Algae Scrubber Problems

uli-the-nihlist

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Hello Reef2Reef.

I set up an IceCap algae turf scrubber on my RSR250 about 4 weeks ago and have been having persistent hair algae outbreak in my display ever since. I kept GFO and AF Zeomix online for the first week, but then weened it off shortly thereafter. I can see some brown algae and hair algae in the grates of the scrubber screen, but so far more algae has been growing in my display than on the scrubber since I took GFO and Zeomix offline.

Is this typical for a scrubber break in when switching off of GFO or should I be doing something different here? Any advice is welcome!!
 

xxkenny90xx

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Did your nutrient levels shoot up? Scrubbers do have a break in period so maybe you took your other export methods offline too soon
 
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uli-the-nihlist

uli-the-nihlist

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Did your nutrient levels shoot up? Scrubbers do have a break in period so maybe you took your other export methods offline too soon

Hi Kenny thanks for the reply. Nutrients never really shot up and have stayed at 3-5 for nitrates and ~0.02-0.04 for phosphates. I assume the nuisance hair algae is helping keep these numbers down, I am just not sure if I should run GFO again or use lanthanum for phosphates during the ATS break in. Certainly not looking to outcompete the scrubber.
 

xxkenny90xx

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If I have the choice between gfo and lanthanum I'm definitely going with the latter. But it looks like your po4 is pretty low so I wouldn't bother. Once the scrubber starts working I think the other algae will go away
 
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uli-the-nihlist

uli-the-nihlist

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Just to update, I reduced the photoperiod on my display by 6 hours and reduced my dosing to compensate. As expected, the algae in the display has really died back and the scrubber has taken off. Apparently the scrubber was having a tough time competing, but seems like reducing the photoperiod worked for me!
 

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