I set up an algae reactor

[Eddie7144]

ok so I set and algae reactor last Sunday. I kinda went the diy route. I am using TLF 550 , and the red/ blue led strip from Amazon . it's been running 7 days with the lights on for 14 hours a day. my phosphates are at .27 using the hanna checker, not sure if nitrates ( haven't gotten a test for that yet. my question is when will the cheato start growing ?

 

[devilhunt1231]

I'd have thought that you would have seen some growth by now, have you got any growth at all? How much flow do you have through the reactor?

 

[Eddie7144]

I haven't noticed any growth and it has good flow I have an ehiem pump on it. is 7 days to soon to expect noticeable growth ?

 

[devilhunt1231]

I'm using an algae reactor myself but it's an ALR1 as I simply don't have the time to build a diy and I found that in around 7 days my cheato went form an amount that would fill a matchbox to roughly tennis ball size, after around 6 weeks the reactor was jammed full, nitrate level was 5ppm and phosphate 0.04ppm that was about 2 months ago, now the phosphate is still the same but nitrate between 1 and 2 ppm.

 

[Katieandjon]

I'm using an algae reactor myself but it's an ALR1 as I simply don't have the time to build a diy and I found that in around 7 days my cheato went form an amount that would fill a matchbox to roughly tennis ball size, after around 6 weeks the reactor was jammed full, nitrate level was 5ppm and phosphate 0.04ppm that was about 2 months ago, now the phosphate is still the same but nitrate between 1 and 2 ppm.

Hi, interested to know whether you've got copepods in the ALR1? If you do, do they flow out into the sump and then into the tank?

 

[Eddie7144]

i made one out of a TLF 550 reactor, it's taken about 3 or 4 weeks for the algae to really grow, but I had pods living, growing in it in the first few days. i took out the top sponge so the pods can flow back into the tank