My first attempt

[worley]

It worked fine this time, even with the cable ties in the same place it's working perfectly, no splashes and it's perfectly secure.
And, *drumroll*... first algae growing! :lol:
Here's the first 3 days of growth (after rubbing some algae from the tank into it to get it started)[attachment=0:bhp1fluh]TOM_3673.jpg[/attachment:bhp1fluh]
If you scroll down you can see where it has really started to build up is actually the very darkest part of the whole mesh, where the lights are it has hardly grown. Is there such a thing as too much light, or are the 6500k bulbs producing a lot of UV at only 2" away?

[SantaMonica]

I've only seen one other case of where the growth was less near the bulb. You could experiment with the distance. But I think when the growth continues, it will fill all the way across.

[worley]

It does now appear to be nearly fully covering the whole mesh, above the waterline
Really looking forward to seeing the first hair algae, I feel like pulling a bit off the tank and pushing it through the holes in the mesh :lol:

[worley]

Day 4 coverage, it's now nearly fully covered the patches that weren't covered before, and started to darken up at the bottom (again where there is least light)
[attachment=0:170qvdr5]day4.jpg[/attachment:170qvdr5]

[SantaMonica]

Is it lit both sides?

Any way you can add more lights?

[worley]

Yes, it's lit both sides, there's 4 x 18W 6500k PLL bulbs, two either side.
However, the most growth so far appears to be on the bottom, above the water line and below the main structure of the scrubber where the light is the least. The only thing I can think of is that these "cool daylight" 6500k bulbs are producing detrimental amounts of UV at short range. At about 4"+ from any bulb it seems to grow faster.
I don't know if this will continue when hair algae grows, we'll see.
Also, there seems to be very little change over the last day. Now I only have two medium sized black percula clowns in the tank at the moment, so there's not a massive amount of food, maybe I'll start over-feeding, or at least feeding more regularly

[SantaMonica]

I think it's because the flow speeds up as it gets lower on the screen. Can you increas flow?

[jski711]

lighting lighting lighting! IMO lighting has a lot to do with this method of scrubbers. i recently switched from a 65w cfl to a power compact fixture putting out 130w using 10k bulbs and the increase in algae growth has gotten much better. I also seem to be growing more "real" turf algae. i hope this helps.

Jake

[worley]

Well oddly enough, the highest growth is in the lowest light area, but I think santamonica may be right here, it is likely to be the highest flow nearer the bottom.
I have a spare pump that used to feed a skimmer that I could use, I could put on to the other side of the pipe so there are two separate feeds into the pipe that feeds the mesh.

[worley]

I've notice something else too, I believe I've actually had some brown algae die-off, rather than further growth in the last 24-36 hours.
I believe I've run out of food for the algae. Bear in mind that the tank has only been running for around 6-7 weeks now, and I only have 2 small-medium black perc clowns in the tank plus a few inverts.
I've been feeding the clowns nearly twice the amount I normally do today, and will carry on doing so, and will likely add another fish or two at the weekend.
I'm going to do a few tests quickly to verify this is the reason. I don't happen to have a phosphate test kit at the moment, so will do nitrates for the moment.