Algae Scrubber Basics

[LeJeune981]

I keep getting a dark red/brown algae growing on my screen.. it always has a white foam like consistency on the inside... anyone have an idea what this stuff may be... it always seems to appear a day or 2 before I clean my screen off..

Pictures are from yesterday... and also from a few weeks ago when my whole screen was covered by this stuff..and the white foam on the inside was about 1/2 inch thick.. it also has a pretty solid consistency

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[Scrubber_steve]

I'd be curious to see your entire algae growing setup?

 

[LeJeune981]

I'd be curious to see your entire algae growing setup?

Not sure if you are referring to me or not.. but I'll snap a picture or 2 once I get home... it's my "a bit hillbilly" upflow ats lol

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[Scrubber_steve]

Not sure if you are referring to me or not.. but I'll snap a picture or 2 once I get home... it's my "a bit hillbilly" upflow ats lol

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Had a feeling it might be an upflow

 

[ali1]

I keep getting a dark red/brown algae growing on my screen.. it always has a white foam like consistency on the inside... anyone have an idea what this stuff may be... it always seems to appear a day or 2 before I clean my screen off..

Pictures are from yesterday... and also from a few weeks ago when my whole screen was covered by this stuff..and the white foam on the inside was about 1/2 inch thick.. it also has a pretty solid consistency

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Stranger things. Ask for 11

 

[LeJeune981]

Stranger things. Ask for 11

Ask for 11?

It even has a dedicated clean up crew for the glass lol

The baby manderins in my fuge hang out in the ats most of the day as well

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[Scrubber_steve]

I had a horizontal scrubber I made some years ago. It grew 'stuff' like you described - white creamy thick like yogurt under a thin layer of green.

The flow was too slow over my screens, the fluro lights weren't strong enough, far from enough water turbulence.

I've never used an upflow, & never intend too, but I'd say you need more bubbles for more flow & turbulence, & better lighting.

 

[biecacka]

i get various colors too, but i don't get the cream foamy looking substance.
what do the other colors mean?

corey

 

[bpnages25]

Algae Scrubber Basics

Clear water scrubber has been up and running for a few months now. Growth seems to be very dark/reddish and not the bright green hair algae healthy growth. Lights are on for 15 hours.



Has anyone tried to cycle light on 6 hours, off 6hours.. ?

 

[LeJeune981]

i get various colors too, but i don't get the cream foamy looking substance.
what do the other colors mean?

corey

Not sure.. I think some of my groth is cyano... but purple..when I scraped it off into a dish.. all the water turned purple lol

The foam stuff.. that baffles me.. under a mocroscope..it looks like just a bunch of bubbles..but a very spongy texture

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[biecacka]

I'm running mine about 13 hours a day and am starting to see a small patch of cyano in the tank. Should I up my time to closer to 18 hours? I have a crazy amount of flow and really don't feed much but I did just try out the eBay hailide bulb so on 1 side of my tank where the algae is. So it could be the bulb possibly

Corey

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Corey, cyano is usually the last thing to get out-competed due to the nature of it.

Before answering your question, how is the scrubber doing? Growing well?

How are your nutrient levels?

When you reference flow, is that in the tank or in the scrubber?

 

[biecacka]

The scrubber is growing great. I clean it about every 14 days and it grows pretty thick. Nutrient levels are N03 5-10, P04 .018. Reference to flow was in the tank. I'm getting about 350,400gph on the scrubber. The thing rocks!!! I don't feed a whole lot, Ehiem auto feeder for 2 turns per day, decent sized pinch per turn, frozen cube 2-3 times a week and I haveabout 30 fish in the tank,

Corey

 

[CoralNerd]

The scrubber is growing great. I clean it about every 14 days and it grows pretty thick. Nutrient levels are N03 5-10, P04 .018. Reference to flow was in the tank. I'm getting about 350,400gph on the scrubber. The thing rocks!!! I don't feed a whole lot, Ehiem auto feeder for 2 turns per day, decent sized pinch per turn, frozen cube 2-3 times a week and I haveabout 30 fish in the tank,

Corey

what was your nutrients prior to the scrubber?

 

[biecacka]

About the same maybe a little higher. But I've ran a scrubber for almost 2 years. First a DIY, and now a REVL2 (I think). It works great helps keep things in order

Corey


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[Floyd R Turbo]

L3 Rev 3 actually:beer:

 

[tlc]

i dont know if this has been discussed yet so i apologize in advance. i have only skimmed through this thread. i am considering a uv sterilizer for my system. about 2 weeks ago i added a very poorly made cheap ats to my system. to my surprise its starting to seed and fill out. does anyone run a uv sterilizer with an ats ? i am concerned the sterilizer might kill the algae growing

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

UV will not affect algae growth. UV will only kill anything in the water column that passes through it, and only will do so fully in a single pass if the water is running slow enough to allow proper contact time.

Nutrients are not affected by UV.

 

[SantaMonica]

Ironically a UV can increase nutrients, by killing phyto and pods in the water column. Not much though, because most people don't have much in the water because of mechanical filters.

 

[biecacka]

glad to hear it is the L3. incase i want to ever feed more.

corey