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That second quake was probably pretty close to the quake that destroyed my tanks but maybe a little shorter duration. It was a 7 magnitude which is about what Southern California is projected to...

Thanks,

I like blue too but it is too sterile without lots of other decorations. The blue rock highlights fish poo. My wife chose it so I won't be changing. I wish I could grow some plants in...

This time it shows less growth because I burned it half way through with a 40 watt bulb and then forgot to increase the timer settings. The water is mostly clear still.

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Ammonia = 0 =...

One of these days I will start a thread on the subject on RC. I have started writing a post twice now but never felt I had it right. For now I will tell you don't worry about the seams. My tanks...

I suspect mine starts letting go at about 11 days with the 23 watt bulb but it is hard to tell for sure. It clearly thickened until day 10. Ultimately I expect to clean weekly unless my attempts at...

On Sunday I found out the 40 watt bulb is too much. It is clearly burning. I switched out the bulb for the old one. These bulbs are not just brighter but larger diameter. This picture is 1 week...

Santa, I went to Lowes yesterday (Thursday) and found that they didn't have standard 30/32 watt bulbs either. I got a Sylvania 2700k 40 watt curly cfl. I set it to run from 10 am to 9pm. It...

The screens look pretty good to me. This is 2 weeks growth. The panels grew fast for a couple of days when I turned out the tank lights but have not noticeably grown since then. Algae is not super...

Most hardware stores here also carry 24x24 pieces. Some hardware stores that sell doors and windows will also sell diffuser film made by 3M that you could apply. There are at least 15 different...

Well, I looked in the scrubber this morning and the algae blocked the holes enough to build up an inch of head in the box. The algae strands are 3-4 inches long and some wrap around the notches and...

Would a diffuser material like the film on bathroom windows or for overhead flourescent fixtures help w/ jnad's burn problem? Even a piece of saran wrap might help if it is stuck to the splash...

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I decided to turn out the lights except when feeding. After 3 days the water is almost clear and the scrubber grew much faster. No water changes needed. Thanks for the advice Santa Monica. ...

Now at 3.5 weeks:
Ammonia NH3 = 0 ppm
Nitrite NO2 = .5 ppm
Nitrate NO3 = 20 ppm

Showing continued improvement in everything except the green water is still dense.

I have around 200 gph but should have 350 gph on the 20" width. My original design with the nut jar was smaller and I didn't upgrade the pump. I have not measured the actual flow. I read through...

I just looked at the fish again and the redness is gone. It is all gold fish color now. I believe at least one of the bumps is smaller too.

I have 2 tanks being changed with the same water that is 10 fish and only one of them ever shows any distress with new water.

There is nothing unusual about the water being changed compared to...

This is the third week and second cleaning.

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It grew more algae in 1 week than the previous 2. What you can't see well is that most of the screen is actually covered with a stringy...

I had a big algae bloom in the water about 3 hours after changing the bulb so I know it grows algae. Unfortunately the water turned denser green than in my pictures even though I had changed the...

I just don't believe reflectors help as much as you think. I believe you can assume 2x brightness from a really good reflector on flourescents but I doubt very many of the ones you see on DIY...

Scrubber is now upgraded with a 23w 1655 lumen 2700 K bulb. The hardware store was out of some bulbs and I didn't want to pick up one with too big a diameter so I thought this would be the best...

That is probably why the fish looked worse after doing enough water changes to clear the water.

Floyd,

I will not be building another scrubber or replacing the tank until I am convinced that this one is inadequate. I definitely want to make modifications to this one to give it the best...

I never said I liked keeping green water. I used to change 35% every day and the water was clearer but the fish actually looked worse than they do now. We probably should have bought a larger tank....

Well, My panels definitely grew. You can see them in a tub of water waiting to be cleaned while I was doing a 40% water change. I put the bottom panel into the tank for the pleco to munch on. He...

Are you using optics on the leds or relying on your DIY mirrors?

I like this scrubber a lot because it looks clean from the outside. I didn't realize just how small it is until I looked at the paper under the first picture and your screen dimensions. If you find...

That material looks like it works pretty well. Did you ever get thicker growth? I tried to find the material on line but Google failed me. I wonder if your tank just didn't have spores for the...

Rumpy,

About a week ago, I read the thread where you were considering the curved one but I wasn't sure how you were going to make it work. I was going to try and find that thread again to see if...

I think algae likes growing on rock and concrete better than on plastic but base that on minimal experience and hearsay rather than scientific proof. If true, rubbing on a little wet cement to some...

If you look at my original attempt with the nut jar, I actually tacked on a screen. Part of the reason I gave up was because the water had a greater tendency to spray off the canvas. I probably...

Floyd,

I chose to use a solid material because it can be 1 sided. If I keep the water on the lit side only, It should need less flow for the same width of screen. This should keep the efficiency...

Well I couldn't wait for the tank to clear so I disconnected the pump and removed the media to fix the splashing where the water goes back to the tank. Since I could not see clearly where the...

Rumpy Pumpy, Thanks for your suggestions. I actually have a little bamboo in my other tank. The gold fish likes to eat the roots so it would have to be in a separate sump which I was trying to...

If the green water eventually clears, I don't care about phosphate or surface algae. That Pleco will clean any stray growth in less than a day. I mostly need nitrogen processed for to keep the fish...

I have built 2 ATS units and am including both here. These use a somewhat different approach in order to reduce the size and be more appropriate for a small tank. Many thanks to SantaMonica for...