New scrubber questions, and introduction!

[Wavecookies]

Hey all,

Ive been lurking the forum for the past few months now, read a lot of info. on here, and I finally set up a scrubber.

Tank is a 90 gallon mixed reef with SPS, a few LPS, and softies. 6 fish (for now...).

Ive been battling an algae problem for over 2 months now, probably jumpstarted by the shift in spectrum of my old MH bulbs...

My screen is 13x15, lighted on both sides by 75 watt (equivalent) 35K bulbs on each side. Bulbs are as close as I can get them safely with the current setup.


My main question is, does the flow look ok as is? I included a video. Flow in the beginning is how it always it, second type of flow is when I open the T valve more, third is when I close it a bit more than normal. Which kind of flow is best?

When I cut the long slit in the PVC pipe, I had to use a make shift dremel out of a cut off wheel and a cordless drill, so the slit isnt as straight and clean as it could be.

I roughed up the screen with a jagged knife, scraping it all over it in different directions until it felt very rough.


Video is 4 days after setting up the new lighting.



PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what you think, and any improvements that I can do to make it more efficient.


My ultimate goal is to run skimmerless and hopefully get to the point where I can just sell the skimmer. I had been running for about a month without a skimmer before even knowing what an algae scrubber was, and the corals looked very healthy and were opening up more, so I really like the idea

Video of Scrubber on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMT5dCuCf0M

Video of tank and algae on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Nc7Ox1MRs

[SantaMonica]

Your flow looks great. More flow is always better, up until splashing is a problem, or the algae starts letting go from the screen. And the algae on the rocks looks like phosphate is coming out of them... a good thing.

I had been running for about a month without a skimmer before even knowing what an algae scrubber was, and the corals looked very healthy and were opening up more

Because they like food particles in water. Skimmers remove food particles.

Tank is a 90

Medium filtering would be 0.5 total watts per gallon = 45 watts.

My screen is 13x15

= 195 square inches. Medium filtering would be 0.5 watts per square inch = 97 total watts.

lighted on both sides by 75 watt (equivalent) 3500K bulbs on each side

75 equivalent watts is about 13 real watts. So you are running about 26 total watts.

So you see that your wattage is way too low, whether you look at the watts-per-gallon or the watts-per-inch rule. You probably are not feeding much at all yet, so it's not a critical fix. But before the tank is stocked more (and fed more), you'll want to put at least 23 watt (120 equivalent) bulbs on each side.

Another aspect to your build is that the screen is way way too wide for a single bulb to cover. A single bulb in a reflector like that only covers what is directly in front of the reflector. It looks like there is 3 to 5 inches on each side of the reflector, which will not be contributing much filtering at all, but uses up just as much water. What I'd do temporarily, is cut the screen to be as wide as the reflector, and tape up the remaining slot. Better, re-cut another pipe. Of course you could always keep the current slot and just put two 23 watt bulbs on each side, which would cover the whole screen and give you 4 X 23 = 92 real watts (you want to use curly Q spirals; not floodlights).

What you have now is ok for getting a feel for limited growth with low feeding. You should run it for a few months to see how it improves with changes later. And you can go ahead and sell the skimmer.

[Wavecookies]

Thanks Santamonica

[Wavecookies]

ok, 10 days after my last post and I have a few questions and some updates...

1. water sprays in little streams slightly sideways from the screen. Should I, A. turn the flow up (which causes more flow everywhere, also more spraying...) or B. Should I remove the screen and make the slit slightly bigger? When I keep the flow lower it doesnt do it, but I know higher flow is better....

2. Why is there so much crap growing on the bottom of the bucket? Is it the because of the angle on the lighting? I dont have any space to clip on the lights except where they are currently, so I might have to re-think my design...

3. Starting to get light green growing on the scrubber, I had previously seeded it with green algae from the tank, its spreading now. It looks dark in the picture, its actually a bright light neon-like green. very pretty . Question is, i'm still feeding the same amount I used to, but my phosphates have jumped up to 2.18 (it was around 0.21 area a month ago...)!!!!! I'm surprised a lot of my sps are still alive.... Nitrates, on the other hand, are at 4, down from almost 30 a month ago. Not bad at all...

4.I started running PhosGaurd again in my TLF reactor for the time being, i'd rather not risk any losses. Wondering if the addition of the phosgaurd will in any way prohibit or significantly decrease the scrubber maturity process? I'm hoping for an all-green screen sometime soon...

5. Should I remove any of the crap at the bottom of the bucket? some of it seems pretty solid, I got some out with a turkey baster and saw a very tiny oblonged black fast-moving bug thingie on the bottom, never seen anything like it in the DT before. Wondering if I should be worried?

Here are recent pictures of the scrubber, taken tonight. 2 shots are on side 1, 1 shot of other side. Planning on making another scrubber soon. Shorter but longer, with more bulbs.... my 600gph pump is T'd off 3/4 of the way as it is, so i'm sure it could handle a longer PVC pipe for a new scrubber.









Oh, and I just cleaned it 5 days ago. How often should I be cleaning it now? and how much should I be cleaning off?

Thanks Again

[SantaMonica]

water sprays in little streams slightly sideways from the screen.

From the screen, or from the pipe?

Why is there so much crap growing on the bottom of the bucket?

You have a lot of light hitting it.

Starting to get light green growing on the scrubber,

Going in the right direction.

but my phosphates have jumped up to 2.18

Not sure about this. Re-test a few times.

Wondering if the addition of the phosgaurd will in any way prohibit or significantly decrease the scrubber maturity process?

Yes it will.

Should I remove any of the crap at the bottom of the bucket?

For highest filtering, yes remove it.

just cleaned it 5 days ago. How often should I be cleaning it now? and how much should I be cleaning off?

7 days. Most of it.

[Wavecookies]

"From the screen, or from the pipe?"

- from the pipe at the top, I was looking at the rest of your sight about light blockers with a simple pvc design, I will start to use one after the next cleaning. Should I also increase size of slit in pcv pipe? Screen is just able to slide in snugly through the opening, but i still needed to use 2 zipties to keep it from sliding of with water pressure.



"Not sure about this. Re-test a few times."

Phosphates tested with Hanna meter @ local LFS, I'll get a retest this weekend.




Wondering if the addition of the phosgaurd will in any way prohibit or significantly decrease the scrubber maturity process?

"Yes it will."

Should I stop? Been running it for 24hrs corals have opened up significantly more today...




Thanks SM

[SantaMonica]

Remove the phosguard when your test show less than 0.5

[Wavecookies]

ok thanks

-Cindy

[sklywag]

When people post video from YouTube. I end up watching about a half hour of crazy crap unrelated.

One thing I discovered with flow and spray which I've meant to post to more people with problem. Using a larger pipe for the screen really reduces spray by flooding it instead of pressurizing it. Does that make sense? Instead of the water being forced out a slot by pressure be it a pump or overflow and it going out the end with more flow(pressure) than the slot closest to the feed. By using the larger(in my case 1and 1/4" plumbing. Only 1" bulkhead) The water has a chance to balance/level itself inside the pipe thus being more like a waterfall than being squirted out.

[Eclip]

i notice on my scrubber that the water squirting out from where the screen enters the pipe that it is too narrow. i opened mine up a little and found that it flowed down my screen better. not i notice that i get the squirting when the algae has grown in the slot and is restricting it so it lets me know its time to clean as the algae is thick enough.