RAIN 2 Installation and Start Up

Waboss · May 14, 2017

Yeah, I've pulled it for now. I have to move the tank as I'm moving into a house (from an apartment) in a couple of weeks. So I figured I'd go ahead and clean it and then maybe give it a fresh start once I move (plus I may be changing my tanks/sumps/etc.).

Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far, I'll keep you updated when/if I fire it back up.

atoll · May 14, 2017

MaccaPopEye said:
To be honest while they are expensive if I was to buy a scrubber it would be from turbo aquatics, no other pre built scrubbers come close. well.

Now that is simply not true, my Atlantis 2 is around 2/3rds of the price and does just a good a job. I do agree though the Turbo scrubbers are the best built and refined.
BTW I put my Atlantis 2 on just

5 days ago and just rubbed some algae on both sides of the screen to seed it.

Water Dog · May 14, 2017

Killer growth!

sundog101 · May 14, 2017

That looks more like kelp than algae

Jerm40 · May 15, 2017

Just out of curiosity what are your nitrate and phosphate measurements? there have been some good threads regarding balancing these two out. On low nutrient systems this has been achieved by dosing potassium nitrate. Personally I don't have a scrubber but had a diy one in the past and could not get it to work properly and did end up with a terrible hair algae outbreak in my tank.

MaccaPopEye · May 15, 2017

atoll said:
Now that is simply not true, my Atlantis 2 is around 2/3rds of the price and does just a good a job. I do agree though the Turbo scrubbers are the best built and refined.
BTW I put my Atlantis 2 on just

5 days ago and just rubbed some algae on both sides of the screen to seed it.

Well you can't really say that its not true, no other scrubber I have seen has the same features as the turbo and thats what I mean by they don't come close. Doesn't mean other scrubbers can't get growth as good, but the turbo is the only one I would pay for.

The Atlantis is a nice scrubber no doubt (but to be honest almost a direct copy of the early turbo models), but I can DIY that for way less so I wouldn't pay for it (although it is priced reasonably). I'm also not saying that other pre built scrubbers wont do the job well because some of them grow awesome algae, but the features that the turbo scrubber comes with are what I would pay for, primarily the removable growth chamber - show me a scrubber of the same build quality and features for 2/3 of the price and I would consider it

This was my first (and currently only

) DIY scrubber after 2 weeks. DIY acrylic box to encourage 3D growth and off the shelf LED lights just to make it easier. Next time I DIY one I have a few improvements to make but this one works well.

atoll · May 15, 2017

The turbos are the best but IMO they have features that are wants not needs an of course you pay a premium for the wants like the removable inner section and dimming of the LEDS. In the UK we would pay about £600 for an L2 due to shipping and tax. The Atlantis 2 £350. £250 extra for wants is a lot of money. My Atlantis will grow algae equally as well. However you pays your money and takes your pick. I don't need the frills so the Atlantis suits me just fine and IMO it does come close to the Turbo's for the reasons given. I have built 2 DIY scrubbers in the past both of which grew GHA pretty well.

SantaMonica · May 15, 2017

Can't see the color with the light on, but is it green or brown?

Waboss · May 15, 2017

SantaMonica said:
Can't see the color with the light on, but is it green or brown?

It was green, but fading. The same thing happens in the display as NoPox is basically removing what the algae needs to live. So it starts turning light green and then more clear, then dies off.

Southpawzzz · Aug 6, 2017

Updates?

Water Dog · Aug 6, 2017

I bought it from him. I will be putting it through its paces in a tub curing some BRS Pukani dry rock. I'll see how it goes and weather or not I will incorporate it into my new build.

madreefer11 · Apr 15, 2018

I have a t

madreefer11 · Apr 15, 2018

isnt it better to get the SURF2x? I had a ton of algae growth just by using a tunze led in the sump. i thought i was growing chaeto but it was just algae. i used the acrylic refugium divider for my 425 XL.