New scrubber

[Donj]

wasnt happy with the results i was getting, so I built a box out of 1/4" acrylic, got a couple oddessy T5 HO lights,did a little rearanging in sump area and made it work, I think ive got a decent scrubber now. heres a pic.

[Donj]

ok then, that didnt work, let me try again

[Donj]

here it is after 5 days, still very dark green brownish and slimey

[Donj]

here is another 5 days before 2nd cleaning, was running 6500k bulbs that came with light, last week went with the 2700k you recomended,will see if it makes any diff. is this dark algae because my nutrients are to high? still about 30 ppm on nitrates

[Donj]

im still running my skimmer, when do you think I should go without it? when no3 drops? or now? am not useing any other filtration exept skimmer and ats[

[Donj]

I would just like to add a little something about scrubbers, even though im not getting the green hair algae yet, the benefits so far have been incredible, the life in my system is thriveing, the amount of little critters from having an ats is unbelievable,with lights out I can take a flashlight and see what seems to be millions of little critters. I have a 125 gal. tank with a fairly heavy bioload,with fish and mostly sps and lps coral, all are doing very, very well compared to when they were in my ninety gal. with no ATS. About 4 weeks ago, I added a pair of mandarins ( male n female ) the male had a shrunken belly at my LFS since then he has put some weight on, I would never have attempted this in a system thats been up for only a couple of months, its hard enough to keep 1 mandarin alive,much less 2, but there not only alive,there getting fat , this is pleasing to me as this is one of my favorite species of fish. The coral growth is mind blowing as well, just gotta say thanks for your site, as I would have just kept on blowing more $$ on equipment I dont really need, had I not stumbled upon this site. THANKYOU

[Donj]

[SantaMonica]

Glad to hear things are growing. Yes dark growth is from the nitrates. What bulbs do you have?

[Donj]

they are the 2700k pulsrites as you recommended on one of your threads, theve been in for 4 days now. will it make a big diff. in growth going from 6500k to 2700k? also nutrients high, should I cut down a bit on feeding? I feed about 2 cubes frozen and some nori sheet for the tangs. thanks

[SantaMonica]

2700 is the best, although not by much. More important is the light-power from new bulbs.

Just let it run and see what happens. If your drain is small enough the water level might start rising and you will get some 3D growth.

If you had some more corals, then I'd say remove the skimmer. But you don't really have enough corals to eat all the food particles. You can do it if you want.