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08/22/2017, 10:33 PM | #9576 |
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edited post above a bit
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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 |
08/22/2017, 11:33 PM | #9577 |
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And feed.
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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 |
08/23/2017, 04:51 AM | #9578 |
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Thanks, I'll give it a try and let you know how it works.
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135g w/ basement fish room, custom made Advanced Acrylics sump, custom ATS, Aqua Illumination lights, saltwater mixing station RIP my 180g DT,75g sump,90g fuge, 3X250w MH w/Radiums,MSX300A drilled |
08/23/2017, 11:11 AM | #9579 |
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So I may have found part of the problem. Since the start of this tank I was using HW Reefer salt from BRS. prior to that in my nano I was using Tropic Marin and everything was great. But this tank has been nothing but issues. No K or I2 in the water at all. Always had to supplement to get those levels up. Called BRS and they stated there were some issues with that salt and bad batches. Gave me a credit and I bought Brightwell aquatics salt in place of it. Have done three 40g water changes since and I finally am seeing some turnaround on frags from the old tank. Cup coral is extending polyps again. Monticello's,s are coloring back up. I thought I was going with the best salt but guess not. Finally after 4 months starting to see some coralline specs growing.
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135g w/ basement fish room, custom made Advanced Acrylics sump, custom ATS, Aqua Illumination lights, saltwater mixing station RIP my 180g DT,75g sump,90g fuge, 3X250w MH w/Radiums,MSX300A drilled |
08/23/2017, 11:21 AM | #9580 |
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Not to derail the discussion too much, but our local club had a slew of people having problems with inconsistent parameters on one particular brand of salt. It wasn't HW but I won't mention it by name, just will note that several people switched to Aquaforest and/or went back to the long-term standby brands they had been using and have had tanks turn back around again.
I want to be careful to not let this discussion go off on a tangent about salt brands, because anyone who has gotten into that discussion knows there are all kinds of opinions on that. I have very little opinion, maybe that's because I really have been slacking on doing any water changes for a while....I'm not a huge proponent of scrubber + no water changes, but I also don't have time to do them very often, so it just happens to be that way. Hence, I don't use much salt.
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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 |
08/23/2017, 01:29 PM | #9581 | |
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Quote:
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135g w/ basement fish room, custom made Advanced Acrylics sump, custom ATS, Aqua Illumination lights, saltwater mixing station RIP my 180g DT,75g sump,90g fuge, 3X250w MH w/Radiums,MSX300A drilled |
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08/23/2017, 01:56 PM | #9582 |
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I think you'll find at one point or another all mass produced salts have inconsistencies. It's like the wild west for these companies, there is no federal regulations or testing from batch to batch. It all comes down to how much testing is done at the manufacturing level. Obviously some do more testing then others.
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80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256 Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht: "He's just taking his lunch to work" |
08/23/2017, 07:08 PM | #9583 | |
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Quote:
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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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08/24/2017, 07:17 AM | #9584 |
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You need to feed enough to cultivate your algae base. That base will both sequester waste and generate food back for the tank. You need to feed and maintain strong flow. The algae will come.
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08/24/2017, 08:43 AM | #9585 |
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Strong flow is really only required when you A) need it and B) have a solid base of growth
Generally speaking, if you have the ability to dim or shade the lights, reducing the flow on start-up just to the point where you have even coverage will get your initial growth going well. After that, you can increase flow a bit, along with lighting intensity incrementally based on results. Once you get a strong base of growth, if you have the nutrient density available in the water column, you can increase flow and lighting further. But I've backed off on the more-flow-is-always-better philosophy, because it doesn't seem to fit all cases. The right flow is more accurate, which adds another moving target actually
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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 |
08/24/2017, 10:27 AM | #9586 |
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If there's sufficient food, flow brings more of it under the light.
Flow is also algae friendly, and goo/slime/bacteria unfriendly.
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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; 08/24/2017 at 10:42 AM. |
08/24/2017, 10:58 AM | #9587 |
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I guess the definition of "strong flow" could be the thing we are debating here - karimwassef what is your definition of "strong flow"....25 GPH/in? 30? 35? More? Less?
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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 |
08/24/2017, 11:24 AM | #9588 |
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4000gph over a 2' x 3' screen. 2' wide and 3' long.
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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 |
08/24/2017, 11:34 AM | #9589 |
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That's an insane amount of flow - 166 GPH/in. I found that going over 50 GPH/in hits diminishing returns. I've seen some cases where growth is better at a lower flow rate.
I think your setup is a bit of an exception, JMO
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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 |
08/24/2017, 11:41 AM | #9590 |
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But you've seen my algae growth rate. Even in my new setup, I recycle a 3 gallon bucket weekly. Of course there's three gallons of food going in that cycle too... and three gallons of poo.. that turn into three gallons of algae (full of pods and worms) every week.
If there's food, the algae will grow. The faster flow against the surface air will be preferential to the algae vs. bacteria. I agree that you need to give them time to anchor in though. But once you have the fuzz, faster and more food makes algae go nuts!
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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 |
08/24/2017, 11:55 AM | #9591 |
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Plus some Iron.
Though I do agree with Bud your setup is an outlier. And others should find their sweet spot. Most likely it will be less flow. Mine was. To much flow and my scrubber grew less.
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rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
08/24/2017, 12:36 PM | #9592 |
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Iron? I considered adding iron but never did
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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 |
08/24/2017, 12:40 PM | #9593 |
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Hmm... I wish I could show it graphically.
The only real limitation I've found is food. Light and flow only serve algae, but they seem excessive when the algae runs out of food. The more food, the more flow and light contribute directly to the growth rate. There likely is a limit, by nothing our systems can easily generate - and I have tried very hard. The only thing that hurt my scrubbers has been lack of food.
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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 |
08/24/2017, 12:44 PM | #9594 | |
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Quote:
You can google search DIY the DIY FE++ Ferrous citrate supplement for what I've done and made based on Randy's formula.
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rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
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08/24/2017, 12:46 PM | #9595 |
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i would also be curious what your potassium levels are at. I haven't hit any limitations there and are in NSW range but you're pulling a lot more algae.
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rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
08/24/2017, 12:50 PM | #9596 |
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I don't actually export.. I feed my algae all back
My tangs also love bananas! You should check out my youtubes
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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 |
08/24/2017, 01:54 PM | #9597 | |
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Quote:
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rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
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08/24/2017, 02:05 PM | #9598 |
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I recycle all unless someone wants some to start their culture. It's a swirling mass of life and I just can't throw it away.
I think bananas are the new secret coral food
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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 |
08/25/2017, 10:20 AM | #9599 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
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08/25/2017, 10:24 AM | #9600 | |
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Quote:
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