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Thread: Andy's FW ATS - part 3

  1. #11
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    It's simply scrubber strength. A strong scrubber has to pull more nutrients out or else it can't grow. If you are happy with your new setup, then just keep it the way it is.

  2. #12

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    I'm not happy with it. I want to achieve 0 nitrate so that nuisance algae can stop growing in the main tank. Planning to upgrade the pump. How does increasing flowrate affect the strength of the scrubber?
    - Andy

  3. #13
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    You can try it, but the screen already fills up so I'm not sure it will help much. You need more growth area. Try tying some strings to the top of the screen so they hang down and give more attachment area.

  4. #14

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    Bad news.

    Day 36:
    Nitrates - 50ppm

    Lots of nuisance algae showing up. Screen growth slows down. No change in my routines. No idea why the scrubber is losing it's effectiveness, but really disappointing. Now it doesn't even maintain the 10ppm anymore.. What could have gone wrong?
    - Andy

  5. #15
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    Are you cleaning out the scrubber box completely?

    Let's see pics of the harvest, and the tank.

  6. #16

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    What do you mean by cleaning out the box completely? I only clean the screen by scraping it with a card. There's usually green stains left after a cleaning, which I think is good because it's a sign of maturity of the screen. I don't clean anything else except for the screen.

    I turn the pump off, remove the screen and clean it at the sink, then assemble it back. It's a 10min job.

    I'll get some pics of the next cleaning. Algae is growing slower than it did at the beginning, so I'm waiting it out before I clean. I just scrubbed my entire tank today, so I'll post the tank's pic in about 5 days time, there should be lots of nuisance algae by then.
    - Andy

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andy_cy View Post
    Not to mention, brown algae still growing profusely on my tank walls.. Have to manually scrub them off weekly and it's a pain. I wonder what is wrong with my scrubber that it doesn't even stop nuisance algae growth.
    Just so you don't continue to be frustrated with this item, you will very likely never completely rid your tank of algae on the glass. I have seen very few tanks that do not require any glass cleaning. A scrubber can significantly reduce the need to scrape the glass, but rarely can it eliminate it.

    For instance, in most of my reef / saltwater tanks, I can go for a week before I get a dusting of diatoms, and perhaps 2 weeks before it starts to get really covered. In comparison to other non-algae-scrubber tanks, this time frame is usually 3 days and 5-6 days, respectively.

    As for your continuing problem with nitrates, I feel your frustration. Not having ever run a FW scrubber, I wish I had more insight.

    When you say the screen is 'colored' or 'stained' green, is that just the color of the plastic canvas, or is there algae that remains in the holes after cleaning?

  8. #18
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    Growth on the glass comes mostly from urea from the the animals; it hits the glass before it every touches a filter. However the color of the growth on the glass, as well as how fast it grows, will tell you how your scrubber is working. Darker glass growth, faster, means nutrients are higher and the scrubber is weaker.

    Cleaning out the scrubber box is one additional step to make the scrubber stronger.

  9. #19

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    Could the scrubber be phosphate limited?

  10. #20
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    No, but l think the LEDs could be a little closer.

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