+ Reply to Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 18 of 18

Thread: Undergravel UAS

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    96
    Before resetting the tank up last week I covered the 15 watt scrubber with JB weld. To my surprise, light still comes through. It's not as much, but it's certainly not catching all the light. I also took out the fry nursery and cleaned any algae, green and brown, from the display tank.

    The 30 watt scrubber filled in a lot.
    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 3(1).jpg
Views:	403
Size:	38.5 KB
ID:	6173Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 2.jpg
Views:	393
Size:	33.6 KB
ID:	6174

    I completely scraped the 15 watt scrubber, and this is what grew back this week.
    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 5.JPG
Views:	395
Size:	91.9 KB
ID:	6175

    What's interesting is the growth is on the opposite the side where the lights are. It makes me wonder if 15 watts of leds is too bright still.

    Even though in the scrubber the algae looks really slimy, and it is, but when it breaks off and floats around the tank it looks more like hair. Lots breaks off when I removed the scrubber for cleaning.
    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 4.JPG
Views:	374
Size:	95.5 KB
ID:	6176

    Here's a picture of the tank.
    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 2(1).jpg
Views:	393
Size:	29.8 KB
ID:	6177

    Another with the scrubber lights on.
    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 3(2).JPG
Views:	391
Size:	96.6 KB
ID:	6178

    I still need to do something about the light and aesthetics now that I know they do the job of growing algae.

  2. #12
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,565
    FW algae is very slimey and thin hairs. And 15 watts of LED on one area is quite a bit.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    96
    Well I went on vacation for 2 weeks. It ended up being almost 3 weeks since the last scrubber clean out. The fish had an automatic feeder that was overfeeding them, I'm not sure there would have been this much growth if I had been hand feeding them.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	P9220824.jpg
Views:	392
Size:	85.9 KB
ID:	6210Click image for larger version

Name:	P9220830.jpg
Views:	369
Size:	87.4 KB
ID:	6211

    The only downside is quiet a bit of the algae broke off from the scrubber and floated into the tank. It did come right off with a gravel vacuum attached to a small power head, so it definitely wasn't attached to or growing on the rocks. I also wiped down all the glass with a white paper towel, and only little bit of brown algae came off. I think most of it was growing on the silicone in the corners.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	P9220829.jpg
Views:	393
Size:	92.5 KB
ID:	6212

    The tank has been set up for almost 6 months. It's been nearly 8 weeks since there has been a water change in my 21 gallon tank with 8, 2" fish in it. The only filters I'm running is the lava rock and the algae scrubbers that pull water from under the gravel. The fish are healthy and active, and the water parameters you can see for yourself.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	unnamed.jpg
Views:	383
Size:	40.8 KB
ID:	6213Click image for larger version

Name:	unnamed1.jpg
Views:	365
Size:	38.2 KB
ID:	6214

    I'd say the scrubbers are a success and I'm pretty happy with the setup. The only complaint I have is that the red light comes through the fiberglass. I'm thinking about redoing the up tubes with a ~2-3" black abs pipe that will contain the light.

  4. #14
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,565
    Good work.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    96
    No sir, good work to you. You were the pioneer, all I did was read up and reinvent the wheel you created. Thank you for your help.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    96
    Doing my weekly clean up. This is what the fresh water algae looks like still in the water. At this point, there is almost as much algae growing on the fiberglass as there is on the screen.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 1.JPG
Views:	375
Size:	84.9 KB
ID:	6219Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 2.JPG
Views:	407
Size:	94.2 KB
ID:	6220
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 1.jpg‎
Views:	346
Size:	32.5 KB
ID:	6217   Click image for larger version

Name:	photo 2.jpg‎
Views:	352
Size:	38.2 KB
ID:	6218  

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    96
    Long term update.

    I painted the scrubbers with the black spray paint for plastic. That worked really well to contain the glow.

    I also removed the 15 watt scrubber. I didn't have the bio load to need two scrubbers and the lower power one never really took off.

    The algae that grows now looks nothing like the green hair algae in the previous post. Its very dense and grows almost exclusively on the fiberglass right next to each light. The knitting mesh used to be completely covered with algae, now it's reduced back to just a few patches right in front of the lights. It makes me wonder about the previously believed best distance for spacing the light from the screen. It would appear that anything more than about 1/2 the size of a quarter from the light will eventually be starved out and have no light, at least in my scrubber anyway.

    I'm still very happy with the algae and lava rock as a sole filter source. It was almost 6 months since a water change with 11 fish ~2-3" in length for a ~21 gallon tank. The only thing I didn't like was the substrate (lava rocks) was fairly large. I lost several fry that went down in rocks never to return. It also trapped some detritus below the filter that apparently wasn't a problem for the water quality, but it was impossible to get at without taking down the whole tank. If I do another one, I'd use ~3" black abs pipe for the scrubbers, and either break the lava rock into smaller pieces or use some other type of small rock.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	PC010832.jpg
Views:	371
Size:	101.4 KB
ID:	6408

    Click image for larger version

Name:	PC010833.jpg
Views:	373
Size:	93.2 KB
ID:	6409

    Click image for larger version

Name:	PC010835.jpg
Views:	364
Size:	89.2 KB
ID:	6410

    A few weeks ago I took the tank down. I have decided to try a salt water tank. I didn't want to have air bubbles causing salt creep, so I've done a redesign. Stay tuned for an update on my in tank waterfall scrubber next.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	Capture.jpg
Views:	373
Size:	7.4 KB
ID:	6411

  8. #18
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    10,565
    When you removed the larger scrubber, the remaining nutrients were high for the remaining scrubber and thus grew darker slime. This darker slime blocked the light quicker, and formed rings.

    With the waterfall, you'll still need to protect was salt spray where the water drains down.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts