It's been 2 weeks since my tank has been flowing. I started the tank with a scrubber. After the advice of some seasoned forum members, I bought a new stand. I also bought a 55 gallon trash can to pump the tank water in. I guess you can say I have been cycling for two weeks, minus a couple of hours, to drain tank and move it.
I thought I had a dino out break in my sump but after further research, it seems like bad diatoms. They are all over my sump. I now have brown stuff all over my rocks next to my return and on the sand in the flow path of my powerhead. From what i have read, I'm assuming these diatoms will go away after cycle.
Here's some pictures of what's going on in my tank and sump after 2 weeks:
Sump Alage
Alage on rock closest to return
Alage on sand close up
Tank Shot
Before I cleaned my screen today (Day 7) I scrolled through the forum to make sure I was doing my cleaning right. Looks like i was supposed to clean it a couple of days ago. When looking at SantaMonica's post on page 73 it says:
"Cleaning Guidelines:
Black/oily growth, but no green: Clean every last bit of it off every three days.
Dark brown growth, but no green: Clean all of it off every 4 days.
Light brown growth, but no green: Clean most of if off every 5 days."
My screen looked like this:
Dirty
Half Clean
I cleaned both halves, since it was brown stuff, but I left a little on there like the above clean picture. Should I clean once every 5 days until I cycle and start adding critters?
My scrubber seems to be flowing smoother, more evenly, after I built a better drain. I got some line chalk and made sure my hole was really straight. I also dremeled extremely carefully this time. I really took the time to make the hole exactly 1/8". I also made sure no stray PVC strands were left from cutting. My flow is even all the way down the screen. No more bubbles hanging off the PVC from the drain and no more spotty patches like week one.
