Algae scrubber progress. On the right track?

[Torres reef]

I’ve had my diy upflow ats installed a week ago and started to see some growth. I had a cheap air pump that died on me so I bought a new one which is way more powerful and has been on since 6/25/21. Light cycle was on 24/7 but cut it back to 6 hours off/18 hours on after seeing some growth. Now for the question, is this good progress or is the algae getting too much light? Seems A little brown to me. One picture is with the air bubbles and one without

 

[sunken3]

i haven't tried that style of scrubber, but the ones i have made (hanging out of the tank using water down over the mesh) would have a bit more algae after a week.. I use very bright pink grow lights ... so i doubt its too much light.. however, the FIRST time you use this, it will take a bit loner to "seed" the mesh. if its like the external style i have, you will see progress quicker the second time (after scrapping).

 

[Torres reef]

Should I scrape a little now or wait for it to seed more?

 

[sunken3]

i would just wait.. it will be packed when ready to scrape!

this is 12 days on brand new (non-seeded) ATS

 

[sunken3]

 

[sunken3]

This is from my larger tank... i scrape both sides... but you should have residue left on the screen to reseed quickly. Also, make sure your screen/mesh has been "roughed up" (usually with sand paper, or using the "driveway concrete" ) that way the algae can stick more easily to the plastic.

 

[Torres reef]

Wow, that’s impressive! I did rough it up with grit paper until it got very fuzzy. I’ll wait and see what happens. I need this to work since my tank has pretty high nutrients and I’m tryin to bring them down without adding so many chemical additives. Focusing more on more bio filtration rather than chemical filtration. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Torres reef]

What’s your setup look like? I was thinking about going for the waterfall ats but I’ve read that precipitation is an issue if you don’t have it enclosed. I just don’t feel like going through a whole cutting acrylic to make a box project or pay for a $400 Santa Monica ats. Wife is already checking my bank account to catch me buying more tank stuff lol

 

[sunken3]

Here is the small tank (single)

 

[sunken3]

My main tank is a double..

i used a table saw with a blade for acrylic.. that was so much easier/cleaner than the scratch and break method (and gave me usable edges).. after that it was pretty easy to setup.. definitely cheaper than pre-made stuff... but of course you have to be a bit handy.. the other reason I made it myself was for a custom fit.. I had these going into cabinets that had space limitations...

 

[sunken3]

those pink lights are $25 each on amazon...