bubbles/foam on scrubber

[jlinzmaier]

Hello.

I've been running my ATS for about a month and a half. I'm starting to get a nice layer of turf in the middle on both sides (where the light is most intense). I'm sure if I did more with the light intensity and distribution it would have more turf throughout. An odd occurrence that I've noticed is some bubbles building up and almost creating a bit of foam. When I rub it off it looks like little peices of cyano. It grows in the areas of less intense light and after I rub it off it will build up again in no less than 1-2 days. I have a very high flow rate for my scrubber (35-40 gph) so I'd be surprised if it was cyano since cyano prefers low flow areas. Any ideas what I've got growing? Is it a good/bad sign??

In all my nutrient levels have been well maintained. In fact when I started my ATS I was using carbon dosing to manage nutrients but it seemed to be too touchy and the corals often seemed stressed. I started the ATS one day, stopped the carbon dosing the same, and my nitrate and phosphate levels are still quite low yet the corals are now thriving and don't look stressed from the aggressive and (sort of) unnatural means of nutrient removal that the carbon dosing was creating.

I'm building a 420 DT set up and already have my ATS set up to start cycling the rock as soon as it arrives so I'm hoping someone can help me with my odd bubble/foam build up.

Thanks.

Jeremy

[SantaMonica]

Need pics for this one.

[jlinzmaier]

Sure no problem. I just cleaned it today so I'll take a couple pics in a day or so and let you see what I've got going on.

Jeremy

[kcress]

Your quoted flow seems low but we'll wait for pics.

Need dimensions etc.

[jlinzmaier]

My apologies Tom. I must have been a bit hypoxic when I typed the flow rate!! I meant to say 35-40 gph/square inch of horizontal screen. My screen is 17 in wide and 14 in long (lit on both sides). My flow rate is roughly 650 gph leaving me with a flow rate of approx. 38gph/sq in. I also have very nive even flow throughout the entire screen and there appears to be equal amounts of water flowing over all areas.

Thanks.

Jeremy

[jlinzmaier]

OK. Here are a few pics of what I'm talking about. When I wipe the bubbles off I get a small amount of red slimey material coming off which seems like cyano.









I'm not sure what to make of it?? My guess would be cyano and it's simply growing in the areas of least flow.

I thought I had a good mat of turf algae started, but now I'm really starting to see some nice true sprouts of beautiful bright green turf algea. What is mostly covering the scrubber right now is a very light green coating of some odd misc algae and it still wipes off easily with each washing.

Jeremy

[SantaMonica]

Post a few more pics from farther away, with the water on, and with the water off. Be sure to show the lighting.

Then, clean one side completely.

[jlinzmaier]

Will do in the next day or so.

Jeremy

[jlinzmaier]

OK Tom. Here is a bit more detail and the various pics you requested.

Scrubber is 17 in wide and about 16 in long. Lit on both sides with 150watt CF bulbs, 2700K, regular CF bulbs used with 8in light shield/reflector instead of using flood lamps without reflector. I thought I would increase the intensity and use a higher watt bulb with a larger reflector to get better coverage. You can see that there doesn't seem to be good lighting all the way to the edges of the scrubber but this is only an interim scrubber while I set up my 420 gallon DT with a new scrubber (after I work out all the bugs with the scrubber and come up with the most efficient and effective design/light distribution/ light intensity/flow/etc....This one is really just my test scrubber to determine if I want to pursue the use of a scrubber on my 420. I like the results of the scrubber so that's why I'm asking for your help.

Here are two pics of the actual set up:






Here is a pic a bit further away with the flow on:





Here is a pic with the flow off:





Pic just before I cleaned the scrubber - view from top down to show better view of bubbles/foam




Just cleaned with flow off. I haven't been scrubbing everything off very vigorously for fear of dislodging any good turf algae. I clean once weekly in the bathtub and I rub everything off with my hands. I remove everything except what would take very vigorous scrubbing to remove.




Just cleaned flow on:





Tell me what you think. Does it just need more time to develop some "real" turf -or- is there something more I should be doing -or- something I shouldn't be doing???? Should I clean it more thoroughly??

Truly appreciate your help.

Jeremy

[SantaMonica]

Too much light; too little flow. That's why it has a bald area by the bulb. Either reduce the bulb ON time by two hours, or, go 10 watts smaller, or, increase flow.

Don't worry about turf. When it's grown, and when nutrients come down, it will all be green hair.