Great photos. Well done.
Type: Posts; User: Broder
Great photos. Well done.
I've now been using a protein skimmer for several months, in conjunction with the algae scrubber that I've been using all along. The nutrient levels are starting to drop again, although they're still...
What is the wattage of the lamps?
That's right. I'm not unhappy with what a scrubber can do. But after 2 years of useing if as the primary means of nutrient export, I've realised that in my case it does have it's limitations:
1)...
I hear what you're saying Mike, but I've come to a point where nitrate and phosphate are steadily climbing as the scrubber simply can't cope. There is no other solution than to mechanically remove...
The scrubber was able to cope initially, but as the bio-load has increased due to fish growing and being added to the tank, it can no longer keep up.
Flow is still the same over the screens,...
It is a filtration aid. I am in the process of adding a big protein skimmer as the scrubber is not able to cope with a high bio-load. Nitrate and phosphate levels have been progressively climbing...
It turns out that the problem was elsewhere. I was rinsing the screens in salt water after scraping which meant that I wasn't spraying the screens with a strong jet. This was allowing detritus to...
Anyone have a picture?
I'm having some algae issues at the moment. What's happened is that cyano is growing over the algae on the screens in my scrubber, thereby blocking out light and not allowing it to grow. I suspect...
Thanks.... :P
Just been logged out 8 times in a row. Previously tried to post 2 long posts which were deleted. Bye-bye :?
Very nice. What type of fish load do you have in this tank? Are you getting enough flow behind and under your rocks? If detritus is allowed to settle in the cracks and crevices, you will eventually...
Hey Nick. Nice progress and good to see a picture history of the ATS at work. Well done! One thing I feel you should take care of though, is to remove the large tangs from such a small tank. They are...
It's awhile that it's been going now, but I think that it took about a month to have good solid growth on it. It probably took about 6 months for real improvements to be visible in the display. I'm...
You could optimise the design by making a two screen scrubber with the lights between the screens. You would just have to split the pipe and peg the screens against the side of the container....
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc82/Brodersfish/P1060446.jpg
The staghorn has recovered very nicely. There is already new growth on many of the tips.
...
The weights are now in. These weights are of algae harvested and dried on a weekly basis.
Weekly harvest in grams during 18hr on/ 6hr off light cycle.
week 1.) 29.4g
2.) 30.0g
...
So I've become the proud owner of a Seachem iodide (the biologically available form of iodine) testkit. I tested the tank after all of the water changes and iodide dosing and found the level to be...
As with any system there are problems that may need to be ironed out. Why would this be the end? Hopefully many scrubber users will report on problems that they are having, if any, so that we can see...
I just went to the last page of Santa Monica's thread and skimmed (excuse the term), through the last updates. It seems that other SPS growers are starting to realise the same thing.
The slow...
Your post makes sense, but I don't see how differs very much from what I've been saying. The thing for us to do is to report when we find problems arising. You make some valuable remarks when you say...
I've only been weighing dry for an experiment that I'm conducting. I've been keeping feeding constant but have not been weighing input.
If you tell where you're going with this I'll go home and...
I feed heavily, although not more than is cosumed by the fish and corals, flake food, nori, peas, bloodworm, brine shrimp and marine mix.
about 66% of the fish mass is herbivorous.
I would...
As you know the iodine kits have a short life-span, so just check that. That's the gist of what I'm saying..... That we must monitor as many parameters as we can. Be pro-active.
Anything is...
Thanks, but after water changes and iodine dosing, the necrosis seems to have slowed down considerably. Lets just say, I'm not asking "who's next" but rather looking at being able to save this coral....
The water parameters are near to that of NSW wrt kh, ca, sal, etc. I harvest a dry mass of 29g a week, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is that the system is exporting all of the nutirents...
I've been running a skimmerless mixed reef aquarium for a year now. Prior to that it's been running for 2 years with a skimmer. I religiously do 15% water changes with NSW on a weekly basis. In the...
45W, true wattage. It's another type of algae, not GHA. My build is at the bottom of this page: http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/showthr ... post283207
I use 45w energy saver 4000k lamps. 2700k will be better. That screen was overgrown though. It had been growing for 3 weeks already. My flow is moderate. Just enough to keep the screen wet. IMO the...
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc82/Brodersfish/Scrubber%20Photos/P1010573.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc82/Brodersfish/Scrubber%20Photos/P1010593.jpg
If your system is 6 years old, then you are well experienced already. Excuse my lecture on stability in my last post please. I went skimmerless a year ago, and have only had benefits. I did however...
That's a fine looking scrubber. I agree that the 8000k is wasted. The wattage is too low and there isn't enough PAR.
A fan will be required to remove heat and humidity if you put a lid on the...
How long has your current system been up and running? How much live rock is there? Do you have substrate? Do you have a DSB? If your system is heavily stocked, you should be carefull about stopping...
This is why you need to change your lights every 3-6 months. If it wasn't for the economic recession, I'd do it every 3 months. the outside lamps are about 10-12 months old. All are 4000k 32w es....
We do things different here in South Africa :lol:
Surge versus even flow.... Does it really matter? Yes sure, surge will give you the intertidal type of turf algae that seems to be the holy grail of scrubbing. I've personally never even seen the...
My scrubber has more or less gotten rid of the last of the nuicance algae that was left. As you can see, the tank is moderately well stocked, and I feed liberally....
Here is a link to a very interesting finding http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 7/abstract
It seems that in certain brown intertidal algae, the nitrate reductase activity was not limited...
Thanks kcress. I have to do that anyway as I have a 2 screen scrubber. I think though that any new algae would be instantly "aligned" to the new light provided. I would think that the only thing that...
Do you have a link where I could read up on this, so that I can optimalise the experiment that I'm performing? I'd like to use the intervals as you describe, weighing the dried harvest over an 8 week...
Thanks again for all of your effort Santa Monica. Without your perseverance, I would never have ventured down this road. Your explanations clear up any questions I had.
I've been running a skimmerless reef with a scrubber successfully for 10 months now. I have experimented as I went along, and would like to question some of the accepted methods used. I realise that...
Sounds great. Personally I'd start a DSB now, as it will take time (6 months) to kick in and provide that extra buffer against nutrient fluctuations. I had a mishap whereby I forgot to restart my...
:shock: :shock: Wow.... Awesome tank. Love the clean look with lots of swimming room. Great photos as well. Have you achieved this with the use of a skimmer? Is there a DSB, not that it would be...
Thanks Rob. I can't seem to upload my pics from Photobucket here. Maybe Santa Monica can help. Once your system has stabalised with the scrubber, any increase in bioload(which should be gradual) will...
Hey, thanks for the compliments guys and thanks for posting the pics Santa Monica. It's a 500 litre plus 75 litre sump tank. The slimmerless route has been the most rewarding journey in keeping...
Does anyone have a link to a SPS dominated tank that does not use a skimmer?
I've been useing my scrubber for several months with good results and have turned the skimmer off 2 weeks ago. There have been no noticable changes since then. I've been told that there will be an...