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Thread: DIY floating scrubber not growing

  1. #11

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    I see where you have 5 LEDs but what are the wattages and what color are they. To my understanding black/dark from is from high nutrient water, you could try to lower nitrates other ways to help out the scrubber then let it take over. Also I don't see where you mention screen size but if your feeding 1 cube/day then the one sided screen should be 24 sguare inches lit by 12 watts of led which is why I ask what wattage the leds are and if the color spectrum is wrong then it will be harder to get the algae you are looking for if at all.
    HTH

  2. #12
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    Growth does not look black/brown to me.

    How often do you need to clean the display glass?

  3. #13

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    Thanks for the prompt help. Blue I really have no clue what watts the leds are, but I don't believe there is a screen as you're referring to because its the floating style. I was considering vodka dosing or water changing my nitrates down if that might help the growth.

    And come to think about the display glass, I hardly have to clean it anymore, maybe once every 2 weeks. Algae on glass vanished along with most of my pods if that's related. The brown algae is starting around the strings/air holes and will eventually turn black.

  4. #14
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    Ok just make sure the bubbles are strong, which will help blow away the slime and let gha attach.

  5. #15

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    Alanc425 ,
    Technically it's not a screen, SM correct me if I'm wrong, but you still need 24 sq in of growing area for 1 cube/per day or its equivalents. In your case since the strings provide growing area you could still increase its effective size by adding more strings. The problem may be in your lighting. Ideally you would have 4 3w leds of the 660nm spectrum. If your leds are 1w then you would be at 5 watts which is less than half of what is needed. As for the spectrum ideally you would want red or at the very least 2700-3000k if yours are higher then that then your are losing some effectiveness. Since this scrubber is diy and your not sure of the leds you could always swap out your leds for ones that more ideal. 4 660nm and one 440-460nm would work. As far as lowering your nitrates I would think that it would only help as your screen is playing catch up. HTH

  6. #16

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    Cleaned again this week, just small pieces of green algae growing on the sides but not filling up the scrubber. my Nitrates are at 40 still and Phos tested at 0, could this have anything to do with the growth?

  7. #17

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    If phosphates are indeed 0 then yes it can. Your test may not be accurate enough to show up but if you have algae growing in the tank then it is most likely uptaking as fast as the tank is producing the phosphate if indeed you do have 0 phosphates. I still think the reason the algae is growing elsewhere besides the scrubber is because tank conditions are more ideal than your scrubber and I still think that is because your scrubber is low on light.

  8. #18
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    The color of the growth in the scrubber will tell you how much nutrients it is getting.

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by SantaMonica View Post
    The color of the growth in the scrubber will tell you how much nutrients it is getting.
    I think that is the problem. I believe he said he is getting green growth but there is so little of it yet his nutrients are high

  10. #20

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    I wish I could figure out the LEDs. They have no identifiable markings but I attsched a photo with what little help it might be if any. They are very intense and red when on

    http://i.imgur.com/a1TThyq.jpg

    The brown growth is almost gone and its green now so hopefully that is a good sign

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