Algae Scrubber Basics
- Thread starter srusso
- Start date
MarlinDreams
Member
Thanks for all the great input, I can't wait to get all of tis started in the next month or so.
JohnnyB in SD
New member
I would get rid of the old screen & just use the new one. Or at least cut half off and toss it, use smaller piece attached towards the top of the new one for another cleaning cycle.
Your screen looks brown, not that bad for start up phase, compared to how it appears in a pile on the plate.
When I was getting dark goopy algae it was caused by weak lighting. I improved the strength & moved the bulbs closer. How are your CFLs?
Your screen looks brown, not that bad for start up phase, compared to how it appears in a pile on the plate.
When I was getting dark goopy algae it was caused by weak lighting. I improved the strength & moved the bulbs closer. How are your CFLs?
alaska clowns
New member
Thanks.... I'll get rid of at least part of the old screen then.
The CFL's are each 23 watts - and exactly 4 inches from the screen. Does my algae growth pattern indicate that I don't have enough light?
JohnnyB in SD
New member
Well, if you had too much light there'd be lighter growth areas (sometimes burned out) in the center of the light. Your even growth indicates you have good light spread, but black algae is a sign of lacking intensity. Those bulbs got some hours on them or still good? You still have those plastic jug reflectors? Can you move them a little closer to the screen, maybe an inch to see what happens?
You may have to consider 2 bulbs per side, but if your nitrates are improving from 20 to 5 in 2 weeks (that phosphate reading of .2 to .5 seems suspicious) then who really cares what the algae looks like if you get to zero/zero and can keep it there?
You may have to consider 2 bulbs per side, but if your nitrates are improving from 20 to 5 in 2 weeks (that phosphate reading of .2 to .5 seems suspicious) then who really cares what the algae looks like if you get to zero/zero and can keep it there?
JohnnyB in SD
New member
Well, if you had too much light there would be lighter growth areas (sometimes burned out) in the center of the lighted area. Your even growth indicates you have good light spread, but black algae is a sign it lacks intensity. Those bulbs got some hours on them or still good? You have those creative plastic jug reflectors? Can you move them a little closer to the screen, maybe an inch to see what happens?
It's still early so I would gives things more time without doing anything drastic. If your nitrates are improving from 20 to 5 in 2 weeks (that phosphate reading of .2 to .5 seems suspicious) then who really cares what the algae looks like if you get to zero/zero and can keep it there? Might be some new exotic Alaskan strain you got.
It's still early so I would gives things more time without doing anything drastic. If your nitrates are improving from 20 to 5 in 2 weeks (that phosphate reading of .2 to .5 seems suspicious) then who really cares what the algae looks like if you get to zero/zero and can keep it there? Might be some new exotic Alaskan strain you got.
Robert Patterso
New member
I am thinking about going with LEDs so my question is would I better off going with 3w or 1w lights and how many to light up a 10x14 area
alaska clowns
New member
Thanks for your help!
I put new bulbs in when I revamped the scrubber 2 weeks ago - and the reflectors are still my jugs- I think I'll wait a little longer, then try moving the lights closer, since that's a free fix
I had to replace the sump water when I put in the new scrubber because it got nasty waiting for me to get everything back together, and then I did a water change on top of it - I think that helped bring the nitrates down rapidly, too. It's too bad I had to do that, because it would have been interesting to see the readings based exclusively on the scrubber starting to work. And the phosphates - I wouldn't be surprised if it's an operator error on the test kit. Or maybe the kit.
Maybe I'm growing arctic algae
Thanks again!
I put new bulbs in when I revamped the scrubber 2 weeks ago - and the reflectors are still my jugs- I think I'll wait a little longer, then try moving the lights closer, since that's a free fix
I had to replace the sump water when I put in the new scrubber because it got nasty waiting for me to get everything back together, and then I did a water change on top of it - I think that helped bring the nitrates down rapidly, too. It's too bad I had to do that, because it would have been interesting to see the readings based exclusively on the scrubber starting to work. And the phosphates - I wouldn't be surprised if it's an operator error on the test kit. Or maybe the kit.
Maybe I'm growing arctic algae
Thanks again!
Well, I'm a bit frustrated and I hate to start a discussion negatively, but, I wanted to post my results of running a scrubber for the last 6 months. Maybe longer.
I have changed my bulbs out once. I clean the skimmer and canvas weekly. Haven't done any water changes. I didn't feed anything other than frozen food and only 1-2 times a week.
I only had 2-3 fish the entire time.
I had a huge ALGAE problem all over my tank. I finally took a few rocks and scrubbed them down cleaning off the dead algae. The tank started to look good... A few spots of green hair algae, but most of it was dead or dieing.. Then, about a month ago I introduced some new fish, 2 of which died in places I couldn't get to... Well, That spawned a HUGE MASSIVE algae bloom.
I got colorful algaes... Some purple hair algae, some calupera growing in, I had some sea lettuce I tried feeding that took off on it's own. The glass just recently grew in with in 48 hours solid algae. I mean can't see through it. (this is around 2-3 weeks after the 2 fish died).
The tank looks nasty.. When I clean the scrubber screen. It's no more algae than normal... A thin layer of slime algae The skimmer always has nasty gunk in it, but, in all the filtration is unable to keep up with the algae in the display.
I've got 4 26W CFL bulbs lighting the scrubber. It's 14" by 12". 125g tank with 30 gallon sump (not even half full). ANd around 100lbs of rock.
It's like my display turned into a giant 6ft algae fuge. And the scrubber is just lazily doing whatever it does.
I have a marineland pump powering the scrubber. At max capacity it's around 300 to 400gph. It only has around 2 foot of head so, I would think I'm getting at least 300gph.
I have a remote dSB in the sump that is around a year old. I have a 3" sand bed in the display, It's to the point where I just want to give up or start over.
I don't know what I've done wrong and I don't know what to do at this point.
I'm considering replacing my sump with a 55g sump and building a horizontal scrubber or 2 scrubbers one horizontal and one vertical.
I'm afraid to invest any more money in algae removal because, so far I've had limited success. If 1 or two fish dieing are sufficient to cause 60 % of my rock to be covered in hair algae almost overnight. there's definately something wrong.
I had a cleaner wrasse die to starvation this summer because I had so few fish for him to look for parasites and only feeding once a week wasn't enough for him.
Short of continuing to starve my fish and corals or giving up.... How can I improve the scrubber to outperform the display?
I have changed my bulbs out once. I clean the skimmer and canvas weekly. Haven't done any water changes. I didn't feed anything other than frozen food and only 1-2 times a week.
I only had 2-3 fish the entire time.
I had a huge ALGAE problem all over my tank. I finally took a few rocks and scrubbed them down cleaning off the dead algae. The tank started to look good... A few spots of green hair algae, but most of it was dead or dieing.. Then, about a month ago I introduced some new fish, 2 of which died in places I couldn't get to... Well, That spawned a HUGE MASSIVE algae bloom.
I got colorful algaes... Some purple hair algae, some calupera growing in, I had some sea lettuce I tried feeding that took off on it's own. The glass just recently grew in with in 48 hours solid algae. I mean can't see through it. (this is around 2-3 weeks after the 2 fish died).
The tank looks nasty.. When I clean the scrubber screen. It's no more algae than normal... A thin layer of slime algae The skimmer always has nasty gunk in it, but, in all the filtration is unable to keep up with the algae in the display.
I've got 4 26W CFL bulbs lighting the scrubber. It's 14" by 12". 125g tank with 30 gallon sump (not even half full). ANd around 100lbs of rock.
It's like my display turned into a giant 6ft algae fuge. And the scrubber is just lazily doing whatever it does.
I have a marineland pump powering the scrubber. At max capacity it's around 300 to 400gph. It only has around 2 foot of head so, I would think I'm getting at least 300gph.
I have a remote dSB in the sump that is around a year old. I have a 3" sand bed in the display, It's to the point where I just want to give up or start over.
I don't know what I've done wrong and I don't know what to do at this point.
I'm considering replacing my sump with a 55g sump and building a horizontal scrubber or 2 scrubbers one horizontal and one vertical.
I'm afraid to invest any more money in algae removal because, so far I've had limited success. If 1 or two fish dieing are sufficient to cause 60 % of my rock to be covered in hair algae almost overnight. there's definately something wrong.
I had a cleaner wrasse die to starvation this summer because I had so few fish for him to look for parasites and only feeding once a week wasn't enough for him.
Short of continuing to starve my fish and corals or giving up.... How can I improve the scrubber to outperform the display?
TheFishMan65
New member
What is the kelvin rating of the bulbs? How far from the screen?
I would also recommend actually measuring the water flow. A 12 inch wide screen needs 420 gallons an hour (more than the pump rating).
I would also recommend actually measuring the water flow. A 12 inch wide screen needs 420 gallons an hour (more than the pump rating).
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Well, I think I know what's going on here. If you have been reading this thread frequently enough, you can see there has been a few new things come up that have so far helped solve some of the problems you are encountering.
First, let's look at your current system. Your 12x14 screen is 168 square inches with 26x4=104W of CFL lighting, running 6 months, lamps changed once (assuming at the 3 month point). you are feeding 1-2 times a week, and with only 2-3 fish, it's probably a sparing amount, like 1 cube each time. So 1.5 cubes per week, average (guess). Your pump has a max flow it is 300-400 GPH, and you have 2 feet of head.
There's a few holes in the info but I think I can fill them in.
Here's where I see a few potential problems:
1) flow to screen is too low. A 12-14" wide screen should have 420-490 GPH. If you're using the Maxi-jet 1100, which has 294 @ 0 head, you're probably getting about 70% of that at 2', or about 200 GPH. If you're using the 1800 (474) then you're better with 330 GPH.
2) not enough light. You are 106/168 = 0.6 watts per square inch. This is near the minimum, it should be 1W/sq in.
3) nutrients. You are not feeding enough food for a scrubber of that size. The algae in the display tank gets to it first and there is not enough left by the time it gets to the scrubber. This would not be so much of an issue if the scrubber was not also under powered.
4) dsb. Not really much of an issue. it apparently is not doing a very good job of exporting nitrates, because your DT is growing algae nicely.
These all individually might cause an issue, but when combined the system just won't work. Your current setup is too big, under lit, probably low flow, and underfed.
You need a powerful scrubber to overcome a outbreak of the size you are describing. Powerful does not necessarily mean bigger. It means better.
So now let's talk about how to fix it.
First, I would downsize your screen. Go by the new feeding guidelines, which is 12 square inches of screen for every cube of food you feed per day. In your case, that would be ridiculously small, and would allow for no growth, so let's just say 7x7 for simplicity's sake. This is enough to handle 4 cubes of food per day. (Your 12x14 screen could handle 14, if you had enough flow and light on it). You can make it taller, so that it hangs into the sump, but 7" wide.
Now your flow should be adequate. Cutting the width in half will effectively double your flow. Make sure your slot is the proper width, straight, and allowing flow (the screen should not be pinched or snug)
Second, increase your light. There's a new guideline for this as well. Deals like slime algae (black slime) or brown (non-green) growth. Double the light on the screen (switch to 42W CFLs - 3000K or 2700K) and make sure you have a good reflector. You can now cut down the photoperiod. I would start with 9 hours. Pay attention to your growth. Yellow, rubbery growth means not enough nutrients, and the algae 'locks up' and stops growing - reduce photoperiod until you don't get this anymore (1 hour at a time). If you don't get yellow, increase the photoperiod as much as you can until you do, then back it off. You want to overpower the DT alage, so you want as much light as it will take without turning yellow or burning.
With the new light option, you want to have the lights on the scrubber long enough so that you get green growth. Once green starts to fade, increase until you get it again. Once you hit 18 hours a day, replace your lamps. As a general rule of thumb, if you start with 9 hrs/day, at 3 months you increase an hour at a time until you hit 18 then replace. This way your algae gets much more intense light (twice as before) and this will help power through the slime algae until you get green growth, which will outcompete the display tank algae.
Third, and this is the 'not fun' one you have already done once - removing the DT algae. You need to do this if you want to win the battle quickly. Do it after you get the new scrubber installed and running. Use your old screen for the new build so you won't have to cure a new one. Make sure it's rough enough.
Lastly, feed more. This sounds counter-intuitive, but you need to feed at least a cube a day. You don't want to starve the tank, and likewise, you don't want to starve the algae. You need to give enough food to the system so that when the water reaches the scrubber, it can grow thick and green. The green algae does the best filtering, so you want that growth to start on the screen so it can out-compete the DT algae. Once this is going good, the DT algae won't be able to get a start and the battle will be won.
Hopefully this will get you started down the right track. Please post pictures of your scrubber so I can address anything else I might have missed (or not seen)
First, let's look at your current system. Your 12x14 screen is 168 square inches with 26x4=104W of CFL lighting, running 6 months, lamps changed once (assuming at the 3 month point). you are feeding 1-2 times a week, and with only 2-3 fish, it's probably a sparing amount, like 1 cube each time. So 1.5 cubes per week, average (guess). Your pump has a max flow it is 300-400 GPH, and you have 2 feet of head.
There's a few holes in the info but I think I can fill them in.
Here's where I see a few potential problems:
1) flow to screen is too low. A 12-14" wide screen should have 420-490 GPH. If you're using the Maxi-jet 1100, which has 294 @ 0 head, you're probably getting about 70% of that at 2', or about 200 GPH. If you're using the 1800 (474) then you're better with 330 GPH.
2) not enough light. You are 106/168 = 0.6 watts per square inch. This is near the minimum, it should be 1W/sq in.
3) nutrients. You are not feeding enough food for a scrubber of that size. The algae in the display tank gets to it first and there is not enough left by the time it gets to the scrubber. This would not be so much of an issue if the scrubber was not also under powered.
4) dsb. Not really much of an issue. it apparently is not doing a very good job of exporting nitrates, because your DT is growing algae nicely.
These all individually might cause an issue, but when combined the system just won't work. Your current setup is too big, under lit, probably low flow, and underfed.
You need a powerful scrubber to overcome a outbreak of the size you are describing. Powerful does not necessarily mean bigger. It means better.
So now let's talk about how to fix it.
First, I would downsize your screen. Go by the new feeding guidelines, which is 12 square inches of screen for every cube of food you feed per day. In your case, that would be ridiculously small, and would allow for no growth, so let's just say 7x7 for simplicity's sake. This is enough to handle 4 cubes of food per day. (Your 12x14 screen could handle 14, if you had enough flow and light on it). You can make it taller, so that it hangs into the sump, but 7" wide.
Now your flow should be adequate. Cutting the width in half will effectively double your flow. Make sure your slot is the proper width, straight, and allowing flow (the screen should not be pinched or snug)
Second, increase your light. There's a new guideline for this as well. Deals like slime algae (black slime) or brown (non-green) growth. Double the light on the screen (switch to 42W CFLs - 3000K or 2700K) and make sure you have a good reflector. You can now cut down the photoperiod. I would start with 9 hours. Pay attention to your growth. Yellow, rubbery growth means not enough nutrients, and the algae 'locks up' and stops growing - reduce photoperiod until you don't get this anymore (1 hour at a time). If you don't get yellow, increase the photoperiod as much as you can until you do, then back it off. You want to overpower the DT alage, so you want as much light as it will take without turning yellow or burning.
With the new light option, you want to have the lights on the scrubber long enough so that you get green growth. Once green starts to fade, increase until you get it again. Once you hit 18 hours a day, replace your lamps. As a general rule of thumb, if you start with 9 hrs/day, at 3 months you increase an hour at a time until you hit 18 then replace. This way your algae gets much more intense light (twice as before) and this will help power through the slime algae until you get green growth, which will outcompete the display tank algae.
Third, and this is the 'not fun' one you have already done once - removing the DT algae. You need to do this if you want to win the battle quickly. Do it after you get the new scrubber installed and running. Use your old screen for the new build so you won't have to cure a new one. Make sure it's rough enough.
Lastly, feed more. This sounds counter-intuitive, but you need to feed at least a cube a day. You don't want to starve the tank, and likewise, you don't want to starve the algae. You need to give enough food to the system so that when the water reaches the scrubber, it can grow thick and green. The green algae does the best filtering, so you want that growth to start on the screen so it can out-compete the DT algae. Once this is going good, the DT algae won't be able to get a start and the battle will be won.
Hopefully this will get you started down the right track. Please post pictures of your scrubber so I can address anything else I might have missed (or not seen)
JohnnyB in SD
New member
Aside from all the issues Floyd mentioned, how good are the lights in your display?
Running weak power compacts or something may do more for algae in the display than lights in the ATS will for algae on a screen.
If you're not growing corals, you might consider minimizing the photoperiod in the display while following Floyd's recommendations, to also help the ATS get ahead of the display.
Running weak power compacts or something may do more for algae in the display than lights in the ATS will for algae on a screen.
If you're not growing corals, you might consider minimizing the photoperiod in the display while following Floyd's recommendations, to also help the ATS get ahead of the display.
One correction, it's a marine land not a maxijet pump. I used it as a return pump on my 55g tank. But yes, you're right in that maximum capacity is around 420gph and that's 0 head. So, at best I'm probably getting 300gph.
I can't really go longer with my current design... I have an acrylic box, that the screen sits in. Which I"m glad it does because when the algae fills in at the top, it sprays outward instead of going down the screen. I clean and dislodge the algae as soon as I see it, but without the box the lights would have gotten wet..
The box has one drain at the bottom with a bulk head. It's probably not the best design< i should have gone bottomless, was my first attempt I was proud of my ability to glue pvc together successfully and have no leaks! LOL.
No, it's probably less than a cube a day. Or was now, maybe a cube a day for 5 fish. I also have screens on the corner over flows because fish keep swimming into the overflow. They fill up with junk from the display and clog the overflows within 2-3 days, I'm cleaning these constantly.
Some days I still skip feeding, just to limit nutrients into the display.
So, if I can't go smallerwidth, my only other option is to go to a bigger pump.
ugg... The other issue, that I should point out, is my external pump went out a around 8 or so months ago. I tried to get a pump that matched the electrical specs of the old one cause I knew nothing about what size returns should be for the 125. Evidently the previous owner of the 125g tank ran an underpowered return pump.
So, the pump I ended up with is rated at 600gph so, on top of all the issues you identified, which, sounds precisely what I'm facing! Am I also facing the issue that the water through the sump is too slow? So, the scrubber may be filtering the water, but the exchange from Display to sump is too slow for it to have an impact on the nutrients in the display? The other thing I thought of doing is what if I just start adding food to the sump on the days that I don't feed the display?
If this requires a significant rebuild. I have access to a 55g that is designed to be a sump. I could purchase a new return pump that's in sump and the right size of flow, and build a horizontal Scrubber using the natural flow of the sump. If I went with horizontal, I estimate I could do up to a 36" X 12" set of screens. I'm not sure how I would light it yet. I need this to be as cheap as possible. I don't really want to put the money into a new return pump especially since the external I have is only 6 months old.
I have a 4ft 4X 65W PC light. I could possibly use that with 10k bulbs or something like that and pull the actinics out and just run with two bulbs or run with 4 daylight bulbs.
Just some options I'm throwing out there. I'm not sure really what the best path to take.
There's a lot of possibilities. I'm just not sure what the best and cheapest is at this point.
If I just start doing massive water changes regularly. That may resolve it over time, but, then cost gets transferred to salt and DI resin.
What are the cheap options for redoing this? I'll post some pictures tonight of the current design.
I can't really go longer with my current design... I have an acrylic box, that the screen sits in. Which I"m glad it does because when the algae fills in at the top, it sprays outward instead of going down the screen. I clean and dislodge the algae as soon as I see it, but without the box the lights would have gotten wet..
The box has one drain at the bottom with a bulk head. It's probably not the best design< i should have gone bottomless, was my first attempt I was proud of my ability to glue pvc together successfully and have no leaks! LOL.
No, it's probably less than a cube a day. Or was now, maybe a cube a day for 5 fish. I also have screens on the corner over flows because fish keep swimming into the overflow. They fill up with junk from the display and clog the overflows within 2-3 days, I'm cleaning these constantly.
Some days I still skip feeding, just to limit nutrients into the display.
So, if I can't go smallerwidth, my only other option is to go to a bigger pump.
ugg... The other issue, that I should point out, is my external pump went out a around 8 or so months ago. I tried to get a pump that matched the electrical specs of the old one cause I knew nothing about what size returns should be for the 125. Evidently the previous owner of the 125g tank ran an underpowered return pump.
So, the pump I ended up with is rated at 600gph so, on top of all the issues you identified, which, sounds precisely what I'm facing! Am I also facing the issue that the water through the sump is too slow? So, the scrubber may be filtering the water, but the exchange from Display to sump is too slow for it to have an impact on the nutrients in the display? The other thing I thought of doing is what if I just start adding food to the sump on the days that I don't feed the display?
If this requires a significant rebuild. I have access to a 55g that is designed to be a sump. I could purchase a new return pump that's in sump and the right size of flow, and build a horizontal Scrubber using the natural flow of the sump. If I went with horizontal, I estimate I could do up to a 36" X 12" set of screens. I'm not sure how I would light it yet. I need this to be as cheap as possible. I don't really want to put the money into a new return pump especially since the external I have is only 6 months old.
I have a 4ft 4X 65W PC light. I could possibly use that with 10k bulbs or something like that and pull the actinics out and just run with two bulbs or run with 4 daylight bulbs.
Just some options I'm throwing out there. I'm not sure really what the best path to take.
There's a lot of possibilities. I'm just not sure what the best and cheapest is at this point.
If I just start doing massive water changes regularly. That may resolve it over time, but, then cost gets transferred to salt and DI resin.
What are the cheap options for redoing this? I'll post some pictures tonight of the current design.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
The pump I was referencing was a Maxijet pump, not a Maxijet Power head. Like this
http://www.marineland.com/sites/marineland/products/Detail.aspx?id=3383
You can continue to use the same box that you currently have, just cut a new slot tube and reduce the width of the screen to 7". Swap out lamps for 2 42W CFLs. Done. Literally, that's all this is going to take.
I would highly recommend against a horizontal scrubber. You need 4x the area and a minimum of 1.5x the wattage on lighting compared to a double-lit vertical screen, and it still will not be as efficient. Also those tend to grow red turf, which grows slower than GHA and isn't as efficient at nutrient export. You need maximum efficiency.
http://www.marineland.com/sites/marineland/products/Detail.aspx?id=3383
You can continue to use the same box that you currently have, just cut a new slot tube and reduce the width of the screen to 7". Swap out lamps for 2 42W CFLs. Done. Literally, that's all this is going to take.
I would highly recommend against a horizontal scrubber. You need 4x the area and a minimum of 1.5x the wattage on lighting compared to a double-lit vertical screen, and it still will not be as efficient. Also those tend to grow red turf, which grows slower than GHA and isn't as efficient at nutrient export. You need maximum efficiency.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
JohnnyB was asking you what lights you are running over the display tank. His comments about PC lights was referring to running weak PC lights over the display, not asking if you had those available to run the scrubber. Some lights will tend to grow algae in the tank, especially if they're old.
I don't have room to go longer though is the problem, Yeah I can do a new pipe. $10-15 worth of supplies if that and reslot it. That's not the issue, the length would be the issue because the box has a bottom so, I would either have to cut out a slot in the bottom of the box for the screen to slide through, which would block some of the light.
Plus, I'm not sure but the water running into the sump out of the open box may make some noise. I'll have to think about this. It might work. I could use the dremel to cut a slot slightly bigger than the thickness of the screen into the bottom of the box. I'd have to get a longer canvas to make it into the sump, but, yeah I could do like 6wide X 18Long something like that.
I'm using cheap clamp on desk lamps. They have white paint around the bulb. Do I need to be switching to like reflective metal lamps? that would add another $30-40 for fixtures, and another $20-30 for bulbs (maybe more). assuming two lamps per side. If only one lamp perside then yeah, that would be different.
Display, I'm running 1X 400W Radium Single Ended 20k Halide. 2X 250W 20k Radiums (SE) 1 VHO 14K bulb, and 1 VHO Super Actinic bulb (both 72" bulbs).
The 1 VHO bulb was replaced around 4 months ago. ALL of the Halides were replaced at the same time around 4 months ago. The halides are only ran for about 4 hours. The 1 X400W bulb is ran for between 3-4 hours, and the 2 X 250W bulbs are then on for another 5 hours. The two VHO bulbs are ran for 9 hours.
The display has powerful lighting. Plus, it gets some natural sunlight... (Which is also probably a problem.)
For $10-20 I could use the existing structure.
Plus, I'm not sure but the water running into the sump out of the open box may make some noise. I'll have to think about this. It might work. I could use the dremel to cut a slot slightly bigger than the thickness of the screen into the bottom of the box. I'd have to get a longer canvas to make it into the sump, but, yeah I could do like 6wide X 18Long something like that.
I'm using cheap clamp on desk lamps. They have white paint around the bulb. Do I need to be switching to like reflective metal lamps? that would add another $30-40 for fixtures, and another $20-30 for bulbs (maybe more). assuming two lamps per side. If only one lamp perside then yeah, that would be different.
Display, I'm running 1X 400W Radium Single Ended 20k Halide. 2X 250W 20k Radiums (SE) 1 VHO 14K bulb, and 1 VHO Super Actinic bulb (both 72" bulbs).
The 1 VHO bulb was replaced around 4 months ago. ALL of the Halides were replaced at the same time around 4 months ago. The halides are only ran for about 4 hours. The 1 X400W bulb is ran for between 3-4 hours, and the 2 X 250W bulbs are then on for another 5 hours. The two VHO bulbs are ran for 9 hours.
The display has powerful lighting. Plus, it gets some natural sunlight... (Which is also probably a problem.)
For $10-20 I could use the existing structure.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
What are you referring to when you say "I can't go longer"? Your screen is 14 x 12 right now. I'm saying cut it down to 7x7. The only "longer" part I referred to is if you were terminating the screen into the top of your sump, which you have subsequently stated that you are running it in an enclosed box. So just take the screen that you currently have and chop it down to 7" wide.
And those desk lamps are definitely a root cause of your problem. They are not sufficient for a screen that large because they do not adequately spread the light out across the screen. That being said, if you compress all the filtering down to the smaller width you may be able to get away with using those fixtures. You lose a little by not having a wide reflector, which is still ideal, but you gain in that you are 'compressing' that light into a smaller area.
So just cut a new slot tube for a 7" wide screen and cram those lights together.
As for your DT lights, yeah that's a ton of light, you didn't mention that you had any corals - do you?
And the sunlight - yeah you need to block that out completely. At least until the GHA in the tank is completely eradicated. Then you might be able to let it back in, unless you start getting GHA again.
And those desk lamps are definitely a root cause of your problem. They are not sufficient for a screen that large because they do not adequately spread the light out across the screen. That being said, if you compress all the filtering down to the smaller width you may be able to get away with using those fixtures. You lose a little by not having a wide reflector, which is still ideal, but you gain in that you are 'compressing' that light into a smaller area.
So just cut a new slot tube for a 7" wide screen and cram those lights together.
As for your DT lights, yeah that's a ton of light, you didn't mention that you had any corals - do you?
And the sunlight - yeah you need to block that out completely. At least until the GHA in the tank is completely eradicated. Then you might be able to let it back in, unless you start getting GHA again.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
What are you referring to when you say "I can't go longer"? Your screen is 14 x 12 right now. I'm saying cut it down to 7x7. The only "longer" part I referred to is if you were terminating the screen into the top of your sump, which you have subsequently stated that you are running it in an enclosed box. So just take the screen that you currently have and chop it down to 7" wide.
And those desk lamps are definitely a root cause of your problem. They are not sufficient for a screen that large because they do not adequately spread the light out across the screen. That being said, if you compress all the filtering down to the smaller width you may be able to get away with using those fixtures. You lose a little by not having a wide reflector, which is still ideal, but you gain in that you are 'compressing' that light into a smaller area.
So just cut a new slot tube for a 7" wide screen and cram those lights together.
As for your DT lights, yeah that's a ton of light, you didn't mention that you had any corals - do you?
And the sunlight - yeah you need to block that out completely. At least until the GHA in the tank is completely eradicated. Then you might be able to let it back in, unless you start getting GHA again.
And those desk lamps are definitely a root cause of your problem. They are not sufficient for a screen that large because they do not adequately spread the light out across the screen. That being said, if you compress all the filtering down to the smaller width you may be able to get away with using those fixtures. You lose a little by not having a wide reflector, which is still ideal, but you gain in that you are 'compressing' that light into a smaller area.
So just cut a new slot tube for a 7" wide screen and cram those lights together.
As for your DT lights, yeah that's a ton of light, you didn't mention that you had any corals - do you?
And the sunlight - yeah you need to block that out completely. At least until the GHA in the tank is completely eradicated. Then you might be able to let it back in, unless you start getting GHA again.
Oh sorry, thinking about too many things at once, some thoughts get lost in the shuffle. 
I have a lot of corals, 4 RBTAs (All are healthy and doing great) 1 croatia (sp?) clam, it's the small purple / blue. It's about 4-5" in size. I've got a large variety of LPS. A large about 8" elegance coral. a Torch, several species of frogspawn. I have a huge finger leather over a foot tall and probably 6-8" in width. I love it. A chalace, a plate coral. A variety of different colored caps. I have well bred Aiptasia infestation. (that will be the next battle not appropriate for this thread).
I grow corals without any issues. I did have an infection spread across some of the non fleshy lps. Some die off / recession. Nothing completely died though, and everything appears to be growing back. It was when I realized my salinity got out of whack and it had hit 1.030 and I dropped it to 1.026 too fast. BUt otherwise, the frogspawn, some star polyps, the elegance, everything appears happy and growing fairly well. It's pretty other than for the algae. The Clam is nearly buried in HA. There's purple fuzzy algae growing all over. Bubble algae, calupera, sea lettuce, etc all in the DT.
My guess is the algaes are strong enough to keep the nutrients and phosphates to nearly depleted levels so the corals are nearly uninhibited by the phosphates.
I have a cover on the back side of the glas protecting it from the window and curtains are always closed. The only issue I noticed is the tape let loose some on the back cover and algae grew in the opening in the glas where the sun would have hit. LOL. It was nearly instantaneous. Heh.
Now if I could have an elevated scrubber in front of the window in the direct sunlight. That would be a different and fun experiment alltogether.
I have a lot of corals, 4 RBTAs (All are healthy and doing great) 1 croatia (sp?) clam, it's the small purple / blue. It's about 4-5" in size. I've got a large variety of LPS. A large about 8" elegance coral. a Torch, several species of frogspawn. I have a huge finger leather over a foot tall and probably 6-8" in width. I love it. A chalace, a plate coral. A variety of different colored caps. I have well bred Aiptasia infestation. (that will be the next battle not appropriate for this thread).
I grow corals without any issues. I did have an infection spread across some of the non fleshy lps. Some die off / recession. Nothing completely died though, and everything appears to be growing back. It was when I realized my salinity got out of whack and it had hit 1.030 and I dropped it to 1.026 too fast. BUt otherwise, the frogspawn, some star polyps, the elegance, everything appears happy and growing fairly well. It's pretty other than for the algae. The Clam is nearly buried in HA. There's purple fuzzy algae growing all over. Bubble algae, calupera, sea lettuce, etc all in the DT.
My guess is the algaes are strong enough to keep the nutrients and phosphates to nearly depleted levels so the corals are nearly uninhibited by the phosphates.
I have a cover on the back side of the glas protecting it from the window and curtains are always closed. The only issue I noticed is the tape let loose some on the back cover and algae grew in the opening in the glas where the sun would have hit. LOL. It was nearly instantaneous. Heh.
Now if I could have an elevated scrubber in front of the window in the direct sunlight. That would be a different and fun experiment alltogether.
JohnnyB in SD
New member
That is actually a good idea. I wish my tank were near a window.
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