Turf algae scrubber goody

[G Santana]

I had similar problems, I went from thick green turf algae to slime when I was dosing Vibrant, 7 weeks after I stopped dosing, it slowly went back to the thick green turf.
Something is affecting your scrubber

 

[paintman]

That slime algae isn't slime algae its decaying hair algae.

How can it be decaying when you clean the screen every 5-7 days. I have had this type of slime algae from day one. Please explain.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

@paintman while decaying algae might generate slime, that doesn't necessarily mean slime is always due to decaying algae. What I do know is that clear slime tends to inhibit GHA growth. What I would recommend is doing an interim cleaning a couple times each week, where you take the screen to your sink and while rinsing it, swipe your palm across each side and/or rub gently with your fingertips to loosen and rinse away the slime. Don't scrape or scrub, leave any GHA in tact as best you can. You can repeat this pretty much endlessly if the GHA is really slow to take off, as long as it's not shading the lower layers/base of growth you can leave the GHA alone. Once it gets thick enough, you'll need to harvest but then only remove about half - and I recommend scraping in an X pattern on one side and a # pattern on the other.

 

[Borat]

@paintman while decaying algae might generate slime, that doesn't necessarily mean slime is always due to decaying algae. What I do know is that clear slime tends to inhibit GHA growth. What I would recommend is doing an interim cleaning a couple times each week, where you take the screen to your sink and while rinsing it, swipe your palm across each side and/or rub gently with your fingertips to loosen and rinse away the slime. Don't scrape or scrub, leave any GHA in tact as best you can. You can repeat this pretty much endlessly if the GHA is really slow to take off, as long as it's not shading the lower layers/base of growth you can leave the GHA alone. Once it gets thick enough, you'll need to harvest but then only remove about half - and I recommend scraping in an X pattern on one side and a # pattern on the other.

I agree that over-scraping my render the screen maturity worthless.. Harvesting GHA needs to be done in a smart way.

I scrape my screen bare using kitchen knife - but only one side every 7-10 days. The scraped side will then regrow from the side that's not been scraped. 7-10 days later another side is scraped.

This ensures that turf algae forms a very even mat - without any clumps or uneven growth...

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Pull the algae in the display so the nutrients actually gets to ur scrubber mat.
Also I agree that that's just dieing algae.
My scrubber will look like that if I kill the lights on it.
D

 

[MikeAndrews]

Decrease photoperiod.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Low iron is the main reason for yellow colored algae. Some other trace are likely low as well. Many people find they need to dose something like chaeto-grow as a supplement for the algae to have proper growth (nutrient uptake)

Yeah I’ll pick some of that up thank you

I wanted to note that Iron is quickly depleted in a reef aquarium. IMO this is only a short-term fix to get algae growing. I've tested this myself by dosing moderate amounts regularly and it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference, and it might not be the correct solution. See my other posts with lots of questions, I'd like to see answers to those questions before giving too much advice. What works in one system may not work in another so I feel it's important to gather as much information as possible before jumping to a conclusion

That's not necessarily the correct move - too much flow can actually have a negative effect.

Lots of answers being thrown out, but what is really needed in order to give you a correct assessment is more information

How often do you harvest the algae? (should be every 10-14 days generally but this is not a rule)
How aggressively do you remove algae and/or clean the screen? (should not be aggressive)
Are you scrubbing the screen with a brush? (you should not, only the top edge)
Are you rinsing it in tap water after you harvest/clean? (you should)
Are you leaving some algae behind? (you should)
What is your screen size?
How much flow are you running? Or what pump, what does flow look like, etc.
What is the scrubber photoperiod?
Can you adjust intensity of the light?
Pics/brand/model of your scrubber might help also
Do you ever do an interim cleaning where you only rub & rinse the screen to get rid of slime?
What is your tank size?
What is your bioload?
How much do you feed?
What do you feed?

That'll get us started. Have to pinpoint the issue or else it's like chasing pH.

^^ this is the information I was hoping to gather