The hunt for clean display tank with SM-100

[gaeste]

OK, so I have received a SM-100 and have had it running for 2 weeks.

My problem is that we have too much algae in the display tank. Unfortunately we have been away on trips to much to be able to take care of our tank as much as we want to. Our neighbors have been kind enough to solve some weekly routines but the tank is never the same as when we left it and now it has become really bad...

...so, I put my hope to scrubbing and am eager to see if we can get the tank back to good quality.

The first picture shows how bad my display tank can be in just a couple of days as it is now
[attachment=0:1s8hizzd]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-03 235343.jpg[/attachment:1s8hizzd]

...and these two pictures shows my setup and how it looked after 12 days.
[attachment=2:1s8hizzd]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-03 235331.jpg[/attachment:1s8hizzd]
[attachment=1:1s8hizzd]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-03 235337.jpg[/attachment:1s8hizzd]


Will post pictures of first scrub in next post!

[gaeste]

Here are some more pictures which are showing the first scrub!
[attachment=2:3obs8yqx]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-03 235348.jpg[/attachment:3obs8yqx]
[attachment=1:3obs8yqx]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-03 235353.jpg[/attachment:3obs8yqx]
[attachment=0:3obs8yqx]Web Albums App Upload - 2011-02-10.jpg[/attachment:3obs8yqx]

Well, some smelly algae has been removed and I hope the growth increases and that I will see some improvements soon enough. I just wished I could rush things and get a guarantee that this will work

Any comments are welcome!
BR,
Gael and Karolina

[new2scrub]

I think in a few weeks time you will be very happy,,,but it does take some time,,keep us up to date

[SantaMonica]

You hardly have any growth yet, so you really have no filtering. Next two weeks will show a big difference.

[gaeste]

Ok, now I did my second scrub and also cleaned out the SM-container because it was "messy"! The growth was about the same as the pictures in the first post but now with only 4 days of growth.
Well, still no visual improvement in the tank (not expected either) but it feels good to throw away that stinky growth in the sink

[SantaMonica]

It's going to being growing good... I can tell by the way it's starting.

[Floyd R Turbo]

It looks to me like you over-cleaned the screen. For the first 2 or 3 cleanings that I did, I just had to run the screen under water and most of the algae rinsed away. That last pic on your 2/5 post looked like you scrubbed the screen with a brush. I didn't start scrubbing with a toothbrush until about 2 months into it, and I still mainly just use back of fingernails, and my screen is 1" thick after 1 week.

How thoroughly are you cleaning it?

[gaeste]

It looks to me like you over-cleaned the screen...
How thoroughly are you cleaning it?

Hmmm, yes, you are correct! I have been cleaning it with brush both times. I just wanted to get rid of as much junk as possible, but after reading some more it seems that I'm starting off in the wrong way...

Clean a little less thoroughly and more regularly seems to be the best way to start. So maybe each 4'th day and not with the brush?
But what about the really dark growth that I have, isn't that bad for the overall growth?

Thanks for helping out, I really appreciates it!

[Floyd R Turbo]

Unless it's black, just rinse it off, no scrubbing. If it's black and oily, that's the stuff you want to get rid of. I don't know from experience, just from reading enough SM posts.

The first cleaning I did, I used the sink sprayer w/a little too much pressure and it blasted everything away. After that, I just used slow running water and lightly ran my fingers over it.

When I started getting some GHA growth, I used fingertips (not nails) with enough pressure to break the strands free.

After a few weeks, the strands were spread out but very long. I started scraping with the backs of my fingernails.

At right about the 6th week, it really took off. From then on, I started scraping one direction with nails, rotated 90 degrees, scraped again, then the other side, then an old toothbrush.

After 4 months, I am getting red turf that I can't scrape off with my nails, I've been leaving it alone for now, but will probably start using a razor to cut it off. It's tough!!!

Check out my ATS thread on this site. There's youtube videos of cleaning on post # 89

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=743

[gaeste]

Well a lot of information to read, but I'm still uncertain if I'm doing it the correct way. Well I cleansed the filter once more yesterday and this time i did it a little thoroughly. It will be interesting to see the result in a couple of days...