+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 29

Thread: Hart's SURF2

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23

    Hart's SURF2

    I have had my surf 2 almost a month. I have noticed very slow growth, two weeks ago I put in a hair algae mat and some chaeto from my other tank and the algae has done well but the growth on the scrubber surfaces is still slow with a few of the stands now showing a tiny bit of green. Condition initially were 1ppm po4 and 20ppm no3. I have wondered about increasing flow through the scrubber, similar to the concerns Floyd has so I thought I would post. I recently made a couple modifications to the surf 2, nothing that can't be undone, but I wanted to try it out. I took a maxijet I had lying around and ran a hose to one of the holes in the bottom of the scrubber to increase flow. I also added 90 degree elbows to the air line intake on the bottom as the water was pushing the bubbles out, and the 90 degree fitting solved that problem. With no permanent modifications there is now quite a bit of water going through the scrubber and seems to be working well. I did raise the lid a bit to accommodate the increased volume leaving the scrubber. I would have liked to use a powerhead that sucks air in for even more bubbles, but I had this lying around. I can always change this back if it doesn't work well, but I think it should give an improvement. I have not had this going long enough to evaluate if there is increased performance. I have a flow control valve from my old tlf reactor that I dialed down the flow a bit. Hoping to find a sweet spot.

  2. #2
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    Welcome.

    The thing to look at is the number of hours of light, not the flow. Impossible to tell without pics though.

    I'm guessing the hours are too many.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23
    I have been using a 4hr on 1 hr off (ok 3.8 hr on) in 5 cycles a day for around 19 hours per day on. Think I should change to one long period for 22 hr a day? I kinda like the flow modification, it seems to be working nicely.

  4. #4
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    Need pics

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23
    Not really much to show. The green is bits of chaeto as I removed the ball for the photo and didn't want to wash every little bit out. The green grabber is bright white still and the rope has just started to discolor a small amount. I can't tell what color the rope has on it, there is not enough no there for me to tell. There is no growth on the scrubber from what I can see, although the chaeto seems to like it ok. I only put the chaeto in there after I saw absolutely zero growth or color after 2.5 or 3 weeks.


  6. #6
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    Go to 18 hours on, 6 hours off. Remove the chaeto, it is shading the attachment material.

    You are getting growth at the waterline, which is where it sometime starts. However I'm thinking your bubbles are low, because the growth would also be on the strings if they were agitated enough. A vid of the bubbles would help.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23
    Thanks for the help on lighting! No idea changing to 18/6 would make such a huge difference. Still have the extra flow hooked up but in past couple days the strings have quite a lot of growth on them! More growth in past two days then past two weeks with old lighting schedule. Not sure what happened to the pic or other posts tho.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23



    How does it look?

  9. #9
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,566
    Much better.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    23
    Update:

    The growth is much better. The box isn't full of algae and not tons of growth on the strings, but I have only a 65 I am running it on and only feed about two pinches of flakes a day. I am going to retest tonight, but my last weekly results were 0.00 phospate and ~10ppm nitrate so it must be running well to have po4 at zero. I don't mind some nitrates in there if phospate is 0 plus the softies and clams like a bit of nitrate anyway.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts