Algae Scrubber Basics
- Thread starter srusso
- Start date
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Why a pain... looks like you just slide them out of the way.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
If anything, the first thing I would do would be to add a T to each end of both legs, then a street 90 and another small section of pipe into each end of each tee. That will keep it from falling into your sump when you breath on it lol....because that's what it looks like right now!!
Other than that, I agree with Bryan, looks like you can just slide it out of the way.
An afterthought, you might use some larger diameter pipe to give it rigidity. Or make a frame out of 2x4s
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Depends what you mean by spray. New waterfalls sometimes spray/push water to the end of the slot until they fill in with growth.
hkgar
Active member
What's happened?
What's happened?
I have been growing Algae wit an ATS for a couple years or more and just a couple weeks ago was getting 260+ grams per week. Now virtually nothing. Here is a picture of the screen and the lights.
The screen is 9.5x8 inches and the lighting is 21 3 watt deep red per side and water flow is about 350 gph. The lighting period was 18 hrs. I reduced it to 12 today.
I was lighting with 2 all red strips (14 led's) and one strip with 2 blue 1 white and 4 red per side. The red's were doing great and the mixed not so much so I ordered the all reds. And even before I changed them out the red side start to diminish in growth.
What's happened?
I have been growing Algae wit an ATS for a couple years or more and just a couple weeks ago was getting 260+ grams per week. Now virtually nothing. Here is a picture of the screen and the lights.
The screen is 9.5x8 inches and the lighting is 21 3 watt deep red per side and water flow is about 350 gph. The lighting period was 18 hrs. I reduced it to 12 today.
I was lighting with 2 all red strips (14 led's) and one strip with 2 blue 1 white and 4 red per side. The red's were doing great and the mixed not so much so I ordered the all reds. And even before I changed them out the red side start to diminish in growth.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Gary, did anything in your system change? Feeding, livestock, nutrient levels, anything at all?
Offhand I would agree with homer that it looks like photosaturation but that doesn't make sense given that it's not a new screen/system. So that's why I asked the question.
my guess is that some nutrient bottomed out or is limiting things and that caused growth to stifle. You might check potassium. You can always add that no matter what, because most scrubbers suck them down. You can try adding iron also. These would just be troubleshooting steps to see if one thing kicks it back in gear.
You could also try to decrease intensity, maybe wire a couple of those arrays in parallel to put them to 50% (or even 3-way parallel for 33%) and then go back to the longer hours. Or a diffuser. If you have a limiting situation, keeping intensity the same and lowering duration may not help because it's an instantaneous thing - the light is too intense so no matter what the duration, the photosaturation (or whatever is happening) is happening instantly, not due to duration. If that makes sense.
Either way, clear off the slime. It's possible that got a foothold because of some other condition in the tank, and pushed the GHA out of the way. To get it back in there, you would need to think like you are starting over, and then intensity is definitely a factor.
So with all that said, I would find a way to lower intensity, I think you have to do that no matter what the root cause of the problem is.
Offhand I would agree with homer that it looks like photosaturation but that doesn't make sense given that it's not a new screen/system. So that's why I asked the question.
my guess is that some nutrient bottomed out or is limiting things and that caused growth to stifle. You might check potassium. You can always add that no matter what, because most scrubbers suck them down. You can try adding iron also. These would just be troubleshooting steps to see if one thing kicks it back in gear.
You could also try to decrease intensity, maybe wire a couple of those arrays in parallel to put them to 50% (or even 3-way parallel for 33%) and then go back to the longer hours. Or a diffuser. If you have a limiting situation, keeping intensity the same and lowering duration may not help because it's an instantaneous thing - the light is too intense so no matter what the duration, the photosaturation (or whatever is happening) is happening instantly, not due to duration. If that makes sense.
Either way, clear off the slime. It's possible that got a foothold because of some other condition in the tank, and pushed the GHA out of the way. To get it back in there, you would need to think like you are starting over, and then intensity is definitely a factor.
So with all that said, I would find a way to lower intensity, I think you have to do that no matter what the root cause of the problem is.
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Looks like growth got so heavy the roots died and detached. Common for waterfalls.
hkgar
Active member
There have been no significant changes in anything about the tank in the lst few weeks. NO3 runs between s and 10 but was 2 yesterday. PO4 runs about .05.
I checked Potassium and it is 400-410.
I am not sure what you mean by wiring the lights in parallel. I am using the 3 drivers that came with the lights from Steve's LED's and each driver powers 14 of the led's. Link to drivers. I believe they are wired in Parallel, but not sure. Red wire goes to positive on light 1 then from negative on light 1 to positive on light 2 and black wire is to negative on light 2. Maybe that is in series? Should the re be split to go to both positives and the black split to go to both negatives?
Not sure how to difuse the light. Someone said a piece of Scotch tape over each LED would lower the intensity?
I actually started using 6700K cfl and still have them. Maybe going back to them until it begins to regenerates?
Last edited:
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
No tape over the LEDs - don't touch the domes over the chips at all, that can damage them
You are wired in series.
Parallel would be Driver (+) connected to the LED board (+) of both boards via a splitter (or a wire nut connecting the driver wire to the two board wires) and then the same back to the driver from the (-) terminals. This in effect would split the current between the two boards evenly.
You will want to double-check with Steve's to make sure that will work with that driver/board combo. If the driver works with just 1 board and doesn't require 2 boards to work right, then it will work because running 2 boards in parallel is the same as just running 1 board by itself.
You are wired in series.
Parallel would be Driver (+) connected to the LED board (+) of both boards via a splitter (or a wire nut connecting the driver wire to the two board wires) and then the same back to the driver from the (-) terminals. This in effect would split the current between the two boards evenly.
You will want to double-check with Steve's to make sure that will work with that driver/board combo. If the driver works with just 1 board and doesn't require 2 boards to work right, then it will work because running 2 boards in parallel is the same as just running 1 board by itself.
LeJeune981
New member
My scrubber has been working great.. but my air tubing keeps getting clogged.. the the seems to grab onto the hole and grow..theb clogs it...any way to prevent this?
Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Soak in vinegar.
Scrubber_steve
I'm really very likeable
whats happened to hkgar's screen is not common at all in my opinion.
I've never had a screen, or seen another screen go off like that.
It looks like it was cleaned and put back into the scrubber under full lights without waterflow. Its exactly how screens look when their no longer used & left in the sun for days. The remaining algae dies & turns to yellow gunk.
hgar's screen has two large areas that look like photo-inhibition has occured, while the top & the bottom are healthy.
hkgar
Active member
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Wait...you shut off your pump?
hkgar
Active member
Only when taking out the screen for cleaning. Oops, 1 exception: also all pumps shut off if a leak is detected.
ReefCowboy
New member
So finally have moved in the new house and am putting the system together. Here are some pics of the acrylic algae scrubber I made. Read lots here for guidance. Feel free to criticize and give input to hopefully help me make it better.
Screen, splash shield, base, all comes appart for maintenance/cleaning
Screen is 12” wide X 8” tall.. At 35 gal per inch, this pump should work
Scrubber leds from Expressions LTD.
Added two more led bars to the box. Three led bars per side. The bars are 12”, same width of the screen
Screen, splash shield, base, all comes appart for maintenance/cleaning
Screen is 12” wide X 8” tall.. At 35 gal per inch, this pump should work
Scrubber leds from Expressions LTD.
Added two more led bars to the box. Three led bars per side. The bars are 12”, same width of the screen
Last edited:
Similar threads
