Co2 turbo

[Ace25]

You're welcome again. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rtdr4

http://bit.ly/Z9Ld7J

[Ace25]

A couple good scenes in that documentary above. Garf, what are your thoughts on the 'freshwater on algal cells demo' they showed. I wonder if/how that translates into how we clean our screens.

For those that haven't watched it.. putting freshwater on saltwater algae cells makes them explode and spill out all their insides.

[Garf]

A couple good scenes in that documentary above. Garf, what are your thoughts on the 'freshwater on algal cells demo' they showed. I wonder if/how that translates into how we clean our screens.

For those that haven't watched it.. putting freshwater on saltwater algae cells makes them explode and spill out all their insides.

I remember someone else on here (morganatlanta maybe) used saltwater to rinse his screen and said it grew back quicker. I know the theory to using freshwater is to remove pods but I've never noticed any on mine. Perhaps the little specs of sand that are often said to be baby pods, are nothing of the sort. It's commonly known that some algaes produce anti feeding compounds, to limit herbivory, so perhaps my algae is doing just that. I'm willing to give saltwater rinsing a go, after my current round of fiddling has finished. I would point out that all the literature points to the fact that marine algae are extremely tolerant of salinity change (perhaps a result of being rained on when exposed by the sea).

Its amazing how these documentaries can be so pertinent to out glass boxes. Cheers Ace.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Worth a try. I will do this on one of my screens also...

[Garf]

Had a really good look at the algae this cleaning, no pods evident so saltwater rinsed.

[shorty]

Has anyone done this and experienced issues with pipe blockage that was found with direct CO2 injection? Or any other considerations or issues that I haven't thought about.

Never had any blockages running with just air. My next test involves putting a loose matrix (very coarse) sponge material under the screen. With any luck, this will then grow bacterial populations which can use the algae exudate and aid in nutrient removal. It should also act as a "bubble stop" for those that don't like small air bubbles in the sump. I plan just squeezing it out in the sump to start with to see if it produces food particles rather than dissolved organics.

I'm sorry - I meant running Ca reactor effluent into a scrubber.

[Garf]

Ok, it seems that the algae going white on the screen is nothing to do with Co2 additions. I have been feeding the screen pump with air from outside the sump area. This may well be wasting Co2 that is respired by the tank inhabitants at night. As I see it, the Co2 will travels downwards to the sump and lie on the sump surface until it gets disturbed by opening the doors on the cabinet etc, or just overflows out the sump into the house. I'm gonna utilise this extra Co2 by shortening my pump air feed to below the sump lip, so it sucks in the air from the sump surface. It's worth seeing what happens as it don't cost anything having the skimmer air inlet at the surface may serve a similar function.