Trying to be patient with my new scrubber(s)

[liadb]

I've changed the configuration of my all in one RedSea C130Max. Swapped out their skimmer for a hydor (have a better one but there are flat glass epoxy guides in the sump (not baffles) that prevent me using a Tunze 9004. Ditched the media rack. I have a custom chiller/heater combo, an ATO with RO water, a HOG1x and just added a DROP.2 in yesterday, running off a Tetra 300 Whisper (not so whisper). Tank parameters are awesome, it's just that bright green algae keeps growing in the tank on the glass and sand, and not on the ATS screen. It's only been 4 weeks. I know I have to be patient. My live rock is covered with beige periphyton. I've tried blowing it off with a baster, Tunze vac, it all floats around like so much flotsam and jetsam most staying on the rock, very little getting into the sump and skimmer. Cyano problem is gone - lasted one week. My tank parameters are good. I feed one - 2 cubes a day and the shrooms, anenomes, zoanths, and corals are loving it. SM advised me yesterday to block off half the light in the hog1x and drop the time to 18 hours (from 22). Did that last night. The black backing on the sump wall is perfect cover. I had just peeled off a large rectangle where I had the HOG - as no one can see that anyways.

[SantaMonica]

Welcome,

Yes go to 18 hours. Cover the light half-way with black cloth. The middle of the growth area is just a little light-saturated right now. In 10 days with half-cover, it should fill in, and you can then remove the cloth.

Don't move the rocks or change any flow in the display for the next year; this will let periphyton develop on the rocks. Periphyton does not blow off though; it is life which is attached to the rocks, and grows very very slowly.

[liadb]

I'm not sure what is on the rocks, what can be blown about with a turkey baster, is inside the holes in the rocks. This, on the rock face, cannot be brushed away, scraped away. I am not sure what it is. I was hoping it was dying Periphyton... How can I tell? I tried to take some close up pics of it. I just slid the HOG1X halfway past the black backing on the sump. That is darker than the cloth. I cut the time on it to 18 hours. I'm just going to leave the drop in down sitting upright in the bottom of the sump for 18 hours and see what it does - it's about four inches lower than the HOG1X in the sump.

[SantaMonica]

You want periphyton to grow, not die. It provides more filtration and feeding than anything else you can do, just like a real reef. Reef rocks are not white.

Make sure the holes on the bottom of the DROP.2 are not blocked.

[liadb]

Oh, my bad. I thought somewhere on this forum I read the scrubbers can' t work efficiently while your live rock and sand were adding so many nutrients to the water, and that would stop once the periphyton breaks off and the scrubbers start taking over. Can you tell what is growing on my rock? Thanks!

[SantaMonica]

Might be sponge or foraminifera, which are part of periphyton and are good.

[liadb]

I just measured my phosphate level and it is .05. Any suggestions on the best way to bring it to zero without affecting the new algae scrubbers?
Thanks,
Lia

[SantaMonica]

I wouldn't worry about it. It's good. Just let your scrubbers grow.

[liadb]

So it was dark green, pretty solid, I cleaned it and put it back in with 1/4 covered by the solid black sump back instead of half. Still on 18 hours. Dark green is better than black or brown, when do I get the great bright green stuff!!??

Trying to be patient -
Impatiently yours,
liadb

[SantaMonica]

It the whole thing is dark green, then uncover it all.