHi1eUuE

The RAIN (tm) patented tray (10,655,095) and patent pending dome (16848779) allow for easy viewing and cleaning of the bottom tray without turning off water or lights.

Attachment 8452

How long did it take to achieve this amount of growth?

Once the screen has filled in, and if there are a lot of nutrients going into the tank, this can be 7 to 10 days

Don't buy fish food. Don't replace filters. Instead, use your filter to feed your fish. MaramotReef on IG shows how it's done:

o The living, green growth can be put right into a fish feeder.

o The black tray is level with the sump waterline; this eliminates all sound when the dome lid in put back on. The tray can be lowered even further so the screen is below the waterline, so that the water does not fall off the screen and instead flows smoothly downwards.

o The screen can be slid forward (after removing the red cap) and out of the sump with the water still flowing, and without disassembling anything.

o Growth can be seen easily, and hand-removed easily, without disassembling anything.

o The black tray can be easily lifted up off the pole mount and taken to a sink for brushing.

o If power goes out for a few days, the black tray can be lifted up and set down in the water, to keep the algae alive for over a week.

Happy Scrubbing :)

https://youtu.be/1z5YobASY8g

https://www.facebook.com/SantaMonica...86364505115625

Attachment 8520

Here is an almost perfect growth ring, allowing full flow to the thicker inner parts of the screen:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings

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This RAIN2 has not quite filled in the screen yet but is growing a lot on the tray below. This is because when the screen is not cleaned soon enough, some growth can fall down to the tray, which has a rough texture to hold on to it. But the preferred way is to clean/harvest before it let's go.

Bubble upflow models (like our SURF, etc) do not let go of the growth because the growth is always under water.

Attachment 8570

Here is one side of a RAIN2 screen, easily pulled up and out of the tray when you want to take it all to your sink for cleaning/brushing. This way you can brush out the pipe slot too.

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Here is the other side of the same screen on the previous post; guess which side had more light.

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This RAIN4 is ready for a cleaning/harvesting, and shows how low it can go in the sump water, in this case the tray is all under water. This can be done to save vertical space, or to make it dead silent, since the water draining from the tray does not fall at all and thus does not need a drain pipe attached to it.

Attachment 8599

You might think this is a big screen from a RAIN4 (which is now available again) but it's just a RAIN2. Also it's an older photo with the previous wide-style hanging tabs, whereas the current ones are a narrow-style unbreakable tab.

Attachment 8601

Another RAIN4 filling in, with the tray under water (see the right side) which allows dead silent operation safely because the GEM5 lights are submersible. This particular RAIN4 needs the screen and tray brushed clean.

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This RAIN2 needs to be cleaned/harvested like yesterday. Thank goodness for the easy-to-remove and easy-to-clean tray.

Attachment 8628

This RAIN4 (tm) Green Grabber® screen is almost filled in. Note the coralline on the bottom tray, which is not a problem to clean because of how much open space you have when the LED dome lid is removed. And it might look like the tray is setting on a table, but it's actually still in the sump, sitting at water level which makes zero sound.

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This RAIN4 is getting started, and looks like it has 1 light running in the middle. The dark slime (from high nutrients in the water) is holding on to the Green Grabber screen as best it can, but still needs cleaning/harvesting every 3 or 4 days until lighter green hair growth can get rooted in the screen. Waterfalls are no match with bubble upflows when dealing with slippery dark slime, but the porous 3D printed screen will hold more of the growth than the old style knitting canvas screens will. This slime situation is a great application for our new Slime and Heavy Growth screens.

Attachment 8662

This is an established RAIN4 standard stock flat screen, showing the newer hang-tabs at the top, ready to drop into the display to feed the fish.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dfBenLZUjzs
https://www.facebook.com/reel/932290051607681

This RAIN4 has very dark slime from high nutrients in saltwater, and could really use a Slime and Heavy Growth Screen. At least, it should be brushed clean every 3 days, and lights run 24 hours.

Attachment 8693

This is a pretty good example of the textured RAIN2 tray holding growth that has dropped off the screen. For best filtering, the screen should be cleaned sooner, but if not the tray will help.

Attachment 8703

This RAIN2 (tm) scrubber has the patented LED dome lid removed and shows some overgrown growth in saltwater. Needs to be cleaned/harvested sooner (tray too), because you can see the dead roots (hay colored growth) on the left side of the screen. The growth ring in the middle (from the strong GEM5 lights) however did it's job of keeping this area open for light and flow to continue; if this area had growth it would be even more blocked from flow and light and would have more dead roots and would let go:

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...3-Growth-Rings

Note that dead roots do not occur in bubble upflow models because the growth is always under water.

Also note how easy the patented tray is to clean, compared to box style scrubbers that you have to try to reach down into.

Attachment 8712