- Joined
- Apr 13, 2019
- Messages
- 802
- Reaction score
- 317
Hm...you must not be familiar with this kind of situation. In a tank with no water changes and a nuisance algae problem, neither nitrate nor phosphate are detectable at any given time. As for the original algae scrubber, of course I harvested it fairly often when it was actually working. As for the light level and flow rate, maybe you should ask Santa Monica. Suffice it to say that more light and more flow are better, to a point. And the hog 3xx has both more flow and light than the drop 1.4. The environment in the scrubber has to out-compete the environment in the display for the algae to grow in the scrubber. According to my theory, the additional light I put on the display made the display out-compete the scrubber. That's where the HOG 3xx comes in! Not sure how else I can explain that.You don’t report monitoring nitrate and phosphate levels during algae scrubber operation. Did you monitor them? You also don’t mention how you managed the algae content of the scrubber. Did you harvest it very often? How did you determine the correct light level for the level of nitrate in the water? How did you determine the correct flow rate through the scrubber?
I would like to put in a plug for the idea that an algae issue is an indication of insufficient grazing.
As far as grazers, yeah...It's a 0 water change tank. Perhaps you aren't familiar with this level of nutrient problems. Trust me I've spent plenty of money on little inverts that are supposed to eat algae. And they probably do. But nothing eats THIS much algae! If an order of 9 urchins doesn't do it I don't think anything will!