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Thread: Troubleshooting growth suggestions

  1. #1

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    Troubleshooting growth suggestions

    10 days ago I upgraded my lighting, I have 21 660nm and 3 blue all 3w leds running 17 hours about 4" away from a 13.5" x 6" single sided screen.
    Nitrate tests around 30ppm and phosphate roughly .27ppm.
    I have cleaned the screen once since the light update (7 days in) and 3 or 4 times since the ats was set up (probably just over a month ago)
    I was getting a little hair algae before the light switch so during the last cleaning in fw I left it attached assuming it wouldn't be killed in the fresh water but it appears to have bleached out anyway.
    Attached is a picture of the light side of the screen, it seems to be 1 or 2mm thick dark green sludge. What should I do if anything?
    Dim lights and continue 17 hours at say 500mw instead of the 750?
    Maybe cut it down to 12 hours lighted time instead of 17?
    Clean the screen every 3 days until I make it through this "break-in" process?
    Or just let it run as is and continue the normal weekly cleanings?
    Thanks in advanced!
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  2. #2
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    You are getting some detachment, so clean it well and see how the next 10 days go. Looks like the screen is too big for the feeding; not enough ammonia to support thick growth.

  3. #3

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    I will and see if I can rough it up a little bit more thank you for the suggestion.
    I think the problem I'm having is that I'm feeding incredibly heavy every 4 days. Fish get about half a cube and my snowflake eel gets about 2/3rds of a medium sized table shrimp.
    If i don't start start seeing real growth I'll look into cutting down the screen size.
    Does everything else with the lighting seem on point?

  4. #4

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    OK i cleaned the crap out of it with a brush and an expired driver's license. Got as much white as I could exposed and rinsed real well. Took a hole saw at it again concentrating on the spots more directly in the white and the spots that detached, re-rinsed and hung it back up. Did a quick flow check and I'm getting roughly 29.63 gallons of flow per hour per inch in length of screen. I'm running all 1/2" ID tubing off of a 1" ID pump so if more flow is needed I should be able to up the pvc and take a lot of the head pressure off the current pump. Will touch basis again next Saturday and post the current results.

    As a side note I noticed the edges of the screen on the side of the screen with slightly less flow and light had quite a few patches of 3/4 long hair algae, is there a chance that 24x 3w leds driven at 750mA roughly 5 inches from the screen is a bit too much?

  5. #5
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    Growth is probably less long on the edges, which pulls less in the flow, and holds on longer, so it stays. In the middle it grows faster and get pulled away sooner, leaving an open area.

  6. #6

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    Interesting, thank you for sharing your knowledge, you may save my tank this summer. Work get insane and husbandry slips, it'll be nice knowing this ats has my back. Should have put some effort into one when I saw an article you did 5 years ago... Better late than never I suppose.

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