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Thread: Not much growth

  1. #1

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    Not much growth

    Hi have been running a scrubber on and off for a year now. great stuff. i recently neglected my tank and scrubber, after some family issues, but am up back going again. my display was over run with GHA. put the scrubber back online and pulled all of that out with some amazing growth on the screen. It was a dark green though?? Since the GHA has all gone I have had a little cyano pop up, an the growth has thinned down somewhat. an is still quite dark?? Also my nitrates are at 15 unsure of phosphates as i need to get a new test kit. I run a 8" by 9" screen, lit both sides by 45w cfl each side, no reflectors. its ran off a maxi jet 3000lph never tested what it actually pumps out. (i remember when i worked it all out last year it was plenty of flow tho) i also feed 4-5 cubes and a 3"strip of nori. oh i also have my skimmer still online, which again doesnt seem to be pulling masses out..am i going wrong somewhere??
    Regards
    steve

  2. #2
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    You are only getting 1/4 of the wattage to the screens.

  3. #3

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    How so? Theres 90 watts of light to a 81 sq in of canvas?

  4. #4
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    No reflectors.

  5. #5

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    Ok when an bought some mirror'd acrylic. going to make a 3 sided mirror'd box to put over the bulbs. should that sort the problem out? Also what timings should i have the light on for? Currently have it on 12/12..
    Thanks

  6. #6
    kerry's Avatar
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    I have good luck running 18/6 on mine. If you have a ton of wattage you might have better luck with less of an on period if you burn at 18/6.
    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.

  7. #7
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    Any reflector is better than none.

    Start with 18 hours.

  8. #8

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    Ok thanks for the help

  9. #9

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    Well i have put my box made reflectors on the scrubber...some serious growth over night and already signs of the good green stuff. gonna give it a few more days an give it a clean...great stuff :-D

  10. #10
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    !!!

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