living_waters
In Memoriam
I made mine out of a spare aquaclear hob I was wondering if the screen can be very lightly submerged or does it have to be placed right over the water level?
Algae Scrubber Basics
- Thread starter srusso
- Start date
JustinGr
Clown Pimp
I decided to try the Deep Red Phillips LED's from Rapid. I purchased 4 Deep Red and a Blue and Royal Blue. It will be 2-3" off a 4x8 single sided screen. Would you recommend the lenses on them? It will be in an inclosed box with a fan to keep it cool so no water splashing will hit the LED's. I will run these on the dimmer. They will be on a 1.5" x 12" heat sink and I was thinking R RB R R B R or R R RB B R R
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
SantaMonica
Well-known member
A submerged screen will need a bubbler if the screen is more than 1/2" or so below the waterline.
A 4 x 8 sheet can work with 4 reds on a side. No lenses.
A 4 x 8 sheet can work with 4 reds on a side. No lenses.
living_waters
In Memoriam
Its probably a centimeter under the water I'm guessing that's fine?
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Looks like everything is fine.
living_waters
In Memoriam
hey is it normal for your macro algae to die after starting the algae scrubber i had great success with cabbage macro that also gave me the benefit to feed it to my tangs instead of throwing it out and it just died off?
Brummie
Member
Do you mean your N & P are not limiting factors. ie, you expect chemical interaction between scrubber and other photosynthetic organisms.
living_waters
In Memoriam
?? i dont know what your talking about
Chris Abbott
New member
My cheato died of after the screen got established.
I had a similar problem. I think there can be a little too much flow at times. What I found helpful was to drill a whole every 1/2 inch right over the slot. So instead of the regular slot pipe opening looking like ========= it would look like ==0==0==0==0==0==. This helped relieve the pressure and the noise. I am no expert but the flow is strong and uniform. ( I have mine fed directly from the over flow with right about the reccommended 35gph/inch screen rule). I was surprised too when it was so loud. (I measured the flow with a gallon bucket and timer so I know its fairly accurate). I cant remember what bit i used, I think it was a 1/4" and then to make it even quieter i angled the drill to really elongate the holes and cause more of an oval perpendicular to the slot. As a side note, I gave up on my LED grow lamp model I previously posted because it was not nearly as uniform as I was hoping and the salt creep was getting all over the drivers and I was worried. So I went back to CFLs and surprisingly in just 48 hours I had way more green hair growth. I was using the made in china grow lamps I previously posted a few months ago, so maybe its more important that I thought to make sure we use name brand LEDs and DIY it.
living_waters
In Memoriam
Anybody get increased evaporation after there scrubber is set up? Seems like mine doubled...
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
This is referred to as 'crosscuts' and is not recommended. The reason is that the pressure at the slot/screen junction prevents growth from entering the slot and restricting flow. Creating an alternate path of flow allows growth to get into the slot/screen junction and clog it - then all the water will flow out of the crosscuts, resulting in poor/uneven overall growth. So the crosscuts work to solve one problem but create another, really.
Noise usually goes away after a week or so, more specifically, when the screen gets mature growth on it. The initial phase is almost always noisy and uneven flow.
_shorty_
New member
Algae must absorb N & P (nitrogen and phosphorus). So your two different types of algae are competing against each other for that N & P. If either of those N or P levels are very low - they can 'limit' growth of your algae. Whichever algae is better/quicker/(or has more ideal conditions at absorbing that N & P), that algae may outcompete the other and starve the other algae. So yes - if your nutrients are low, it is very possible that your macro could die off.
I think Brummie was asking if you were implying/questioning if there was some sort of chemical warfare happening vs the N or P limitation.
Yes - typically a waterfall scrubber gives increased evaporation and cooling because of the air contact.
living_waters
In Memoriam
Alright thanks!
Sorry to jump in here, but wanted to provide a bit of clarification.
All plants (algae included) require pretty high concentrations of four elements; nitrogen and phosphorus as stated, but also potassium and carbon. Any of those are EASILY limiting because they are needed in relatively high concentrations. Trace elements are also critical, but not so immediately limiting. Traces run out slowly, because they are consumed slowly. But when one of those four macros bottoms out - or falls below the level at which it can be consumed - everything stops.
Or so I understand it.
BTW, this is really irrelevent for most reefers, since keeping N and P are critical to us. K (potassium) and C are much less so, while not unimportant - since corals are photosynthetic creatures too.
All plants (algae included) require pretty high concentrations of four elements; nitrogen and phosphorus as stated, but also potassium and carbon. Any of those are EASILY limiting because they are needed in relatively high concentrations. Trace elements are also critical, but not so immediately limiting. Traces run out slowly, because they are consumed slowly. But when one of those four macros bottoms out - or falls below the level at which it can be consumed - everything stops.
Or so I understand it.
BTW, this is really irrelevent for most reefers, since keeping N and P are critical to us. K (potassium) and C are much less so, while not unimportant - since corals are photosynthetic creatures too.
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Interesting enough scolley I was just posting on another site about K and commenting on my parameters on my 3 tanks at home, which I just tested Saturday. All 3 scrubber only. 380-420 being the "nominal" range. My 120g running a 2 cube/day waterfall is at 340, my 60g stock tank running a SURF2 is at 280, and my 40g Breeder with my 2 cube/day UAS test unit is at a jaw droppingly low 200.
Needless to say, been slacking on testing K...
Needless to say, been slacking on testing K...
No shame in that Floyd. As reefers we focus on the value to our corals to keeping N and P low. Scrubbers do it for us, and its easily tested. But K and C are no less critical to plant (algae) growth, though our corals are not particularly likely to suffer if either is in excess.
So it's a natural tendency to ignore them.
That said, NPK ratios needed for photosynthesis are pervasive through out the natural world. And K and C are typically abundent. That's why our corals dont care about an excess of either of the two - its the typical state of things. So limited macro elements are usually N or P. But K or C can happen.
Photosynthesis sucks up a lot of all of them.
As reefers we focus on the value to our corals to keeping N and P low. Scrubbers do it for us, and its easily tested. But K and C are no less critical to plant (algae) growth, though our corals are not particularly likely to suffer if either is in excess.So it's a natural tendency to ignore them.
That said, NPK ratios needed for photosynthesis are pervasive through out the natural world. And K and C are typically abundent. That's why our corals dont care about an excess of either of the two - its the typical state of things. So limited macro elements are usually N or P. But K or C can happen.
Photosynthesis sucks up a lot of all of them.
_shorty_
New member
aren't, iron and/or some other trace metals are necessary too? or am I mistaken? Could these technically become limiting factors?
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