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Unread 02/18/2017, 09:20 PM   #9326
jason2459
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karimwassef View Post
Wait - really? Do you actually do that?
Morish idols like bananas. But don't think I would do that for corals.


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Unread 02/19/2017, 08:20 AM   #9327
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Well I do have bananas, but that seems awful messy.


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Unread 02/19/2017, 10:47 AM   #9328
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I have read a very large portion of this thread in the past. I forgot a good deal though. Can someone link me the most current recommended setup info. I know there is a website in here somewhere that tells you how to build it and size it from a-z.

I am building a small 30g total volume build, with about a cube a day food volume.

I found the zoho calculator.
https://docs.zoho.com/sheet/publishe...b2b670ae00412b

I need the diy design instructions.

Also any easy acrylic examples would be great!


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Unread 02/20/2017, 06:48 AM   #9329
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http://algaescrubber.zohosites.com/


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Algae Scrubber Basics!!! GOOGLE "algaescrubber zoho"
General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/20/2017, 10:11 AM   #9330
karimwassef
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I am now feeding bananas

Apparently.. tangs and surgeons love them.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 10:45 AM   #9331
Floyd R Turbo
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Just an example here:

Brightwell Potassion Concentrate


This has nearly 2400mg potassium per fluid ounce (1 fl oz = ~28000mg or 28g)

One mL increases the K in 1g of water by 21 ppm

In contrast, google tells me that a medium (118g or 4.16oz) banana contains approximately 442mg of potassium

So one banana is over 4 times to mass of one dose of the Brightwell stuff, and has less than 20% of the potassium.

If you had a 75g tank and wanted to raise the K ppm by 1ppm, you would have to add about 3.5 fl oz of Potassion, or 19 medium bananas

Feeding bananas in general, not a problem. I think more than one person here benefited from that suggestion.

But it's not going to add a significant amount of potassium into the system, not enough to correct a deficiency. Or even probably make any kind of difference between now and the time someone gets a hold of some potassium dosing supply.


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General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/20/2017, 11:13 AM   #9332
jrp1588
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
Just an example here:

Brightwell Potassion Concentrate


This has nearly 2400mg potassium per fluid ounce (1 fl oz = ~28000mg or 28g)

One mL increases the K in 1g of water by 21 ppm

In contrast, google tells me that a medium (118g or 4.16oz) banana contains approximately 442mg of potassium

So one banana is over 4 times to mass of one dose of the Brightwell stuff, and has less than 20% of the potassium.

If you had a 75g tank and wanted to raise the K ppm by 1ppm, you would have to add about 3.5 fl oz of Potassion, or 19 medium bananas

Feeding bananas in general, not a problem. I think more than one person here benefited from that suggestion.

But it's not going to add a significant amount of potassium into the system, not enough to correct a deficiency. Or even probably make any kind of difference between now and the time someone gets a hold of some potassium dosing supply.
Hah, I have a feeling it would take comically large doses of bananas to make any difference. I've got an order in for some of the Potassion powder and a Salifert K test. I did a waterchange yesterday, but the salt I use advertises only 300ppm K, so I'm betting I'm pretty low with the huge handfuls of algae I pull out.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 12:14 PM   #9333
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Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone else has this problem.... every time I clean the algae screen in tap water it seems to die and basically has come back from the dead every week. When I first clean the screen it is bright green like normal. But after a day it will turn yellow and then turns brown after about 3 days. It won't be until day 5 or 6 that the screen returns to a good green color. Does any one have any ideas to speed this process up? I've tried dosing iron and it did not seem to help.

This picture is taken about 3 days after cleaning half. As you can see one side is nice and green and the other is brown. It just turned brown this morning after it has been yellow for the last two days.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 12:39 PM   #9334
Floyd R Turbo
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Hard to tell from the pic, but I have zero issues with FW cleaning a mature screen.

It could be over-cleaning. Think of it as harvesting. Leave a very decent amount of growth on the screen.

When using a scraper, don't scrape with a chiseling action. Instead, "drag" the scraper to loosen growth, and leave 25% behind for the next cycle.

The issue could be that until you get X% of growth, the screen is over-lit and grows yellow. Then once your base of growth recovers, it starts kicking in green because there's enough of a base to take that light. Think of this as your "minimum base" level of growth.

Over-cleaning results in removing enough such that you are below that base.

also this could be only temporary, or could be something else - a few questions:

how old/mature is the screen?

How old is the tank?

How much do you feed?

Scrubber lights? type and intensity, etc

Photoperiod?

Size of screen (LxH)?

Lit on both sides?

pics, pics, pics!


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Algae Scrubber Basics!!! GOOGLE "algaescrubber zoho"
General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/20/2017, 12:50 PM   #9335
jweist
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Thanks turbo. That makes sense. It could be that I'm over cleaning the screen for sure.
The screen is about a year old. tanks about 4 years old. The screen is lit on one side. It's spilt in half and the whole screen measures 24 in. There is a 24 w CFL powering it about 3 1/2 in. away. I feed 1/4 cube day but usually less. Light is on for 13 hours a day because it's in my room.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 12:56 PM   #9336
jrp1588
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
It could be over-cleaning. Think of it as harvesting. Leave a very decent amount of growth on the screen.

When using a scraper, don't scrape with a chiseling action. Instead, "drag" the scraper to loosen growth, and leave 25% behind for the next cycle.
I've never been able to get a knack for this. Depending on the pressure I use, I either remove nothing or everything. It's very rare that I can actually remove some but not all of the algae.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 01:29 PM   #9337
Floyd R Turbo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jweist View Post
Thanks turbo. That makes sense. It could be that I'm over cleaning the screen for sure.
The screen is about a year old. tanks about 4 years old. The screen is lit on one side. It's spilt in half and the whole screen measures 24 in. There is a 24 w CFL powering it about 3 1/2 in. away. I feed 1/4 cube day but usually less. Light is on for 13 hours a day because it's in my room.
did you mean 24 sq in?

One sided is less efficient, but if it's what you have to use, no getting around that.

13 hrs/day on a CFL doesn't seem excessive. Could be slightly under fed and potentially over lit, but if so, just barely. I would opt to change the cleaning technique first.

Try this - for the next few cleanings, just swipe your hand and rinse it to get the yellow stuff off, or use a toothbrush and just make a light-pressure pass if it doesn't easily come off (it should, without scraping at all). Try to leave anything green about 50% in tact if possible.

Use the edge of a scraper to make an X or criss-cross pattern to thin it out a bit and get light to the base. Then next time, make a # pattern. Alternate that pattern with each harvest. With single-sided you need to make sure you get light to the base so you will want to thin out some of the base each cleaning.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jrp1588 View Post
I've never been able to get a knack for this. Depending on the pressure I use, I either remove nothing or everything. It's very rare that I can actually remove some but not all of the algae.
Could be that the lower layers are dying and it all sluffs off. Use the corner of the scraper to make criss-cross and # pattern lines


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Algae Scrubber Basics!!! GOOGLE "algaescrubber zoho"
General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/20/2017, 01:48 PM   #9338
jweist
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Ya I meant 24 Sq in. One sided is all I can do because it's in the back of a bio cube.

I'll definitely try that method for my next cleaning.

My screen is actually two sperate pieces because I literally cut it into two. Do you want me do the criss cross pattern on the half I do clean each week?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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Unread 02/20/2017, 02:12 PM   #9339
Scuba_Steve
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
Thanks a lot! More so, thanks for writing it!

I have a tendency to oversize things, and I know that can be a bad thing here. If I am feeding 1/2-1 cube a day, is it too much to build a ATS that can handle 1.25 cubes? I am skimming as well, so maybe I do need to go down some.

1.25 cube setup
4"x4" double sided
3, 3w leds per side
Flow at 140-150gph measured

or

1 cube setup
4"x3" double sided
2, 3w leds per side
Flow at 140-150gph measured


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Unread 02/20/2017, 02:14 PM   #9340
jrp1588
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
Could be that the lower layers are dying and it all sluffs off. Use the corner of the scraper to make criss-cross and # pattern lines
Maybe I'm using the wrong tool. I've always used an old gift card.


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Unread 02/20/2017, 06:26 PM   #9341
karimwassef
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19 bananas.. I'm on it. I started with one sheet of seaweed a week and ramped up to 8 a day. Starting with half a banana yesterday and one banana today. If they eat it all, we'll get to 2 bananas a day. Etc...

It may be slow but I can probably get to 14 bananas a week (bigger than seaweed). I don't have an imbalance but my fish dig it.


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Failure isn't an option It's a requirement. 660g 380inwall+280smp/surge S/L/Soft/Maxima/RBTA/Clown/Chromis/Anthias/Tang/Mandarin/Jawfish/Goby/Wrasse/D'back. DIY 12' Skimmer ActuatedSurge ConcreteScape
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Unread 02/21/2017, 01:53 PM   #9342
karimwassef
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Experimenting with Potassium sources




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Failure isn't an option It's a requirement. 660g 380inwall+280smp/surge S/L/Soft/Maxima/RBTA/Clown/Chromis/Anthias/Tang/Mandarin/Jawfish/Goby/Wrasse/D'back. DIY 12' Skimmer ActuatedSurge ConcreteScape
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Unread 02/21/2017, 02:02 PM   #9343
Floyd R Turbo
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They're going bananas! Sorry I had to

You have my favorite fish, Desjardini Sailfin


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Algae Scrubber Basics!!! GOOGLE "algaescrubber zoho"
General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/21/2017, 04:10 PM   #9344
karimwassef
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It's a gorgeous herbivore. Rabbitfish are insane consumers of vegetation though... a small school of them would likely strip any algae tank bare. Mine is also very aggressive and will try anything new I add. I got it as a baby and it's now a monster.

Once it goes for the new food, the tangs will give it a nip. If my hippo goes for it, it's got to be the good stuff.

baby pictures ahead:

 photo 00F09599-F521-43C9-8577-5C2E33396F3B_zps0jycey8p.jpg

 photo 7918BE4B-7D69-44CD-B6B7-0A9B69B7073B_zpsdupvdac6.jpg

my original sailfin was the yellow tail that you can see in the video.

See.. my DT was my first algae scrubber


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Failure isn't an option It's a requirement. 660g 380inwall+280smp/surge S/L/Soft/Maxima/RBTA/Clown/Chromis/Anthias/Tang/Mandarin/Jawfish/Goby/Wrasse/D'back. DIY 12' Skimmer ActuatedSurge ConcreteScape

Last edited by karimwassef; 02/21/2017 at 04:51 PM.
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Unread 02/22/2017, 01:36 AM   #9345
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Yes those are classic phosphate soaked rocks.


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Inventor of the easy-to-DIY upflow scrubber, and also the waterfall scrubber that everyone loves to build:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1424843
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Unread 02/22/2017, 02:04 AM   #9346
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I know. it's great! that phosphate was excellent to kick start my tank's living ecosystem. I just didn't understand that at the time. The banana video shows what it looks like today. Here's a coral view



My point is that I hated phosphate and algae.. I went to extreme measures to remove it. Now, I realize how awesome that algae really is - thanks to the concepts in this thread. I now actively cultivate it, just to feed it back to my DT.


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Failure isn't an option It's a requirement. 660g 380inwall+280smp/surge S/L/Soft/Maxima/RBTA/Clown/Chromis/Anthias/Tang/Mandarin/Jawfish/Goby/Wrasse/D'back. DIY 12' Skimmer ActuatedSurge ConcreteScape
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Unread 02/22/2017, 08:54 AM   #9347
Chris Abbott
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
Beyond that I don't think there is much advantage, but I would be hesitant to define a "max"
This bring a question to mind: If I am running a waterfall that is meeting my needs export wise, does increasing the flow have any negative affects?


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Unread 02/22/2017, 09:02 AM   #9348
Floyd R Turbo
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This bring a question to mind: If I am running a waterfall that is meeting my needs export wise, does increasing the flow have any negative affects?
going much beyond 50 GPH/in actual flow doesn't seem to help, but bumping the flow up a little at a time, you can see if it helps. Depends on the build, IMO


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Algae Scrubber Basics!!! GOOGLE "algaescrubber zoho"
General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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Unread 02/22/2017, 07:32 PM   #9349
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Got my potassium test kit and Brightwell Potassion today. Potassium tested at 360, same result running the test twice. 400 is ideal, so I am low, but not as low as I expected. Anyone know at what level you'd expect to start seeing issues?


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Unread 02/23/2017, 09:45 AM   #9350
Floyd R Turbo
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The issue with K test kits is that they are specifically not very accurate, but relatively, consistent. What that means is that while you can see the difference from one reading to the next, and this is pretty decent, the actual reading number is rather inaccurate. At least that is what I've been told. Also the test kits are usually very difficult to use, esp the ones where you drip until you can't see the black dot under the vial - very subjective.

The Salifert one is the only one I use, thankfully it's available again. That one has a drastic color change.


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General Interest Forums --> Advanced Topics --> Algae Scrubber Basics (sticky)
--> POSTS #3251-64 (Basics), #5206 (Cleaning), #6884 (LEDs), #729
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