Algae growth

[getmealemon]

Hi all, I've had a Nano tank (55 litres) setup since November 2012 with a little scrubber running since day one. I will at some point do a thread about it. It is not conventional in that it is fully submerged with a powerhead at the bottom blowing up across the screen so like the UAS only with no bubbles. It has been growing algae well and i take a reasonable amount out each week.

My question relates to where the algae grows best in my setup. I currently have a wooden skewer running upwards to make sure the screen stays flat and i always seem to get extremely good algae growth on the wooden skewer, more than my screen. Has anyone tried any good alternatives to the roughed up screen?

The picture shows my screen a couple of days after scraping. I have just changed the light before taking the picture and need to see what effect this will have aswell. It is clear to see the algae growth on the wood compared to the screen though.

[Nick28]

I just removed my air pump today as well, and inserted a power head into my uas box no bubbles. (an air pump worked great in freshwater not saltwater.)

I "would" say the wood has a higher surface area

Maybe the skewers is not being scraped as thouroughly as the screen?

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

There are certainly other rougher surfaces available than plastic canvas, but they tend to not be as easy to work with.

[getmealemon]

I'm going to try and take a picture of the screen everyday to chart its progress.

After the next scraping i might try replacing the screen with the skewers to see what growth will be like with just them.

Also toying with the idea of putting bubbles up it as well, might give that a go the week after.

The new light doesn't seem to light the entire screen which is expected really but will see how it gets on. Growth pic for today...

[Garf]

In professional oceanic algae growing setups, they use nets and ropes and grow vaste amounts of broad kelp type algaes. Watching with interest.

[getmealemon]

Few more details about my setup. The screen is 3.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall and is housed in a spaghetti box. It is a single sided screen due to space. It is powered by a maxijet 1200lph pump. The light i was using was the standard tank light which was a good size for the screen and seemed to do an ok job. Think it was an 18W CFL. I've now changed to something labelled as a Chaeto growing bulb which has 3 3W bridgelux led's 1 Red, one warm white and one cool white. They have 60 degree optics, is it possible to change the optics to make a less focused beam and get more even coverage? As it is this new bulb does not illuminate the whole screen.

A few pics of my setup from the start....

[getmealemon]

As is evident from the last picture i have quite alot of macro algae growing - my tests all read very good for nitrate and phosphate however it is more likely this macro algae is consuming it, hence the good test readings. My quest i suppose is to improve my scrubber so it can out compete the macro algae in the display.

[Garf]

Snails, small yellow tang, yellow eye kole. Have you no herbivores?

[getmealemon]

Its only a very small setup - 12US gallons so no tangs for me! As for snails i've got a Orange lipped Conch, some trochus snails, cerith snails and dove snails.

[Garf]

It's only a very young tank. Looks good to me.

Edit - are you on a UK marine site?