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Here is a customer's HOG3 in high-nutrient saltwater, and positioned slightly above the waterline. The high nutrients cause the very dark green slime growth, which is loaded with nutrients from the water (darker = more nutrients), and the air bubbles and salt spray are kept inside the case so that only air goes out the top hole. This dark growth will need brushing out with a toothbrush in a sink; once enough nutrients are removed from the water (which takes a few weeks), lighter colored hair algae usually grows, which can be pulled out by hand.
Attachment 7506
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This customer's HOG3 or 3x or 3xx in saltwater, on the display glass, shows it's growth above and below the waterline. Nutrients are lower in the water here, allowing for lighter colored growth to occur:
Before harvest:
Attachment 7525
After harvest:
Attachment 7526
Location on display:
Attachment 7527
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Customer's high-nutrient saltwater causing thick dark slime on this HOG3 or 3x or 3xx scrubber®. Will need cleaning with a toothbrush in a sink, often, until nutrients in the water come down enough for green hair algae to grow. Or add another scrubber to bring down nutrients faster.
Remember though, that dark slime algae has the most nutrients in it from the water (the high concentration of nutrients in the algae makes it dark or black). So as long as you harvest/clean it OFTEN, it pulls out a LOT of nutrients from the water. But it must be often, like every 3 or 4 days, because slime does not hold on well and will let go and float away. And you can't pull it out with your hands, so you must take the scrubber to the sink and toothbrush it until you see the white Green Grabber® rocks again.
Note the left side is bare; it was above the waterline, acting as a bubble and salt spray remover.
Attachment 7537
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Customer's sump shows a typical placement of one of our HOG scrubbers® slightly above the waterline. In this position, bubbles (and saltspray if saltwater) are removed, and only air comes out of the top.
This position also helps in higher nutrient water if the scrubber has been growing dark or black, because the water circulates around inside more, thus removing more nutrients from the water before the water exits; this less-nutrient water inside the scrubber allows for a light-colored growth to occur.
Attachment 7556
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This customer's HOG3 or 3x or 3xx in saltwater shows a growth progression after a cleaning, with the growth starting on the strings first and then filling in the Green Grabber® rocky textures. Sometimes the rock textures fill in before the strings, but here it's strings first. Also, a side benefit of the upflowing bubbles rubbing the Green Grabber strings, is that the strings move around and "brush" the glass, keeping the glass more free of growth. Growth on the glass is still filtering, and you still harvest it by scraping the HOG tray up the glass as you pull it up. Here is more info on HOG tricks: http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?3216
Attachment 7562 Attachment 7563 Attachment 7564 Attachment 7565
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Customer's DROP1.4 scrubber in saltwater. Note the LEDs are strong enough to penetrate through the growth, so they never get grown over. Also note the strings help fill in the middle section with growth. And lastly note that there is more than enough water circulation inside; the small holes on the bottom of the scrubber is all that is needed or wanted (any bigger, and snails would get inside).
When this fills in more, you would harvest (clean) by reaching in and pulling out the growth. For freshwater cleaning on DROP's without strings (like the 1.2 or 1.2x) the growth is too slimy to grab so you take to your sink for a brushing (or open it and let the fish and snails eat!)...
Attachment 7593
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This customer's SURF2 or 2x or 2xx shows a mix of cyano, white slime, and some green slime. Might be some green hair in there also. All of this absorbs nutrients out of the water. Especially the slime, which absorbs the most but it must be cleaned/harvested before it lets go and flows out of the drain holes
This should be brushed out in a sink, with running water, so that the white Green Grabber textures and strings are visible again. About every 7 days is good in this person's case. Black slime would be more often; green hair could be less. But the idea is to time it so you harvest the most.
Attachment 7595
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This customer's SURF8 is growing nice, and sits in a large sump outside his house. The picture of the red light is one of the two lights on the SURF8. Note the salt on top of the lights; the lights are completely hermetically sealed and can be pushed under water to wash the salt off; don't try that with unsafe metal-frame lights... see LEDsafety.org
Attachment 7610 Attachment 7611 Attachment 7612 Attachment 7613
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Customer's HOG3 or 3x or 3xx in a back compartment, at night. Gives a pleasant red glow.
Attachment 7628
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Customer's SURF2 or 2x or 2xx in saltwater. This is a mix of some green hair, and some slime. It's not the most growth you can get, and it's not filling up too much here, but it's still filtering a medium amount. Cleaning of the white Green Grabber rock textures probably needs to be by a toothbrush, in a sink, because it's not quite thick enough to grab and pull out. And when in the sink, cleaning of the white Green Grabber strings should be by your fingers, because you don't want the brush to get stuck in them.
Attachment 7633
Actually, it looks like he was indeed able to just pull it out:
Attachment 7634
You can tell it's the same scrubber because of the white corner in bottom-right of the first photo, which is the same white corner in the top-left of the second photo. So, if you can reach in an pull it out, do so, but a good cleaning in your sink once every two months is still good to show the white surfaces again (reflects more light) and to kill pods too.
Also of course there are no unsafe metal lights, which you can read about at LEDsafety.org
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