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Thread: What are we doing wrong??

  1. #11

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    Hi Rumpy, the algae scrubber light is on overnight, so I don't know that there wouldn't be enough nutrients in the water, and obviously, from the level of algae there is a heap to go around. What we didn't mention in our opening post, and should have to give you the fuller picture is that we do do water changes and manual removal of existing algae- especially as it has been getting worse. We generally do 10% changes at a time. We have also tried the snails. The problem is that there is soooo much algae, they eat till they are full and haven't moved more than about 4 cm in a day... and then there is that worm- polychaete Oenone fulgida which we only discovered recently after we bought a clam and 2nd morning found it completely empty, covered in slime. We have bought numerous snails but they had always dissapeared myseriously- go behind the rocks and never return. So, even when we DO buy snails, they don't do much or get eaten by either the worm or the bloody mantis. (We originally had 2 mantis, but we caught one of them in January... the other one is much smarter and remains elusive) I'm not sure I want a sea hare, they get pretty huge, and I imagine they can disrupt the stone placement pretty easily. Good for a short term solution, but when the algae is all gone, then there is a huge slug...

  2. #12

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    Hi cdm2012,
    We started out cleaning the scrubber religiously when we first got it- eager to see a reduction so we did do it every 14 days. Then, after not seeing much growth we stretched it out to 21 days. When we didn't see much difference in the extra time, that's when we began to scratch oour heads and wonder what is going on, so we experimented, and left it for 2 months- and you see the result.. still not a lot. That's when we decided to come here. and as SantaMonica just posted, the air hoses look like that, algae on the outside.

    What might have been contributing to the algae is it has just been summer and it has gotten direct light just before dusk for about 10-20 mins which hasn't helped- it's not strong light, but it is more that it should be getting. Hoping now it is Autumn and the sun's trajectory has changed again, that we will get time to get on top of this before next summer

  3. #13

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    Hi SanatMonica!
    We have a second HOG we purchased at the same time as the first, we will put that in and see if we can make a dent. Someone mentioned that the 2 led's in the version of HOG we have might be too much and that is what is causeing the spot that never grows? We are thinking of 'jumping' one of the lights, but having 2 units working as you suggested. Does that seem like a plan?

  4. #14

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    I'd throw in a rabbit fish or two for a while also. Fish are easy to trade off if you do end up conquering the algae.

  5. #15
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    Just reduce hours until the spot goes away.

  6. #16
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    Display lights are much stronger that HOG ones. So your display scrubber possibly is much stronger.
    Just theory.
    If you will reduce display lights for few days and look for increased growth in hog, that would not hurt much. On the positive side theory will be proved or not.

  7. #17
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    Srusso had a working theory he called the "rule of PAR" which said that your PAR of your scrubber needed to match or exceed that of your tank. Good in concept, but 660nm reds are not measurable by that method so that throws a wrench in it. But what Koltec says is probably true, with display tank lights burning all day in the 100s of watts (equivalent, at least, for radions) and 2 660s on the HOG, it's not even a competition.

  8. #18
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    Not PAR, but overall scrubbing power, which is a function of size, attachment, lighting, and flow.

    A display has weaker lighting and flow, but has the advantage of size.

  9. #19
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    That's probably a more accurate way of thinking about it.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by hOOPSNAKE View Post
    Hi Rumpy, the algae scrubber light is on overnight, so I don't know that there wouldn't be enough nutrients in the water, and obviously, from the level of algae there is a heap to go around. What we didn't mention in our opening post, and should have to give you the fuller picture is that we do do water changes and manual removal of existing algae- especially as it has been getting worse. We generally do 10% changes at a time. We have also tried the snails. The problem is that there is soooo much algae, they eat till they are full and haven't moved more than about 4 cm in a day... and then there is that worm- polychaete Oenone fulgida which we only discovered recently after we bought a clam and 2nd morning found it completely empty, covered in slime. We have bought numerous snails but they had always dissapeared myseriously- go behind the rocks and never return. So, even when we DO buy snails, they don't do much or get eaten by either the worm or the bloody mantis. (We originally had 2 mantis, but we caught one of them in January... the other one is much smarter and remains elusive) I'm not sure I want a sea hare, they get pretty huge, and I imagine they can disrupt the stone placement pretty easily. Good for a short term solution, but when the algae is all gone, then there is a huge slug...


    Have you considered breaking down the tank completely? Then you could get rid of the worm and the mantis and perhaps replace some or all of the rock?

    The existing rock you might be able to recycle by placing it in a separate unlit container and using another scrubber and/or GHA and/or skimmer to "purge" it.

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