no more coraline/something wrong

[Floyd R Turbo]

P has been an problem for me on the dentist's office tank for well over a year, I never had zero P, but never had a problem. Srusso's tank had huge P problems with a great growing scrubber and bryopsis going wild until he killed the P with GFO. Many others have commented on P issues. So maybe most tanks went to zero/zero but not all tanks, and like I said the most common long term problem/issue that I have seen mentioned, repeatedly, has been N=0 and stalled P absorption.

[kerry]

I feed a lot of fresh/frozen shrimp prepared by me that I add to peas and carrots as well and dont see this issue. Perhaps food has something to do with this.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have also wondered this, I have used 4 different batches of DIY Food (via local club events) over the past couple of years. The first batch is what I was using when I first started the scrubber, and I didn't have the Hanna checker, so no frame of reference. Then 6 month later I had to move the system because of the tank cracking, and somewhere in there I ran out of food and bought a bag of food from someone else that was from a previous DIY food meeting. Growth was similar. Then we had another DIY food meeting and when I switched to that food, the growth changed, rather dramatically, and rather quickly. It went from green and thick/heavy growth to dark, slimy, and smelly, and I started getting the dino outbreaks. I could probably pinpoint this point in time with pictures that I took of the scrubber, unfortunately there was also a blockage to the screen around the same time which cause the screen to mostly die, so that throws this off as well.

But the bottom line is that food probably is a factor, but this is just another unknown for everyone to deal with. So thanks Kerry for making this all more complicated. LOL.

[kerry]

I am just here to help!! LOL

[greenmachine]

santa that is two 26watt cfl floods on one side of the screen and a warm white led and grow LED flood on the other side. You told me to add more light and this is all I had on hand.

[kotlec]

Greenmachine did you solved your puzzle already ?
Coraline grows again ?

[xerophyte_nyc]

I have also wondered this, I have used 4 different batches of DIY Food (via local club events) over the past couple of years. The first batch is what I was using when I first started the scrubber, and I didn't have the Hanna checker, so no frame of reference. Then 6 month later I had to move the system because of the tank cracking, and somewhere in there I ran out of food and bought a bag of food from someone else that was from a previous DIY food meeting. Growth was similar. Then we had another DIY food meeting and when I switched to that food, the growth changed, rather dramatically, and rather quickly. It went from green and thick/heavy growth to dark, slimy, and smelly, and I started getting the dino outbreaks. I could probably pinpoint this point in time with pictures that I took of the scrubber, unfortunately there was also a blockage to the screen around the same time which cause the screen to mostly die, so that throws this off as well.

But the bottom line is that food probably is a factor, but this is just another unknown for everyone to deal with. So thanks Kerry for making this all more complicated. LOL.

FWIW, I just started a new tank with a scrubber about a month ago. I have a very nice, bright green algal growth on the scrubber. I only feed Kent phytoplankton, decapsulated Artemia eggs, and various sizes of Golden Pearls. Maybe that means something Re: scrubber algal composition.

I can't detect phosphates on Salifert, although they are obviously there. Nitrates are consistently in the 10-15ppm range, but that's partially because my deep sand bed is still in its infancy. Green hair and other microalgae started growing during the tank's cycling, but the last 7-10 days as the scrubber has increased growth, it doesn't appear to me that the display tank algae is increasing in size as it was a few weeks ago.

There are a few clumps of hair algae on uncured rock, nothing anywhere else. That tells me there must be some phosphate bound in the rock and is feeding the growth. Eventually it well get used up.