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Thread: Freshwater Scubber

  1. #21

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    Amazing how just a couple additional hours make all the difference in the world. Thanks to all of you for holding my hand through the cure up phase. Next question is now that I have such a good green color when should I clean it? I know everything I've read is every 7 days but while the algae is green its definitely not thick. Here is a video of what it looks like 2 days after I bumped the light period up.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8DVNLKsNco

  2. #22
    kerry's Avatar
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    Once my FW scrubber got going it was every 5-ish but yours might be different. Look like every 7 by this pic might be right. Time will tell.
    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.

  3. #23
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    That's good growth for 2 days - was that 2 days after cleaning?

    Also I tried something else instead of the tape thing, I used a black sharpie marker and just made a 1/2" diameter dot on the smooth side of the reflector right over the blue. Works well and you can remove it if you need to with rubbing alcohol. However, it doesn't look like it's much of a problem for you now that the screen is filled in.

    You could do this on the bottom edge of the reflector where the gap is in between the false bottom stand-offs to prevent any spill light from getting to the drain, however I haven't had any problems with that either. On the next batch, I will be blacking out these areas ahead of time.

  4. #24

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    No, sorry for the confusion I did NOT clean the screen at 7 days. This video is of 9 days growth. I have not cleaned it as I was trying to let it fill all the way in. Also, did an N check today and I'm nearing 100ppm so will likely do some small water changes over the next few days. I cant wait until the algae actually starts removing the N.

    So its been 9 days do I continue to let it grow or clean?

    Thanks

  5. #25

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    Click image for larger version

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    August 7th
    Cleaned it

    Click image for larger version

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ID:	3065 August 13th
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    Cleaned it

    So I'm up to 16 hours on and 8 off and I'm thinking I could go longer. Very nice growth but the algae seems to be still pretty dark. I would describe it as the color of a pin needle.

    Thoughts/suggestions?

  6. #26
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    Clean all of it and up the hours.

  7. #27
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    Scrape gently (but down to the screen) and rinse w/room temp tap water, but do not remove the algae from the holes with a brush or sprayer - leave all of that in place (always). I agree on upping the hours, as much as it will take really. If the holes are filled in well, then you might try removing one of the diffusers and seeing if you get A) burn spots, or b) a lot more growth. I would expect one or the other. Or just leave it if your N is coming down. There's always something to be said about leaving something alone and just letting it do it's job instead of constantly messing with it.

    So there's some ideas and a reason not to try any of them. Ha.

  8. #28

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    Shot another video of my algae scrubber to show what kind of algae I'm growing. Its kind of leathery and attached very well to the screen as you will see in the video. This is 6 days growth with 18/hrs per day exposure.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns5fUXADvIw

    Thanks for any advice or comments.

  9. #29

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    Did it make any difference in the tank ?

  10. #30

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    Well currently the ATS is the only filter on my 175g bowfront and I have noticed a reduction in nitrates which previously was around 60-80 every week before water changes. I have not done a water change in 2 weeks and my nitrates are staying around 20-30ppm. I'm hoping that eventually I can get this down to less than 10ppm with less frequent water changes but time will tell.

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