Algae Scrubber Basics

Alright, got my new 75g set up with a 20g sump. I'm using all new dry sand and dry rock for this tank. I threw a whole shrimp in the tank to get a cycle started.

I have an acrylic box built for my waterfall ATS suspended above the sump, screens been roughed up, and my LED floodlights mounted on each side, ready to go. The question is, should I be running the ATS while the tank cycles? If so, how does it affect the cycle of the tank? If not, how long do I wait to start it up?
 
You may have to place a small piece of cured live rock in the tank to get the algae introduced, but I wouldn't do that until you've given it a week up and running. You might be surprised how algae can pop up seemingly out of nowhere
 
I just put a piece of rock from my established tank in the new one to "seed" it. But the question remains, should I even be running the ATS during the cycle at all?

I have two lines of thinking on this. First is that I should leave it offline until the cycle is complete because the bacteria that cycles the tank will be competing with the ATS for food, thus prolonging the cycle of the tank. The second thought is that the screen will not be mature enough for the first few weeks of the cycle to cause any issues with the normal cycle process. Aroundthe time the cycle is ending, the screen will be maturing and there will be no delay in its ability to filter the newly cycled tank.

What do you guys think?
 
So when I was looking at my screen with a flashlight, it looked like it was yellow. I popped it off for the first time in a few weeks to get a better perspective. I think I have just been purely under-lighting my screen. It's actually brownish growth, not yellow. I should increase the exposure time, right?

4933D3EF-4D26-4DE6-B4D2-AC6BC84184B8-4028-000006BDC6D5D36E_zps334e30ce.jpg
 
I just noticed after looking at the picture more. It looks like it has a bit of a hot-spot in the middle, or am I just just seeing things? Maybe throw on a light diffuser?
 
With only 2 660s at 300mA I wouldn't suspect burning or rather photo saturation to be the culprit. Did you try putting something behind the screen to push it out into the flow, so that the screen wasn't "suctioned" on to the acrylic panel behind it?

I'm not sure if I would call that brown or yellow. Looks kind of like a weak green.

So how long has this one been running?
 
I guess nobody has any experience with cycling a tank with an ATS? I think I'm just going to keep it online during the cycle anyway and see what happens. I suspect that by the time the screen matures enough to actually start filtering the water on a new tank, the cycle will be complete or nearly complete anyway. This is my first attempt at using an ATS, so the entire experience is new to me anyway. May as well experiment with it from the start of the tank and see what happens.
 
Sorry, yes cycle the tank with it. You will probably still see a cycle if the screen is brand new. with no fish and no feeding besides maybe ammonia dosing or a shrimp dropped in the tank, watch for over-lighting (too long) because that will photo-saturate any algae that does grow.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
With only 2 660s at 300mA I wouldn't suspect burning or rather photo saturation to be the culprit. Did you try putting something behind the screen to push it out into the flow, so that the screen wasn't "suctioned" on to the acrylic panel behind it?

I'm not sure if I would call that brown or yellow. Looks kind of like a weak green.

So how long has this one been running?
Click to expand...

I put an extra layer of screen underneath my magnets that hold the screen up. That, in addition to my screen naturally bowing out seemed to make more flow on the back side. However, I did recently push the screen up so that the lip of the screen forces more water on the back side. The flow pushes it off the wall a bit more and allows more flow behind it. There's a noticeable difference in how much flow goes over the front of the screen now. If it's not going over the front then it has to be going down the back. We'll see of that makes a difference.
 
In your setup, I'm not sure I would want to necessarily force water to flow to the back side, but rather I would not want to discourage the ability of the water to trickle through the holes. If the screen is flat against a surface on the back, then you have a boundary layer issue with that water in the holes being sort of trapped. That is all I was looking to eliminate. I think you still want the majority of the water to flow across the front. Taking a strip or two of screen at the top to bump it out should do the trick, like you said.
 
Thanks. I've got my LED floodlights on a timer so that they are on for five hours, off for two, and back on for another five hours. If that proves to be too much, i'll drop them down to four hours instead of five. Any idea how long it should take before I start seeing any growth on the screen? It's only been cycling for a week, so i'm not expecting much for a while.
 
If you're cycling, it might takes weeks before you see any significant growth. Depends on the individual system to a great extent. you will probably get diatom or slime growth very easily though, but that's nothing you can really harvest - rather, you can just swipe it off with your hand, just a quick cleaning.
 
Why not use a upflow style scrubber and it will work on both sides of the screen? Is there some reason the waterfall style scrubber is superior in design vs a upflow?
 
IMO, upflow scrubbers have their place. They are mainly useful in instances where a waterfall scrubbers are not feasible like in smaller systems like nanos and some larger systems where a waterfall scrubber is difficult to build and locate.

Upflow scrubbers are difficult to light from both sides, due to the basic design. They are submerged in the water, usually in a sump and so unless you have it positioned in a corner of a sump at a 45 degree angle, light from one side can be close but from the other side it would be much further away. Materials and methods of construction are really just now starting to show promise, up until now it has really been a lot of trial and error.

Waterfall scrubbers are relatively well proven to be effective, the process of building and running them is pretty well established, and troubleshooting is usually pretty simple.
 
crn005 said:
So when I was looking at my screen with a flashlight, it looked like it was yellow. I popped it off for the first time in a few weeks to get a better perspective. I think I have just been purely under-lighting my screen. It's actually brownish growth, not yellow. I should increase the exposure time, right?

4933D3EF-4D26-4DE6-B4D2-AC6BC84184B8-4028-000006BDC6D5D36E_zps334e30ce.jpg
Click to expand...

Man, that screen is tiny
 
Been looking at the redox potential in algal matts, and it seems the reduced flow through the matt is essential in sustaining its viability. Too much aeration or water agrivation through the bed may reduce its effectiveness which may be why the airflow technique is flawed. Any thoughts
 
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