Algae Scrubber Basics

[Okinawa_reefer]

Are you exposing this algae to fresh water when you scrape? I have had gha die and look like that after a prolonged FW rinse

I actually haven’t rinsed this in the sink since the first month. I only remove the algae with a scraper.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Ohh okay so what’s you lighting schedule and how often do you scrape?

 

[b4tn]

Mine looked like that when I did not have enough light.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Mine looked like that when I did not have enough light.

Not a bad idea to play with that light schedule a bit

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Took me awhile to get mine right. I started it at 12 hrs a day and I’m up to 18 now

 

[Okinawa_reefer]

Ohh okay so what’s you lighting schedule and how often do you scrape?

I’m using two of the Santa Monica led bars that are found in their Rain 2 ATS. I have two more led bars...I guess I could add one. I’ve been running my lights for 18 hours for the past two months.

 

[Okinawa_reefer]

Also forgot to mention, I scrape the screen once a week on Saturdays.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I’m using two of the Santa Monica led bars that are found in their Rain 2 ATS. I have two more led bars...I guess I could add one. I’ve been running my lights for 18 hours for the past two months.

Before adding more lights you can try ramping it to 24hr straight

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Also forgot to mention, I scrape the screen once a week on Saturdays.

Once a week is ideal. I think it’s the lighting or nutrients

 

[Okinawa_reefer]

Before adding more lights you can try ramping it to 24hr straight

I thought that the algae needed some down time as that’s when it actually grows?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I thought that the algae needed some down time as that’s when it actually grows?

I agree but until you get gha to grab hold you gotta play with it. What you want is a strong green hair algae to grab hold, then you just keep giving that gha a haircut. Don’t remove the gha all the way so it can keep growing like chaeto

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Was hoping I might be able to get some help...been trying to get this scrubber going for about 5 months now. I continue to get this orange slime that takes over and my guess is that it’s not allowing GHA to grow. Any suggestions?

This looks to me like photosaturation. If you look around the edges and the bottom edge, you've got GHA.

Then, right where the lights are, you have no GHA (except a stripe in the middle) and nearly bare canvas, surrounded by light orange slime.

So parts of your screen have reached a decent level of maturity and are growing GHA, which is a good sign. The bare/orange area is getting light that is too high of an intensity (hence, photosaturation).

What I would recommend is backing the LEDs away from the screen a bit. How close are they now? I'm guessing they are about 2" away. If that's right, back them off another inch (3" away from the screen). Also, if they are very close to one another, spread them out a bit. Each LED bar should be about 2" apart from the adjacent one.

I actually haven’t rinsed this in the sink since the first month. I only remove the algae with a scraper.

You should always rinse the screen after a harvest - you need to clear off any loose growth after scraping, and you also want to clear off any slime. Use room temp tap water, just a normal sink flow (not the sprayer). You don't need to be aggressive when cleaning (hence why I use the term "harvest")

Scraping should only be done when algae doesn't come off when you just rub with your fingertips and rinse off. Generally, the only part of the screen you should scrub with a brush should be the top edge where the screen and slot pipe meet up, and anything above that (i.e. inside the pipe).

Also forgot to mention, I scrape the screen once a week on Saturdays.

I would let this go a bit longer - harvest when needed, eventually when you get consistent growth, you can adhere to a more rigid schedule. Go 10-14 days instead. Although, with the slime growth, you do want to clear that off more frequently, as often as twice/week. The slime type growth can and will inhibit GHA attachment, so this might be compounding the photosaturation issue. Backing off the lights, reducing the photoperiod to 12 hrs/day max, clearing the slime 2x/week and harvesting every 10-14 days (and only what comes off with a rub/rinse) should get GHA filling into the center.

Before adding more lights you can try ramping it to 24hr straight

24/7 lighting is really only warranted when you have the bioload to necessitate it and a mature screen with repeatable growth. It can work right off the bat in some instances, but that's greatly dependent on the system and scrubber. I reserve the 24/7 recommendation for a scrubber that is getting consistent growth several months after reaching maturity, so that the tank system itself has re-balanced (something that happens whenever you modify the filtration system in general), and then only when you need to go to that level of aggressiveness (i.e. you still are fighting GHA in the tank, or elevated nutrients). In the specific case of @Okinawa_reefer, I think bumping to 24/7 would make things worse.

In general: I recommend starting with 9-12 hrs/day until you get consistent growth from harvest to harvest. Once the scrubber is rolling, there may be other changes in the system as it re-balances (tank chemistry, nutrient levels ,etc). You have to let these things happen and let the scrubber do what it's going to do - every system is different. It's all about balance, and you can't force a scrubber to grow a certain way.

Scrubbers are a long-term solution, so you have to think long term - find the combination of setting that create good, consistent growth, and then let the be for be for while and monitor things. It helps to take pictures of every harvest so that you can reference back and review how much growth you got in X days and how consistent that growth was from harvest to harvest, so that you can use the to make appropriate decisions regarding how to adjust setting for more or better growth - then make changes over time, and make then gradually.

HTH
Bud

 

[anit77]

I had problems with slime and uneven growth with my DIY scrubber. The lights I was using at the time were Amazon 50w grow lights and were woefully inadequate. Bud helped me a great deal with the info needed to rebuild the lights. They cost a good bit more when done but the results were immediate and sustained.

I think he hit the nail on the head with the LED bar spacing and backing them off some. It's hard to tell how big the canvas sheet is but try to space the bars evenly to the sheet. If you have the ability turn the intensity down a little too, at least until you have good even GHA growth across the whole sheet.

 

[andika]

im running ATS for 2 months, actually the first month there is nothing on screen because i run the light for 18 hours, after i run 9 hours/day, i start see grow on screen.
before the no3 at 10, po4 0.08 - 0.25
now no3 at 1 , po4 0.03 - 0.05 (test with salifert)
feed 3-4x / day with DIY frozen food , and sometimes pellet ...
all corals looks great,
i dont know if ATS can bottom out the nutrient level,
but i think as long as i feed the fish, fish poo become coral food, they will just do fine and let the ATS take care the waste.

 

[andika]

 

[pfoxgrover]

I have noticed a lot of the commercial grow lights are now full spectrum with peaks in the reds and blues. Is there any reason to think these would perform worse on an ATS than the typical red and blue grow light?

I was thinking of something like this sunraise QB1000 for a DIY ATS that has a 23 x 16 inch screen.
Amazon product ASIN B08MZV6QS9thoughts???

Not quite finished yet but making good progress.
Awesome thread by the way!!!

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

100W, 324 pcs, so those are fractional wattage LEDs, and are primarily what looks like warm white and cool white, with a little red. Not sure about those, probably would work, but at $100/ea that's a big "probably"

 

[pfoxgrover]

@Turbo's Aquatics Thanks for the reply! Thanks for all you do for the hobby!

I was trying to find something out of the box that would fit the area well, doesn't look like a fire waiting to happen and is dimmable. there is a lot of daylight in the spectrum like you said.

Most of what I am finding looks very underpowered or there are some black box looking options that might work but they are a little too compact and if I use 4 of them then it is also pricey.

This is for a 375 tank upgrade and plan for a heavy fish load so don't want to get off to a bad start with that tank.

 

[pfoxgrover]

Here is a similar light with a little more power. "180 Watt true output with 320 LEDS"

AGLEX K Series LED Plant Grow Light 3x4ft​

Amazon product ASIN B089CR7BRP

 

[pfoxgrover]

I am still coming the internet for commercially available Led grow fixtures and it seems that there is a nearly 100% (no I did not do a statistical analysis) move to full spectrum lighting for grow lights built recently, or are of any apparent quality.
A few of the reasons seem to be (paraphrasing here, there was a lot more info that read):

• Red/blue spectrum works well to supplement sunlight in greenhouses that have some natural light so the plants still receive a full spectrum. Most of what I find for sale is meant to be used indoors in something like a grow tent.
• I don't think people like to work in pink/purple light were everything looks weird.
• the full spectrum light helps for things we don't care about in a scrubber like proper leaf development and usability for a wide variety of plants and their different phases of growth, flowering, fruiting etc.

The light spectrum described in the thread is "tried and true" ,I just am not finding what I want off the shelf (I know there are worst problems to have), and don't feel like making a DIY light fixture but suppose I could.

I guess I just wonder if it is a negligible performance difference from, the as described in this thread, mix of red and blue leds to a purpose built full spectrum led grow light?
It is probably a safe bet that the best light for my scrubber was not designed for growing weed in a tent, but wondering how close it is?
Thoughts?
-Paul