Ruddybop's UAS test

[kerry]

My waterfall scrubber that was in my 150G when it was FW had two almost full size screens and it grew algae so fast I cleaned it about every 4-5 ish days. Even with that I went from two water changes a week to about one or two a month.

[ruddybop]

My waterfall scrubber that was in my 150G when it was FW had two almost full size screens and it grew algae so fast I cleaned it about every 4-5 ish days. Even with that I went from two water changes a week to about one or two a month.

That's what I'm hoping for... Doing a water change as we speak. Mine are usually about 80 like yours were so this is why I built this large scrubber to test it out... I can always make the screen smaller if I have to and it will still work in the box that I made....This is still a test in progress....

[kerry]

I fed my 150G about 5-8 cubes a day. Here is the link (page 3) with pics toward the bottom: http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...scrubber/page3 . Even with two the two screen conversion (224sq"'s) I could not get the nitrates to zero as I could in my SW tanks. It helped for sure but was not a huge reduction in W/C's. I had 3 44watt CFL's which was a bit under powered. I hope the UAS in FW does not make long stringy algae.
I dont think FW algae is as effective as SW algae. There has been much more testing on SW then FW units so maybe with the increase in FW units I see now days maybe we can get some good facts nailed down on FW UAS units.

[RkyRickstr]

Yea but kerry in fw u dont have to get no3 to zero anyway. With religious waterchanges the lowest i got them in my breeding tanks was 15. And the fry grew like mad and i fed like a mad man, temp always at 84 to get their metabolism up.

If i go back to cichlids one day (have an empty 125.. lol). Ill be happy if the scrubber keeps nitrates at 20 with no waterchanges.

[kerry]

I was hoping for about 20ish but it would always creep back up to 80 in 2-4 weeks depending on feeding. I still need to go back to the FW and do another solid/strong scrubber and not one that was a little short of spec's. I really like the FW but the SW is so much easier now because of the scrubber making W/C virtually stop besides the couple I do a year because is makes me feel better LOL. From the past results I got I feel as if the FW might need double the light and screen or maybe only half the cube rating as SW. These tests were based on double the screen and almost double the light. My light should have been 3 @ 56Watts but I had 3 @ 44Watts so it was lacking a bit.
With this new LED stuff and the UAS I hope to revisit this soon and start getting some results and data.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Could high N in FW have anything to do with lack of P? Never tried FW scrubbing before so very interested. I have a customer with a 225g RR w/sump Cichlid tank w/100 fish and he does 100g/wk changes and the fish are getting huge and reproducing so I have to constantly remind him to keep on those PWCs like mad. I'm sure he could benefit from a scrubber but it would be a tricky install with his setup.

[kerry]

I have wondered about the N and P ratio as well but it was after I converted my 150G to SW. I was doing two 50%+ w/c per week.

[ruddybop]

Day 27 ... 6 days after cleaning... I am getting a very even growth on the screen. It's not long and stringy like some of the other scrubbers I see. This is on my fresh water 220G.

The light blocker I made is working great. No algae on the bubbler and bottom of screen.

I did not clean it, but I did wipe the algae off the inside glass...... Think I should clean it and start fresh again or let it cook some more......

It is very green with the light on it. Looks darker out of the tank

Front side



Back side

[kerry]

I am surprised you dont have better growth with the FW. I could barely keep up with the cleaning on my 150G with dual screens. Maybe you need more light???

[SantaMonica]

It's too big for the amount of feeding, so the growth stays thin.