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Ok! I may need to do this over a week or 2 as I don't know much nitrate these are already pulling out and hence don't want a sudden spike.

Give the recent changes I made, when would you expect to...

I'm not sure the reasonably high level is helping to stimulate him to feed, but agreed its the corals and shrimps I'm more worried about, especially since these have only been in about 6 weeks after...

1) its chaeto and caulerpa - I've just thinned these out after taking the photo (probably by one third).
2) there are 2 reflectors, one behind each bank of 3 light bulbs.
3) The 2 lamps aren't...

Update:

The scrubber did well and brought nitrates down to 5-10ppm and there was virtually no trace of hair algae although I never got the green hair algae to grow on the screen.

Then, in...

Thanks for the advice Floyd. It sort of goes against everything I've learned about the phos remover, but at least if I do switch off I can measure the affects, unlike removing carbon which is much...

Sorry, I know this has been discussed before. Background to me seeking up to date clarification: my scrubber was working well and I was down to levels of 5-10ppm nitrate. This has risen over the...

Thanks for that. Hope you don't mind me asking a couple more questions :-)

Is the base of your reflectors cardboard, or something else?
Would I be right in thinking you're using more than the...

Garf,

What wattage cfls have you ended up with and what size screen? I'm struggling to get mine to turn green and have 2 x 45W with wing reflectors and 8" x 11" screen.

125w description appears it to be the same size as the 65w. This is the 2700k version:
...

Yes, I understand the logic and I do mean 2 x 45w of actual power, NOT equivalanet.

So I know its likely I need more power, but how much more? These things are relatively expensive so I don't...

I have wing reflectors behind each cfl, and one at the side (not pictured).

I'm having difficulty working out feed vs siing guidelines.

Generally I feed a large pich of flake in the morning...

3 weeks in and cleaning the screen about every 3-4 days as I keep getting red stuff. There is a little bit of green hair, but I mean a little. Should I keep on with this for a few more weeks or...

Ok, apologies in advance if this has been posted and trialled already but at 37 pages thats a lot of reading!!!:

I couldn't find a wooden airstone of any length in the UK, only the blue things...

Ok, below pictures shows growth at 14 days and just before first clean. It was starting to grow small strands of hair algae early on but in the past couple of days it started to go dark.

21792180...

Thanks SM.

Is there a link to the latest info on cleaning. eg how much to clean in one go? and best way to do it?

Is there any benefit to increasing the flow to above 60lph/cm? If so is...

So is there a depth at which the hair algae gets to when the roots start to die off? I can still see the screen on mine as the algae isn't that thick so is there an argument to leave it until such...

Apologies if this answer lies somewhere else but I've searched and can't find....

Why is it recommended to clean the screen every 7-14 days? I have a new scrubber which is 9 days old and although...

Just wanted to add my way of cutting the slot as I've not seen it mentioned:

Basically I take a standard piece of 1"/25mm aquarium safe plumbing tube a 1"/25mm end cap and 1"/25mm 90 degree bend...

Here we go, pictures of the new scrubber. The lamps are 3" from the screen:- they won't go back any further due to size of sump/reflector but hopefully they will be ok.

You should see plastic...

Thanks for that. Just for info, in the UK we generally called it clingfilm!

How does the algae grow then if the saranwrap is between the algae screen and the water...or are we saying its as small...

Ok, its been a few weeks since I've posted as I've been actively reading and amending my scrubber over this time. I'm now on scrubber build 3 as of this weekend. Prior to this I was on version 2...

Thanks SM.

I'll go with 4" wide and 12" length.

I'll sort something out with the lights asap. Given the narrow light area, what is the minimum distance I can position the lights away from the...

No worries mate :-)

I have 12" clearance in my sump from pipe to water so will go with the smaller width and save the hassle of having to buy a new pump for the extra flow I'll need. Just need...

From the new sizing guidelines, if I'm reading correctly, 9" x 12" is too big. Shouldn't it be width 3" x 12" length lit on both sides to maximise available flow and light? I don't want to have a...

Thanks for your reply :-)

The equivalent of feeding 3 cubes a day is about right (absolute max is 4), and the fish aren't on the skinny side! So if we start with the screen size, are we defintely...

Ok, so where I'm getting stuck is:

Lets assume my dailing feeding is 3 cubes a day. So does this mean:
I need 36W which would be width 8cm (3") x length 30cm (12") = 36sq" or 36"?
Given a screen...

Hi everyone,

Great site, been reading about the scrubbers for over a week now and am very interested in going down this route to solve my nitrate/hair algae on rock issue using natural means.
...