Turf scrubber clean up

[Heres_doe_]

When cleaning up ats do you guys leave like half the algae or get rid of it all. I got rid off all of mine but it’s not all green just some patches. I went from .02 po4 to .14 in a matter of 3 days

 

[Dan_P]

When cleaning up ats do you guys leave like half the algae or get rid of it all. I got rid off all of mine but it’s not all green just some patches. I went from .02 po4 to .14 in a matter of 3 days

I don’t use a turf scrubber but do have a macro algae pond to keep nitrate level down. I typically harvest only half the algae unless nitrate level has fallen too low. In that case, about 2/3 of the macro algae comes out.

The above is a long way of saying, don’t completely clean the screen because you remove too much of algae population that removes your phosphate. In your case, you can try trimming the screen rather cleaning it. By trimming you might try just combing off the long and loose mat. It might take some experimenting to find what works best for you. Not all ATS are growing the same thing.

 

[VintageReefer]

What scrubber do you have ?

I don’t have a screen, instead it’s a chamber, and I remove 75%.

 

[Dan_P]

What scrubber do you have ?

I don’t have a screen, instead it’s a chamber, and I remove 75%.

75% might be too aggressive. Can you easily remove less?

 

[VintageReefer]

75% might be too aggressive. Can you easily remove less?

I can remove as much as I want. This is what I’ve been doing for 10 years

 

[Heres_doe_]

What scrubber do you have ?

I don’t have a screen, instead it’s a chamber, and I remove 75%.

I have a diy with a screen. It’s not fully mature but the green is coming along fast. I just scraped it off when it was full last time with goo and brown algae. Obviously the screen has some in the cracks but the bulk of it was scraped off. Currently only running one side of it. Also my bio load isn’t huge as far as fish so I feed very heavy to keep it going.

 

[VintageReefer]

Your dark colored, almost slime like growth indicates that what you are growing is very nutrient dense.

It’s one of the nicer setups I’ve seen. I would put a light on the other side and see what happens. You could use a timer and alternate them if you are worried about too much filtering or you could reduce photoperiod

But with growth on both sides then you would alternate each harvest so you never over harvest the screen

 

[Heres_doe_]

Your dark colored, almost slime like growth indicates that what you are growing is very nutrient dense.

It’s one of the nicer setups I’ve seen. I would put a light on the other side and see what happens. You could use a timer and alternate them if you are worried about too much filtering or you could reduce photoperiod

But with growth on both sides then you would alternate each harvest so you never over harvest the screen

I had read it means it’s starting. It starting in slime then it turns green. Right now green is taking over the slime slowly but surely

 

[Heres_doe_]

Your dark colored, almost slime like growth indicates that what you are growing is very nutrient dense.

It’s one of the nicer setups I’ve seen. I would put a light on the other side and see what happens. You could use a timer and alternate them if you are worried about too much filtering or you could reduce photoperiod

But with growth on both sides then you would alternate each harvest so you never over harvest the screen

I was going to put a light as soon as I see what’s going on with growth and nutrient export. Right now it’s got me at about 1.8 no3 and had me at .02 po4 my lowest with only one light. Idk if I should push for more growth.

 

[VintageReefer]

I was going to put a light as soon as I see what’s going on with growth and nutrient export. Right now it’s got me at about 1.8 no3 and had me at .02 po4 my lowest with only one light. Idk if I should push for more growth.

It’s slime at first because your water is at its worst so the slime algae is forming. Slime I believe is one of the most nutrient dense forms of algae. Once it gets stripped down a little then turf should grow more and more

 

[Heres_doe_]

It’s slime at first because your water is at its worst so the slime algae is forming. Slime I believe is one of the most nutrient dense forms of algae. Once it gets stripped down a little then turf should grow more and more

Makes sense

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

When cleaning up ats do you guys leave like half the algae or get rid of it all. I got rid off all of mine but it’s not all green just some patches.

If you're worried, don't even scrape. Just rub & rinse to clear off any weakly attached algae and slime, then pick at the larger clumps with your fingers to thin them out, give a good rinse, clear the top edge with a scrub brush, and put it back in. Repeat weekly if needed.

These pics do not represent, to me, a nutrient-dense system. The dark algae that you get in those situations is really dark green, and for bad ones, it's literally a black coating on the plastic canvas that you have to scrub off and it comes off in flakes.

Slime: high nutrient, fast growing, you want to clear this off probably 2-3x/wk with rub & rinse to extract it from the system and encourage GHA. You may get both for a while, this is where rub & rinse works best because the GHA gives slime more surface area to grow on, so it snowballs and you'll likely get through the slime phase faster

 

[Heres_doe_]

If you're worried, don't even scrape. Just rub & rinse to clear off any weakly attached algae and slime, then pick at the larger clumps with your fingers to thin them out, give a good rinse, clear the top edge with a scrub brush, and put it back in. Repeat weekly if needed.


These pics do not represent, to me, a nutrient-dense system. The dark algae that you get in those situations is really dark green, and for bad ones, it's literally a black coating on the plastic canvas that you have to scrub off and it comes off in flakes.

Slime: high nutrient, fast growing, you want to clear this off probably 2-3x/wk with rub & rinse to extract it from the system and encourage GHA. You may get both for a while, this is where rub & rinse works best because the GHA gives slime more surface area to grow on, so it snowballs and you'll likely get through the slime phase faster

So soon as it slimes clear it away? Gha is starting to take hold now. Scrubber been running about a month now with small bio load. Tanks a 150 with only 3 fishes currently. I feed multiple times a day to make up for the lack of load. I’m far from worried as far as nutrients as I don’t have corals only 1 leather. I just want to figure out a system on removing so I don’t have a jump like this when I start adding corals especially sps.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

You can let slime stay on longer, but depending on the type you are getting, it might block light a bit. So it's a safe bet to say clear off at least once a week, but you probably don't need to do it more than twice a week.

This cleaning can be really quick in some cases, you may not have to rub at all, just swipe your palm across the screen while running under room temp tap water, once on each side. Then every other time, rub back & forth with fingertips (which will remove a bit of GHA likely too)

Your screen looks pretty mature. If you're only 5 fish lightly fed in a 150, that's a pretty big screen for that system so you will want to make sure you don't push it by running the lights all day or using high flow. Balancing flow and light with available nutrients is needed.

What I've found is that you don't need much flow unless you are wanting to "overdrive" your screen - so if you have 20 GPH for every inch of screen width, that's pretty good.

What lights?
What photoperiod?
What pump?
Screen dims?

 

[Heres_doe_]

You can let slime stay on longer, but depending on the type you are getting, it might block light a bit. So it's a safe bet to say clear off at least once a week, but you probably don't need to do it more than twice a week.

This cleaning can be really quick in some cases, you may not have to rub at all, just swipe your palm across the screen while running under room temp tap water, once on each side. Then every other time, rub back & forth with fingertips (which will remove a bit of GHA likely too)

Your screen looks pretty mature. If you're only 5 fish lightly fed in a 150, that's a pretty big screen for that system so you will want to make sure you don't push it by running the lights all day or using high flow. Balancing flow and light with available nutrients is needed.

What I've found is that you don't need much flow unless you are wanting to "overdrive" your screen - so if you have 20 GPH for every inch of screen width, that's pretty good.

What lights?
What photoperiod?
What pump?
Screen dims?

Cheap Amazon light
24/7 currently
M2 pump ran off the return with a valve to control flow

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

You probably don't need 24/7 lighting, but depending on how cheap the lights are, that might work. Got a link to them?

Would you say your flow is nice and even and medium or medium-slow, or is it like a raging torrent, or something else?

 

[Heres_doe_]

You probably don't need 24/7 lighting, but depending on how cheap the lights are, that might work. Got a link to them?

Would you say your flow is nice and even and medium or medium-slow, or is it like a raging torrent, or something else?

Flow for sure is nice calm and even. Cleaned up yesterday ands already got growing today

 

[Heres_doe_]

After yesterdays clean up we got more green growing today