Not missing any factors at all. Again my point is many people find it easier to grow GHA in thier tank than they do in a srubber for whatever reason. There can be many reasons why people with GHA in thier tank find it difficult in thier scrubber such as not enough light, poor spectrum, not enough flow and who knows what else all while they have thriving GHA in thier tank.
Gotcha. there certainly can be other factors at play, such as chemical warfare. I've even read somewhere that certain corals and anemones can exude chemicals that inhibit algae. So in certain situations it might actually help to pre-filter the scrubber feed with something like carbon to counteract this.
I both prefilter and have carbon before my HOG2 scrubber. I am still getting a slime type algae growing in it. I have also recently put a DIY scrubber on my sump more as an experiment as I had some of the required euipment already. That also grew a dark slime like algae on both sides of the screen. I have 2 x 20w led units on an A5 scrubber each with 16 reds and 4 blues. I will take some pic's when I clean it again but it has only been running just over a week so I am not expecting GHA for a few weeks more but if it arrives sooner great. Am not unduly worried as any algae growth in the scrubbers has to be a goog thing, I juat hope they will grow GHA soon.
One reason we use real rocks for the Green Grabber material is because algae already know how to dig into rocks. Algae do not know how to dig into plastic.
Algae may not know how to dig into plastic but they sure do know how to attach themselves to plastic. I have seen enough internal power filters and the like with GHA growing on the smooth surfaces of the body. However smooth plastic of course it's not an ideal surface for GHA to attach too but it can attach to rough netting as in other scrubbers. It's just in some peoples scrubbers algae struggle to attach themselves it would seem.Originally Posted by SantaMonica
My guess is that any smooth surface that grows algae is actually growing algae on top of a calcification layer. Think about it. scrub your glass with a magfloat and any spots of coralline that don't come off, that's where the algae grows first and fastest. Scrape it all off with a razor and it takes a while to come back. Same with power head in your tank, they get a coating of coralline, and you can take them out and scrub but unless you soak in vinegar, that algae will come back fast.
I could go along with the above apart from the fact often GHA appears well before any caroline algae appears on the glass. Often people can't grow caroline algae and often it only appears after a tank has matured for sometime and by that I mean 12 montsh plus. All tanks and water conditions are different with no two exactly the same even when people set two tanks up to be identical but still get different results. Anyway this has been an interesting discussion even though I am not sure we found the answer to the question Just like why no 2 tanks are ever the same even when set up identical.
I guess I should have said that calcification in general seems to be the key, and that happens on all systems to some extent. So as soon as the surface you are using starts to get a calcification covering, then this actually is what the algae anchors to. Coraline algae just being one form of calcification
Yes algae attaches to plastic screen, but that's because of the holes; the algae grow through the holes.
I've let screens grow too long and everything comes out of the holes, on cleaning, leaving almost nothing behind except for some coloration and algae attached to various cross-pieces, and it bounces right back. I try to avoid letting it grow too long because of this.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote