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- Apr 13, 2019
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Short preface: I have a 40 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. Trying to run a 0 water change system and what do you know, I run into nutrient buildup. Maybe something like 8 months ago I got a Santa Monica 1.4 Drop algae scrubber, if anybody is familiar with that. In fact, here's a link to it in case you don't know what I'm talking about: https://www.santa-monica.cc/DROP14-...-surfaces--14-cubes-feeding-per-day_p_71.html
At first it got quite a bit out of my system, once it established. And things were actually alright for a while. Then it stopped growing for some reason, and the nuisance algae got out of control. And once that happens, the nuisance algae makes it very hard for the scrubber to do its job again. The question is, why did it stop working? I have a few theories, but by all means feel free to weigh in on them:
A: Slime algae buildup happened instead of hair algae for some reason and prevented the desired growth of the hair algae in the scrubber.
B: The pods that have come to 'infest' the scrubber prevented the desirable hair algae growth and fostered slime, ultimately halting desirable growth.
C: The overall nutrient buildup in the tank coupled with my bright lights (on 8 hours, i get about 100 par. I did that for my zoas.) and good flow across the rocks from the gyre created ideal conditions for nuisance algae growth and the nuisance algae simply started out-competing the scrubber.
Or it could be a combination of all 3. Now that I actually type out C, it seems even more likely. But if C is true, it begs the question: Why didn't the 1.4 handle the nutrients? In theory it's supposed to handle 1.4 cubes of food a day. At the time I was feeding one cube every other day! Now I've reduced it again down to once every 3 days! Also nuking the tank with a double dose of vibrant, and turned the scrubber off for now. Trying to reset it.
So I guess part of this is asking you guys what happened with my tank and my scrubber. The other question is, what IS a more powerful and consistent way to scrub? Should I go waterfall? I've always kinda regretted not doing that. I feel it may be much better than this drop unit which only produces flow via an air pump. Would a waterfall scrubber be more consistent, more powerful, or both? If not, what IS the ultimate scrubber? Or do you think there's actually a better method altogether such as some kind of pellet reactor. Not super educated on that but I do know there are some media reactors out there that are meant to help with your nutrients. I think I like the idea of the algae scrubber the best but let me know if you think there is actually a much better way! I like that the algae scrubber is sustainable. Once you get one, that's it. You don't have to keep buying reactor media.
But yes, I'm desperate for a more powerful nutrient export method. Apparently that drop 1.4 doesn't really cut it. I need something so powerful that nutrients just can't build up in my display!
At first it got quite a bit out of my system, once it established. And things were actually alright for a while. Then it stopped growing for some reason, and the nuisance algae got out of control. And once that happens, the nuisance algae makes it very hard for the scrubber to do its job again. The question is, why did it stop working? I have a few theories, but by all means feel free to weigh in on them:
A: Slime algae buildup happened instead of hair algae for some reason and prevented the desired growth of the hair algae in the scrubber.
B: The pods that have come to 'infest' the scrubber prevented the desirable hair algae growth and fostered slime, ultimately halting desirable growth.
C: The overall nutrient buildup in the tank coupled with my bright lights (on 8 hours, i get about 100 par. I did that for my zoas.) and good flow across the rocks from the gyre created ideal conditions for nuisance algae growth and the nuisance algae simply started out-competing the scrubber.
Or it could be a combination of all 3. Now that I actually type out C, it seems even more likely. But if C is true, it begs the question: Why didn't the 1.4 handle the nutrients? In theory it's supposed to handle 1.4 cubes of food a day. At the time I was feeding one cube every other day! Now I've reduced it again down to once every 3 days! Also nuking the tank with a double dose of vibrant, and turned the scrubber off for now. Trying to reset it.
So I guess part of this is asking you guys what happened with my tank and my scrubber. The other question is, what IS a more powerful and consistent way to scrub? Should I go waterfall? I've always kinda regretted not doing that. I feel it may be much better than this drop unit which only produces flow via an air pump. Would a waterfall scrubber be more consistent, more powerful, or both? If not, what IS the ultimate scrubber? Or do you think there's actually a better method altogether such as some kind of pellet reactor. Not super educated on that but I do know there are some media reactors out there that are meant to help with your nutrients. I think I like the idea of the algae scrubber the best but let me know if you think there is actually a much better way! I like that the algae scrubber is sustainable. Once you get one, that's it. You don't have to keep buying reactor media.
But yes, I'm desperate for a more powerful nutrient export method. Apparently that drop 1.4 doesn't really cut it. I need something so powerful that nutrients just can't build up in my display!