Thanks, just had a first great crop of algae with the dual screen. I am going to get a nitrate reading on the 150G Sunday afternoon when I do water changes on the 75G and 125G.
Thanks, just had a first great crop of algae with the dual screen. I am going to get a nitrate reading on the 150G Sunday afternoon when I do water changes on the 75G and 125G.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
OK, the FW scrubber is not producing the results I expected. The screens (twp) are 9.75"x5.75" so I have 56sq" on each screen for a total of 112. Initially I thought I had 224 because I understood each side to count into the total, later I put together (thanks to Floyd) that you do not double this. Anyway its a 150G with 112" of screen. I have three lights as the pic show in earlier posts at 23 watts each, yes underpowered but I get tons of green. The problem is The nitrates are still over 40-80 PPM in no time at all. I use to do weekly to bi-weekly water changes now I am about every two week, so its helping but NO where near as good as the SW is. I feed about 6-8 cubes worth a day with nothing else being fed that food. It has 6 Jack Dempsey's and a pleco.
I do have two other filters with bio-material, could this be creating huge nitrates in the nitrogen cycle. I thought about taking the material out but was afraid to upset the bacteria level. I am afraid it might cause a cycle if I do. I thought maybe just taking the bio-material out of one and then the other a week or two later. Any ideas out there??????? I NEED HELP!!!!!! I am not even sure if I should remove the bio-material.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
8 cubes is a good load for a new screen. With the new guideline, 8 X 12 = 96 watts, but that assumes all the watts are getting to the screen. I estimate you are losing half of your 69 watts because of the reflectors.
Your bio media is indeed making nitrates, but if you have no rock or sand, you will need it for a while.
I'd say, increase the wattage to 33w bulbs, and work on making/buying good reflectors. Also you can experiment with how many days before cleaning.
Thanks for the info SM, I will do that. I want to get the reflective glass like plastic for the reflectors. I actually have gotten better results with the DIY beer can deal then I did with the hand polished Lowes unit??? Also note that the beer cans only cost me a buzz LOL, JK'ing. The screens are not to new they have been up for about a month. I get real good green algae growth, its very long!! Well, let me get on with this new task and I will post results in a couple weeks or so. Thanks again Sir.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
Well I just added 3 new CFL's @ 40Watts each. I will keep y'all posted. Thanks again SM!!
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
are this tank still running with scrubber?
I have switched the 150G to SW and only have scrubbers on my salt tanks. I need to get one built for my FW 125G.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
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