I'm new to Algae Turf scrubbers. I ran an upflow scrubber for about 2 weeks. It was 6"x6" and I ran a household CREE Led [18 watt, 6000k color]. I seeded it with hair algae from a friend's tank. It grew well for about a week. Then the growth turned really dark and black. I returned the LED after learning the color temperature was wrong. I ended up using the funds from the LED bulb to get CFLs [24 actual wattage, 2700k color]. I made a new screen, and made a waterfall ATS using a 225gph pump. The pump only has 1' of head. It's been running for about 6 days now. The roughed area of the screen is 7"x7", and is lit on each side by one cfl about 4" away from the screen. It's been running for 5[10/20/2014 11:30am CST start] days, and has some growth on it, but It seems light colored to me. My lights are on for 18 hours a day, a slightly overlapping opposite light cycle as my display.
My system is a 40b display with a 20g sump with about 10-15 gallons in it. I have 8 bubble tip anemones, 2 cinnamon clownfish, and 2 dalmation mollies. Lots of Zoas and a monti-cap. I want to feed the nems heavily which is why I started the ATS. When i Started the ATS my Nitrates were at 40ppm, which I consider unacceptably high. I've done a couple of water changes and brought it down to 20ppm and it's stayed there for the past 3 days, but that is still high. My phosphates have stayed at undetectable levels before and since adding the ATS.
Growth day 1:
Growth day 2:
Growth day 3:
Growth Right now [10/25/2014 4:04am Central time US]:
Does it look ok? It's obviously growing something, but Is it the right something?
I read you should clean it every 7 days, whether you think you need to or not, is that accurate?
Do I need to change anything or just leave it alone? Should I wait until there's plenty of growth before cleaning it?
Thanks for the replies! I appreciate it! =D