My Algae Turf Scrubber Build
- Thread starter labas39
- Start date
- Tagged users None
No, that's not necessarily true. You need to clean the screen, well, when it needs cleaning.
As with any "rule" or "guideline", every situation is different - every tank, scrubber, etc. So do what works best for you.
I clean all of my screens every 14 days.
For a brand new scrubber, you might go this long as well. Cleaning during the initial break-in stage is more subjective to what growth you are getting. You can do a light cleaning after the first 7 days, and it looks like that's what you did, so you did it right. Post pics at 7 days before you clean. I'm guessing you can go 10-14 days. The initial growth will be diatoms, and you want to clean this off just enough to allow GHA to fill in, once GHA starts to fill in, you want to not clean it off unless it's thick enough to block light to the base of the screen
Overall, looks good.
As with any "rule" or "guideline", every situation is different - every tank, scrubber, etc. So do what works best for you.
I clean all of my screens every 14 days.
For a brand new scrubber, you might go this long as well. Cleaning during the initial break-in stage is more subjective to what growth you are getting. You can do a light cleaning after the first 7 days, and it looks like that's what you did, so you did it right. Post pics at 7 days before you clean. I'm guessing you can go 10-14 days. The initial growth will be diatoms, and you want to clean this off just enough to allow GHA to fill in, once GHA starts to fill in, you want to not clean it off unless it's thick enough to block light to the base of the screen
Overall, looks good.
labas39
Active Member
Day 8's Growth; Or Lack There Of
Thanks for that, wish I would have seen that earlier because the state of the screen on day 8 was unexpected. This was the next day after the first cleaning. When I did that cleaning, I did a light rinse with chlorinated tap water; I guess it killed off everything.
Thanks for that, wish I would have seen that earlier because the state of the screen on day 8 was unexpected. This was the next day after the first cleaning. When I did that cleaning, I did a light rinse with chlorinated tap water; I guess it killed off everything.
labas39
Active Member
This was with the CFL still. I didn't have time to work on the tank this weekend. Now is a good time to get those reds on since it's as if I'm starting over, I can check the progress with it and see how things are different.
BOWHUNTER4250
Active Member
cool , how bout parameters ? i found a nice scrubber for sale in minnesota im having it shppied this week and will eventually get it on line so this is great info to follow ! thanks for all the updates , now mine will be smaller than needed but im sure it will be better than nothing ?
labas39
Active Member
I had cheato a couple years ago but converted that to a frag tank. This will be my fuze replacement. Everything I've read, ATSes are much more efficient and this thing takes up so little space.
Currently cleaning every 7 days is not really a definitive rule by any means, but a few years back it was. So you have to be careful when reading dated information, or reading posts from people who only know that dated information. That's the problem with the internet. Too many people parroting outdated information as fact, so don't feel bad.
For quite a while now, the 7 day rule has only been a loose guideline. Much is dependent on your growth and system. Cleaning every 7 days may actually prevent your scrubber from ever working properly.
With that being said, cleaning every 14 days, to me, is a hard-and-fast rule to follow. With just about any level of growth, at 14 days, you need to clean no matter what. I've let screens go more than 16 days and in almost every case, all the growth pulls out of the holes and the screen has to "restart" for lack of a better term.
Probably not so much killed everything off but rather just rinsed it away. Very light initial growth is rather fragile and will rinse away even with light tap water. Chlorinated or not, doesn't really matter much. Even if you placed it in a pan of RODI water and swished it most of it would still have come off. Initial growth is just diatom-type growth anyways and you eventually want to rinse it away so GHA can take a stronger foothold
labas39
Active Member
Day 10's Growth
I'm caught up to what it was on Day 7 before the first cleaning. This was after the first 18 hours with the red LEDs. There's a big difference between yesterday and today; I can't say it's the lights, however.
Tomorrow I'm going to take some closeups of the darkest areas.
I'm caught up to what it was on Day 7 before the first cleaning. This was after the first 18 hours with the red LEDs. There's a big difference between yesterday and today; I can't say it's the lights, however.
Tomorrow I'm going to take some closeups of the darkest areas.
Last edited:
labas39
Active Member
Nice! I have a week and half to get there!
Similar threads
