Algae Scrubber Basics

Hi all,
Asked a question a little earlier but I think it got a bit lost. Feed roughly two - two and half cubes a day. So, built a 4x6" screen, lit from both sides. I'm running 23 w CFLs at 6 hrs on 6 hrs off for 12 hrs per day. I believe that's the overlit secanario where I don't need to run lights as long. Do my calculations seem correct? Should I run 12 hrs straight or split up? Currently do 6 hrs on and 6 hrs off I wasn't clear on that.

Thanks
Andrew
 
You can theoretically run 9 hours total per day if you're double-lit. You can run as one solid "on" period, or split it up. Your alternating 6-on 6-off is probably fine, once the screen is mature/cured then you can vary the photoperiod as needed: yellow growth is too much light (too long "on"), dark growth is not enough (not enough "on"), green is just right. Do adjustments based on the resultant growth over 1 week, and don't change more than 1 or maybe 2 hours per day each week (unless you get darker brown growth, then you can up it in the middle of the week)
 
Thanks for the comment on Monti Caps & K levels. Mine are way faded, was looking at a lot of other possible factors, but not K.

Perhaps the ATS has contributed to the low level, but I think the primary issue is I got busy/lazy over the summer and haven't done anything beyond dosing the basic 3 (Ca, Alk, Mg) for months. Just recently started doing small water changes.
I'm going to keep the ATS operational variables stable, and if growth improves as the K rises, that would indicate to me that "adequate K is important for optimizing an ATS". Especially since growth had been very good, but has been dropping off over the past several weeks for no apparent reason. Hence the constant tweaking to lighting/flow/etc.
Perhaps the ATS is a significant consumer. The more I think about it, I'd be surprised if The Theory doesn't pan out.
What other elements does algae consume in significant quantities besides N P K?

Looks like I've been asleep at the wheel, and most other trace elements are likely out of whack too. I was probably headed towards a serious crash. I'll be doing some larger water changes and dosing minor additives asap. Also see a need for continued K testing even after I get back on the track.
Thank you Srusso.
 
I think most other trace elements are supplied by food, but NPK uptake by algae as a parallel to uptake by plants in general seems logical.

Like most things in this hobby though, there just aren't funds to have water analyzed for content, and definitely not enough funds for analyzing content of many tanks and then cross-correlating all the pertinent factors to come up with decent data.
 
But obviously 16-18 cubes a day isn't enough to keep K levels up. Who knows what else is low? Fish food labeling is pretty basic, and I don't see anyone eager to start analyzing it further.

I hear ya.
Never mind funds for water to be professionally analyzed, it's difficult enough to afford the relatively limited range of hobby level test kits.
I just recently started testing Mg. How many people test for K? I would have never considered it, before now. And as you point out, most test kits give you a general idea at best.
 
I googled "elos potassium test kit review". Aquanerd reviewed this a while back

http://blog.aquanerd.com/2011/02/elos-potassium-test-kit-review.html

In case link is blocked, here is the text I found interesting:

Elos recently released two test kits under their new “expert” test kit line. These are the Phosphate and Potassium test kits, of which we have reviewed the Potassium kit. Here we take an up-close look at it, and throw it up against a more popular potassium test kit, the KZ Kalium testkit. Potassium dosing is generally not recommended in most home reefs. It is usually dosed to help supplement dropping potassium levels in probiotic systems such as Zeovit or Ultralith. It is unclear if the potassium is absorbed by the zeolith or if the potassium is consumed by the beneficial bacterial to multiply. It is clear that shortly after starting Zeovit, potassium will drop significantly and this could cause problems. That is why it is paramount to check potassium if running Zeovit or something similair. (sic)
Click to expand...

Perhaps carbon-dosing based systems and algae scrubbers have more in common than we thought.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
I googled "elos potassium test kit review". Aquanerd reviewed this a while back

http://blog.aquanerd.com/2011/02/elos-potassium-test-kit-review.html

In case link is blocked, here is the text I found interesting:



Perhaps carbon-dosing based systems and algae scrubbers have more in common than we thought.
Click to expand...


Yep, thats what I believe and feel that I have seen first hand in my tank. That is why I included this in my natural reef document.

"One common thought is, since potassium is needed and consumed by bacteria and other organisms, the depletion of potassium could cause a rise in nutrients."
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
On the Low Potassium issue, I was told that if my K was indeed 325 as the Salifert kit showed (there is a dramatic color change with this kit, there is no color card) then he said that was "very low, and you should correct it". NSW is 390-410 (his words) and you need to keep it in that range. He also mentioned that one primary indicator of K deficiency is Red Monti Cap, if it looks faded or washed out, your K is low, otherwise, It's probably not. So I guess I will get the Elos kit, then adjust K as necessary, and watch the color of the Montis, and if they change to a more vibrant color, I'll know they were previously washed out! I never really paid attention before.

But to those of you testing K <250, I would say that on any test kit, that's low.

W/R to test kits in general, he said that most are accurate to the level that we care about, with some brands being better than others. K in particular was probably the least reliable accurate of them all, with Elos being the best one.
Click to expand...
Sorry I think I meant 320 not 220
 
2012-09-22024107_zps4ecc30ba.jpg
this after day two of my newly added UAS. I am curious if there are any drawbacks to having it in my dt. since I don't have a sump and limited funds at the moment I don,t have much choice. will it still be as effective ? any advice for having itin the dt? also anyway I could move it to a five gallon bucket next to my tank? and if so how??


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android
 
Not really, a UAS needs to have the light perpendicular to the screen, just like any scrubber. So unless you had a clear bucket, and were totally confident that it wouldn't overflow on a power outage, etc...

How rough is your screen? Pictures are always so hard to tell. It needs to be plenty rough. Here's a youtube video I made that shows it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mrCWALt9Qs
 
the screen is pretty rough I ran a serrated bread knife ofer in for about ten minutes. I didn't cut through any of the plastic but its about the texture of very grainy sand paper. I already have very thin pieces of hair algae growing on it so I feel like I'm headed in the right direction. how long do you think before I should notice the algae on the rockwork glass and sandbed to BEGIN receeding?


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android
 
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348366044.454273.jpg

New totally LED scrubber in finally installed! It took a long time and loads of planning. But it's in and running!

What do you guys think?
 
I couldn't get your images to load using either link. I've noticed this is a problem lately for RC, as if images of any size are allowed to be uploaded but then blocked when trying to view them in a thread.
 
wanted to give you guys an update. here is my screen on my UAS after four days
2012-09-24040102_zpsf6e92e76.jpg
....with it being new should i clean it after seven days or let it go longer the first time?


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android
 
wanted to give you guys an update. here is my screen on my UAS after four days
2012-09-24040102_zpsf6e92e76.jpg
....with it being new should i clean it after seven days or let it go longer the first time?


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android
 
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