Modifying SM100 to fit current feeding guideline

[bulldog]

Hi everyone,

I made a 1.5ft SM100-esque couple of months back. However I still have some algae growing in my DT and not alot of algae in the scrubber.
Is it possible for me to modify that into one that fits into the current guidelines? After reading through, my guess is to only reduce the screen size and also photoperiod? Really hate to ditch my current build since its running only for a few months...unless necessary.

Some details of my current build

Lighting: 2 x 16w T5HO running at 16hrs daily
Screen size: 18" x 5"
Feeding: 1 cube daily
Cleaning: Once a week
Algae harvest: See pic (7 days growth)



Discuss!

[SantaMonica]

You have 90 square inches and only 32 total watts, and for only 16 hours. Should be at least 90 total watts, for 18 hours.

The screen is green at least, and you have room on the bottom for 3D growth. You could double the wattage if you want. If not, try 20 hours with what you have. Also do 14 days.

The algae in your tank could be P coming from the rocks, which is my guess, because your green screen means low P in the water.

[bulldog]

Doubling the wattage is hard as the scrubber is bought and designed for this specific light fixture. 1 thing I'm confused about, should I not reduce in the screen size? since 90sq inches would theoretically require 7 cubes of feeding a day? I'm only feeding 1cube a day. please enlighten!

[SantaMonica]

Yes if you can.

[bulldog]

Would this idea work? Thinking of increasing my feeding to 2cubes a day. or either that I can light only 1 side if I decide to feed lesser.

[SantaMonica]

That will work if you can also reduce the length of your bulbs to match the screen size.

[bulldog]

Thanks for making growing algae fun! I look forward to seeing algae grow every week. Cant say how much this simplifies this hobby, and instead of all the maintenance, I can spend more time enjoying looking at my tank.

[bulldog]

Day 11


Any problems with the current setup? It actually look more brownish than what you see in the picture.
Am probably gonna go with a new LED build but that might take sometime before it completes

other than that algae seems to be growing slowly on the substrate in the DT and glass.

[SantaMonica]

Well, dark growth always means you need brighter light. Or you could just wait and see if the nutrients come down, which would give the same effect ad brighter light.