Mike in CT
Valuable Member
Hi all!
Some quick tank info:
75g with 29g sump..been running about 2 1/2 years
Lifereef skimmer w/mag 9.5 pump
Taotronic leds (2) basic blue/white combo, recently addde 2 36" T5s to supplement
Nitrates below 5 (sailfert)
Phosphates 0 (I am sure this is do to my algae consuming it)using Hanna Checker
I dose about 8ml of vodka a day for nitrate control
I change about 5 gallons of water a week.
Not currently running phosphate absorber besides Chemipure blue.
I have been battling one form of algae or another for the past year.
At first it was mostly turf algae,the type that is deep green and very hard to remove manually.
I started running gfo in a 2LF reactor..about a cup at a time,changing about every 2 weeks.
The gfo did not seem to make much of a difference after around 6 months of constant use,
so I thought I would build a algae turf scrubber that I hope would eventually eliminate
the need for running gfo, and finally get rid of my algae problems.
This is the scrubber I came up with:
It uses a 429 gph pump.
I was using 2 27 watt. 2700 k CFL's running about 18 hours per day.
I ran this in combination with the gfo for a few months. This was my typical
result after 2 or weeks between cleaning the screen.
I never saw much difference in the amount of algae in the DT, but what I did see was
see it change from the hard to remove turf type algae, into the light green
wispy type that removes easily, but also floats thru the tank clogging pumps
and over flow teethe.
After the change to this type of algae, the turf scrubber seemed to become
ineffective, because all that grew on it was the lightest covering of the same
algae that was growing in the the display tank. It also had the side effect of
filling my sump with the same algae, making a real mess of it.
After running the scrubber for about 4 months, and it not having positive
results, I took it offline since I saw no reason wasting the energy of running
2 lights and a pump if it was not doing anything. After I stopped running
the scrubber in the sump, the algae problems in the sump went away.
I would really like to get the scrubber up and running again. I think my pump
is adequate according to guidelines I have read. I also thought my lights were ok,
but they are the only thing I think I an change that can make a difference.
I was thinking of trying some LED grow-lights that I found on amazon. Mostly
in the red spectrum, 12 watts, fit in normal light bulb fixture. They are pricey at
around $23 a piece, but I wouldn't mind if it worked. Has anyone else been through
this with their scrubber? Has anyone had their algae mutate into this wispy
type of algae from turf? I am at loss what on how to proceed now, since I have been
battling this for a while and its starting to get really frustrating!
Thanks for any help,
Mike
Some quick tank info:
75g with 29g sump..been running about 2 1/2 years
Lifereef skimmer w/mag 9.5 pump
Taotronic leds (2) basic blue/white combo, recently addde 2 36" T5s to supplement
Nitrates below 5 (sailfert)
Phosphates 0 (I am sure this is do to my algae consuming it)using Hanna Checker
I dose about 8ml of vodka a day for nitrate control
I change about 5 gallons of water a week.
Not currently running phosphate absorber besides Chemipure blue.
I have been battling one form of algae or another for the past year.
At first it was mostly turf algae,the type that is deep green and very hard to remove manually.
I started running gfo in a 2LF reactor..about a cup at a time,changing about every 2 weeks.
The gfo did not seem to make much of a difference after around 6 months of constant use,
so I thought I would build a algae turf scrubber that I hope would eventually eliminate
the need for running gfo, and finally get rid of my algae problems.
This is the scrubber I came up with:
It uses a 429 gph pump.
I was using 2 27 watt. 2700 k CFL's running about 18 hours per day.
I ran this in combination with the gfo for a few months. This was my typical
result after 2 or weeks between cleaning the screen.
I never saw much difference in the amount of algae in the DT, but what I did see was
see it change from the hard to remove turf type algae, into the light green
wispy type that removes easily, but also floats thru the tank clogging pumps
and over flow teethe.
After the change to this type of algae, the turf scrubber seemed to become
ineffective, because all that grew on it was the lightest covering of the same
algae that was growing in the the display tank. It also had the side effect of
filling my sump with the same algae, making a real mess of it.
After running the scrubber for about 4 months, and it not having positive
results, I took it offline since I saw no reason wasting the energy of running
2 lights and a pump if it was not doing anything. After I stopped running
the scrubber in the sump, the algae problems in the sump went away.
I would really like to get the scrubber up and running again. I think my pump
is adequate according to guidelines I have read. I also thought my lights were ok,
but they are the only thing I think I an change that can make a difference.
I was thinking of trying some LED grow-lights that I found on amazon. Mostly
in the red spectrum, 12 watts, fit in normal light bulb fixture. They are pricey at
around $23 a piece, but I wouldn't mind if it worked. Has anyone else been through
this with their scrubber? Has anyone had their algae mutate into this wispy
type of algae from turf? I am at loss what on how to proceed now, since I have been
battling this for a while and its starting to get really frustrating!
Thanks for any help,
Mike
