Algae Growth on ATS

Treefer32 · Feb 5, 2019

I've had my L4 scrubber from Turbo Aquatics setup now for about 10 days on a 3 month old 400 gallon system. I know there's plenty of nutrients because my rocks are covered in cyano. And my sand bed is full of discoloration as well as some diatoms on a couple of the rocks.

I feel like I have a good set of nutrients... I only have 10 fish in 400 gallons of water, but, 2 of them are larger fish. A black tang which is close to 6-8 inches and a mature rabbit fish that is bigger than the tang.

All of my fish are doing great. I have a few SPS and a few LPS corals, which are also doing awesome. I reused dried out rock from a previous tank that probably had a lot of nutrients locked in them. I also have shut down my skimmer about 5 days ago, just didn't have room for both.

So, my question is right now the screen only has some minor slime algae if that. (I'll probably check it today and find out I'm way wrong). After 10 days I would have expected more than a layer of slime algae here and there. It's not all over, and it's pretty miniscule. I'm running the LEDs at full power 14 hours a day on the scrubber (at night). I would have expected a lot more algae after 10 days, especially with no skimmer and the amount of cyano in the display.

In another 2 weeks I'll probably regret this post and post pictures of so much algae on the scrubber that I won't believe it.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 5, 2019

Not sure on the scrubber growth really. The light could actually be too high.

What’s the no3 and Po4 ?

Also quite possible it’s organics onnthe sand causing cyano. Is it limited to the sand ?

Ph is a big thing for cyaono too.
Ifnthe scrubber is kinda off line and the skimmer is gone I’d imagine the co2 isnquire high Esp for that volume. The o2 is probably low as well

Water Dog · Feb 5, 2019

A new screen on a new tank will take time to mature. 10 days is not a lot of time fully mature a screen. The slime stage will take awhile. In an established tank, look at 6-8 weeks for a new screen to mature.

Treefer32 · Feb 6, 2019

That's what I was afraid of. PH is fluctuating between 7.90 and 8.12. I think it's a safe range, but lower oxygen than I would like to see. The Cyano is all over the rocks as well as the sand. I checked last night and it looks like the screen is covered either in a brownish / red slime algae or in cyano... Heh. I would think the flow over the screen would be too high for cyano to take hold. So, I'm hoping it's a first stage slime algae. It seems to be maturing day by day. So, by the time this horrible winter is over (March / April) I should see some more complex algae growing on it! I'm going to be adding more larger fish in the next few days or so. So, I'm hoping that helps the process speed up some too.

lion king · Feb 6, 2019

Cyano is usually caused by an imbalance in between no3 and po4 anz maybebyour red and warm spectrum lights too high. Bring down your po4 and turn off your unnecessary red lights and you will likely see the cyano disappear.

You can take some algae from your display and smear on the screen of the ats to get the algae started on the scrubber.

Treefer32 · Feb 6, 2019

I've uploaded my light profile (AI Hydra 52 - 3 of them) Plus 4 Corsal Special 38 watt T5 HO.

I've wondered what the lights should be since I can control each color output / intensity. I have the Daylight at 125%. The other spectrums around 80%. With some purples higher than the red. I'm open to suggestions.

The tank is 31" Tall, 36" wide and 69" long. ~ 340 gallons.