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Thread: Algae Scrubber Keeps Crashing My Tank

  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by jaws View Post
    Hey guys. Sorry for the late reply. I know you have to clean your scrubber once a week but how long would you suggest it takes a freshly cleaned mature scrubber to become toxic in your tank by not cleaning it?
    Lets not ask how long before... lets ask how long are you waiting to clean it?

    I also have never herd of a screen becoming toxic.

    Can you please post a picture of your setup?

    Pictures of the screen and/or harvest would be helpful.
    Also if it happens everytime, it maybe helpful for the community if you video'd it.
    Setup a phone or camera and video you removing the screen and then the fish behaviour.
    Can you test the water? What are your readings?

    How old is your tank?

  2. #22
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    Up-close pics of the system and plumbing might help. Maybe something is getting into the pipes.

  3. #23

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    I'll get some pics once it's started up again. I'm kind of afraid to get it going again. There can't be anything getting into the piping. The water feeding the scrubber is T'd off the return pump and it's running all the time. If something was getting into the piping when I shut the scrubber off then it would be getting into it while it's running too. I wasn't really wondering if the screen becomes toxic. I'm wondering how long it takes for the algae under the top layer of algae to start dying from not cleaning the screen often enough. I usually try to clean it around the same time I perform a water change which is around every 2 or 2.5 weeks. I also have a Bubble King Supermarine 250 skimmer, run bio pellets and carbon and dose prodibio reef digest. My parameters used to be a bit high but now they're all good since adding the scrubber. The tank is almost 2 years old now.

  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by jaws View Post
    I'll get some pics once it's started up again. I'm kind of afraid to get it going again. There can't be anything getting into the piping. The water feeding the scrubber is T'd off the return pump and it's running all the time. If something was getting into the piping when I shut the scrubber off then it would be getting into it while it's running too. I wasn't really wondering if the screen becomes toxic. I'm wondering how long it takes for the algae under the top layer of algae to start dying from not cleaning the screen often enough. I usually try to clean it around the same time I perform a water change which is around every 2 or 2.5 weeks. I also have a Bubble King Supermarine 250 skimmer, run bio pellets and carbon and dose prodibio reef digest. My parameters used to be a bit high but now they're all good since adding the scrubber. The tank is almost 2 years old now.
    Its hard to say exactly when algae starts dying, b/c everyone uses different lights, size screens and not to mention everyones water chemersty is different. When it comes to the algae (this is complete conjecture) I believe anything longer then 7-10 days and you start losing filtering compacity.

    What if its something in the process of removing the algae scrubber.... In my tank, when I shutdown the return pump and turn it back on again after my scrubber cleanings... Random stuff gets dislogged from inside the lockline or return PVC. (like the buildup of gunk in the pipes.) It never seems to be an issue for my tank but maybe you have something similar, that is toxic buildup of some kind. When the flow changes in the return line, from shutting down the scrubber maybe bad things are getting dislogged or released into the water?

  5. #25

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    I last cleaned my scrubber on the 12th of this month. Been very busy. Longest I've ever let it go. I have a good feeling when I clean it tomorrow. Nothing will die.

  6. #26

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    Well. It's been 20 plus minutes and no death yet. Don't think there will be.

    Jaws. My ATO only maintains a water level after the initial top off by me in the sump area. When my tank is low on water and my ATO just adds water as it is at its lowest point I like it to be. And I remove my scrubber screen. The water level in the display drops due to more flow because of the resrtiction from screen is gone. There might be something that when you remove the scrubber or shut down the pump to it, one of your dosers kicks in or some other additive and over doses the tank quite possibly due to the same effect of water levels maybe. I don't use dosers so I don't know how they work. Timers or levels?

  7. #27
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    Timers

  8. #28

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    Best guess for me would be that the ATS is removing large amounts of something. Nitrate, Nitrites, Ammonia, etc.. When you remove the screen for cleaning it allows this to spike. I dont think it has anything to do with the ATS itself. You have something going on in your tank and the ATS is masking the real problem.

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by sklywag View Post
    Well. It's been 20 plus minutes and no death yet. Don't think there will be.

    Jaws. My ATO only maintains a water level after the initial top off by me in the sump area. When my tank is low on water and my ATO just adds water as it is at its lowest point I like it to be. And I remove my scrubber screen. The water level in the display drops due to more flow because of the resrtiction from screen is gone. There might be something that when you remove the scrubber or shut down the pump to it, one of your dosers kicks in or some other additive and over doses the tank quite possibly due to the same effect of water levels maybe. I don't use dosers so I don't know how they work. Timers or levels?
    I would think this would only be the case if your dosers were tied to the level in your tank and not your sump, which is not usual. An ATO would not kick on when your return pump got shut off, of if the water level in your DT dropped (which would raise the sump level). A doser should not be tied to water levels, it should be on a timer.

    Quote Originally Posted by kotlec View Post
    Timers
    I think he was asking jaws? But as I said before, they should be on timers.

    Quote Originally Posted by walleyefisher View Post
    Best guess for me would be that the ATS is removing large amounts of something. Nitrate, Nitrites, Ammonia, etc.. When you remove the screen for cleaning it allows this to spike. I dont think it has anything to do with the ATS itself. You have something going on in your tank and the ATS is masking the real problem.
    His livestock are being affected immediately when he removes the screen, as if something is getting squeezed out of the screen when he removes it (re-read the firs few posts). It's not a build-up of nutrient issue, which would be more along the lines of what you are suggesting, which is I think an extremely high bio-load that the screen is barely keeping up with.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post


    I think he was asking jaws? But as I said before, they should be on timers.

    No - he asked how they work :
    I don't use dosers so I don't know how they work. Timers or levels?
    As I use them , I was so kind to explain

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