My DIY Scrubber (Cyanobacteria?)

[DrPepperSmith]

This isn't the best designed scrubber but I had to make the most of the materials (and space) that I had. So far it appears to be working. My tank has been suffering from cyano for a few weeks now which is giving me headaches as it never suffered from cyano before. I asume that if my scrubber works it will keep cyano to a minimum? I think cyano has started to grow on the scrubber itself but can someone verify this. The scrubber has been "in operation" for 4 days. This is its 5th day - when the pictures were taken.







This cyano came back 24hrs after the substrate was cleaned. But it gets worse!

[SantaMonica]

I'm not seeing any cyano on the screen, in these pics. Cyano on the screen usually means too little light on the screen. But before diagnosing, please post this info:

Nitrate
Phosphate
Size of screen.
Gallons in display.
Type of bulb for scrubber: Watts, Kelvin, and age.
Screen is lit on one or both sides?
How many hours the scrubber lights are on.
Amount, and what, fed per day.
Circulation GPH in-tank.
Circulation GPH to the sump and back.

[DrPepperSmith]

Will do, will post results tomorrow.

[snail]

Hi drP,

Welcome to scrubberland :lol:

do you have some more pics of your setup?

How new or old is the setup?

cyano is nothing to panic about. It is actually quite healthy, a bit unsightly, but healthy none the less. I haven't heard of a tank crash or fish dying because of cyano. Cyano actually helps convert bio material into useable forms.

I actually don't know if any healthy tank ever got that far without the cyano cycle. Much debate of how to get rid of it and no debate on how it is beneficial to tank harmony and cycles.

I have a theory, not researched to well or debated, but my theory is based upon mega reading on the topic.

Cyano is about everywhere. It is necessary for plant life, comes in many colors, is fresh water, salt water, soil, and about anywhere moist where life grows. It is absolutely necessary for rice paddies. In the aquaria, I think of it similar to the ammonia cycle to generate a bacterial culture.

I believe the cyano cycle is necessary to feed an unknown life cycle for a healthy tank. Once that establishes your tank is easier to keep stable. Most look or ask for a critter that might eat cyano, but it is not a critter that the eye can see in my opinion. I have no idea what it is, just that my experience is that all tanks seem to have this cycle and no absolute cure has been established.

What does that tell me? Tells me to stretch the brain and come up with obscure theories LOL.

[DrPepperSmith]

Ok so this is day 7 of the scrubber, a gooey green algae has covered some of the scrubber, smells too.

Nitrate - 0ppm Salifert

Phosphate - Lost the test kit lol!

Size of screen - 6x7"

Gallons in display - 75 US Gallons

Type of bulb for scrubber: 55w ( 48" long) which runs along the whole tank, the scrubber is beneath part of this bulb, + 20w energy saving 'yellow' bulb which is 3 inches away and directly on top of the scrubber.

Screen is lit on one or both sides? - Just one side.

How many hours the scrubber lights are on? - Between 8-10 hours

Amount, and what, fed per day? - Roughly half a cube of frozen mysis/brine + 2x2" Seaweed Algae every other day

Circulation GPH in-tank - 2800GP/H (2x6045 Nanostreams + 1xEhiem 400GPH)

Circulation GPH to the sump and back - Roughly 400 Litres per hour.

The tank looking a bit bare at the moment after a massive clean from Cyano:

[SantaMonica]

Ok so this is day 7 of the scrubber, a gooey green algae has covered some of the scrubber, smells too.

Time to clean the whole screen with FW in the sink, and do the same weekly from now on. I don't think you need to do half/half in your case.

Nitrate - 0ppm Salifert

The algae on the screen is removing it.

Gallons in display - 75 US Gallons. Size of screen - 6x7"

Well for now this is ok, because you have almost nothing in the tank. But generally, 75 gal needs 75 square inches, lit on both sides. If lit on one side like yours, it should be 150 squaren inches. So yours is less than 1/3 of what it should be. But your load is also less than 1/3 of what it will eventually be, so keep it like it is for now. If your N and P ever start rising over the period of several weeks, and your screen is growing very fast, then it's time to increase the size and lighting.

Type of bulb for scrubber: 55w ( 48" long) which runs along the whole tank, the scrubber is beneath part of this bulb

This light is not doing anything. It's too far from the center of the screen, it's too blue (all display lights are), and you are using too little of it (7" of 48" = 8 watts).

20w energy saving 'yellow' bulb which is 3 inches away and directly on top of the scrubber.

This light is what's doing everything. Proper color, distance and power.

Between 8-10 hours

You could double your scrubber effectiveness by doubling these hours.

Roughly half a cube of frozen mysis/brine + 2x2" Seaweed of Algae every other day

This screen should handle this much. When you get to a whole cube every day, you'll be maxing out the current size of the scrubber.

Can you post more pics of how you mounted the screen, and how you are getting water to the screen? I hope your version works because of lot of folks want to do the horizontal version.

Two other things:

The cyano on the sand should go away shortly, with your current feeding/setup.

It looks like you have about 1" of sand? This is going to cause problems in about a year. You might consider going to 4", or removing it all together.

[DrPepperSmith]

I will eventually be adding more sand to the tank, just a gradual increase to like you said about 4 inches. I will keep the light on 24/7 I suppose from now on.
Like I said I only have limited space for an algae scrubber, so this was the best I could come up with. With more space and time I think I could come up witha much better system where I can light both sides. But I guess that's for my next tank lol.

I have taken a few more pics of the set up but will upload them later. I will also post results, for if and when I can turn my skimmer off and double up the feeding...

[SantaMonica]

Scrubber light should not be 24. Best is 18 on, and 6 off.