Santa Monica RAIN2 Algae Scrubber Follow Along

[Reeftang]

Finally at the 4 week mark starting to see some growth, but no decrease in p04 or n03 or the GHA in the display.

Here are some pics.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Slime stage. Another 2-3 weeks and you'll be cookin.

 

[Reeftang]

Slime stage. Another 2-3 weeks and you'll be cookin.

Another 2-3 weeks Also when should i be scraping this for the first time?

 

[Reeftang]

Wow so it really started growing so much. Should i be doing my first harvest?

 

[Reeftang]

UPDATE: Some GHA in the DT is starting to die off detaching from the rock and floating around.

 

[Reeftang]

Do i scrape yet??? Or still wait???

 

[Reeftang]

So i did my first scrape sorry i forgot to take pics. Its already growing nicely on the second round. However no decrease in nutrients, would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Water Dog]

Have you performed any large water changes yet?

 

[Reeftang]

Have you performed any large water changes yet?

YES no3 came down and went back up. same with PO4

 

[Water Dog]

So what’s happening is nutrients are still leaching from your rock. Continue to perform regular water changes and let the ATS do its thing. How is the nuisance algae in the DT?

 

[Reeftang]

So what’s happening is nutrients are still leaching from your rock. Continue to perform regular water changes and let the ATS do its thing. How is the nuisance algae in the DT?

Ye thats exactly what im worried that if i do water changes and bring the nutrients to low and hinder the scrubber growth. The nuisance algae in the DT its doing great since i brushed everything off and came off very easy, hoping it wont return i also added some snails and emerald crabs.

 

[Water Dog]

The thing is, Pukani is some filthy stuff with all kinds of dead, now decaying matter in its nooks and crannies. It’ll be awhile till your readings will go down IMO. What are your latest PO4 readings?

Quite frankly, in the immediate future at least, I don’t think the lack of nutrients will be an issue for your ATS. I have had 40 pounds of Pukani curing in a Brute trash can sine October of 2017. (#SlowestBuildEver) Initially, I did several treatments of commercial strength SeaKlear (lanthenum chloride) to get the PO4 down to manageable levels. Following the lanthanum chloride treatments I’ve done about five 100% over the last year with the last one being this past Thursday. I took a PO4 reading with my Hanna Phoshorous ULR this morining and it is still a fairly high .074 ppm.

 

[Reeftang]

The thing is, Pukani is some filthy stuff with all kinds of dead, now decaying matter in its nooks and crannies. It’ll be awhile till your readings will go down IMO. What are your latest PO4 readings?

Quite frankly, in the immediate future at least, I don’t think the lack of nutrients will be an issue for your ATS. I have had 40 pounds of Pukani curing in a Brute trash can sine October of 2017. (#SlowestBuildEver) Initially, I did several treatments of commercial strength SeaKlear (lanthenum chloride) to get the PO4 down to manageable levels. Following the lanthanum chloride treatments I’ve done about five 100% over the last year with the last one being this past Thursday. I took a PO4 reading with my Hanna Phoshorous ULR this morining and it is still a fairly high .074 ppm.

My PO4 is at 0.12.

 

[Water Dog]

Here is a long interesting read on Pukani and ways to get it clean. On the last page I have a couple of posts as (LQT) over there and what I did back in October 2017.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049855

 

[Reeftang]

Here is a long interesting read on Pukani and ways to get it clean. On the last page I have a couple of posts as (LQT) over there and what I did back in October 2017.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049855

Thanks, what do you think if i just keep knocking the po4 down with lanthanum chloride plus water changes?

 

[Reeftang]

would lanthanum chloride harm the scrubber in any way?

 

[Water Dog]

I would be very cautious with dosing something like SeaKlear in a running tank as it pulls out the PO4 from the water column into a very fine silty precipitate which can be very harmful to your livestock if they breathe it through their gills. There are in tank use lanthanum chlorides like Phosphate Rx that you can try, but I’d follow the instructions very carefully and err on the side of underdosing. Try doing a search on Reef2Reef on peoples’ experiences with using Phosphate Rx on running tanks.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Blue_Li...ditives-Blue_Life_USA-BL2131-FIADSAPR-vi.html

 

[Reeftang]

I would be very cautious with dosing something like SeaKlear in a running tank as it pulls out the PO4 from the water column into a very fine silty precipitate which can be very harmful to your livestock if they breathe it through their gills. There are in tank use lanthanum chlorikeet like Phosphate Rx that you can try, but I’d follow the instructions very carefully and err on the side of underdosing. Try doing a search on Reef2Reef on peoples’ experiences with using Phosphate Rx on running tanks.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Blue_Li...ditives-Blue_Life_USA-BL2131-FIADSAPR-vi.html

Yes this is exactly what i have. I know that melevs reef talks about it not being an issue at all in a running tank he uses it all the time.

 

[Water Dog]

would lanthanum chloride harm the scrubber in any way?

I don’t think so. As far as I know, it just reacts with PO4 in the water column and precipitates the PO4 into a fine silty dust.

 

[BigRich]

I think you should not put anything(chemical wise) in the tank right now. If I was you I would go about it this way;

1. Either by hand or with a toothbrush scrub/pick out as much of the hair algae/cyano as possible. Do this with all flow off. Then do a 25% water change, try to siphon out as much of the loose algae as possible. After 24hrs change out filter pads/etc to new clean ones.
2. Cut back on any type of feeding. Only feed your fish a small amount every other day.
3. Do 25% water changes every 3 days, can do every 2 days if levels aren't dropping. I'm assuming you are using RODI water, a quality salt mix, and your tank is completely cycled. After every water change wait 24hrs and replace filter pads/socks/etc. I'm guessing they will be getting pretty dirty with you scrubbing/pulling algae every 2/3 days.
4. Keep testing nitrites/nitrates/phosphates daily.
5. If you aren't, besides the algae scrubber you should be running a quality skimmer as well.
6. Cut back your light schedule if you don't have coral. Even if you have coral you can cut it dramatically back without any long term issues.

I've GHA issues on a tank after 6 months. I got rid of it within a month or so. I even had a cyano outbreak out of the blue. Sometimes it could be from a additive added to the tank. I swear my cyano outbreak was from a "bacteria booster" related product. My DT is setup with the same live rock you are using. Only thing I did before I put it in my tank was brush it/remove anything that look unwanted, dunked it in saltwater, and put it in my tank. This was for a brand new tank, don't put uncured live rock in a established tank of course. Everything will work out, I also use a santa monica scrubber but my version is the one that floats in the sump, can't think of the name right now. It's a good unit, took awhile to get going. Right now I'm at a point where I'm trying to get nitrate/phosphates in my tank as I have zero lol. You will get there just keep up the scrubbing/pulling/removing of GHA and water changes!