Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
old 5k0ol
Scurrilous
Im around the same time frame. How long until they start to disappear?
little_fish
Moderator
depends on how much nitrates and phosphates the rocks have absorbed
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Monkey your's is fine if it's only 6 days. 1/8 inch can go all the way across.
Parrot yours is just varying in flow at the top. It will fill-in later. As for your LEDs on a new tank... a new tank won't grow much at all. But LEDs are not recommended unless you have some success first with CFL, so it could be the LED is the problem. Don't worry about the display... get the scrubber growing first.
Felix you can just clean the whole thing... no real need for cleaning half right now. Yes leave a little after a cleaning. Your reflectors look good.
Arkansas the brown/yellow still absorbs nutrients; it just can't get 3D like the green hair.
Race, a 13 watt bulb pointed at a 6 X 7 screen should grow quickly if all the light is hitting the screen. As for your flow... it will fill-in as the growth occurs, as long as the slot is about 1/8 wide. Growth in the display should reduce if you are getting growth on the scrubber.
5kool yes you could have phosphate coming out of the rocks; a new scrubber introduced on a tank that had high phosphate will pull the P out of the rocks and cause HA growth on some rocks for a while.. weeks to months... depending. Mine took 6 months. The stronger the scrubber, the less time it takes.
Parrot yours is just varying in flow at the top. It will fill-in later. As for your LEDs on a new tank... a new tank won't grow much at all. But LEDs are not recommended unless you have some success first with CFL, so it could be the LED is the problem. Don't worry about the display... get the scrubber growing first.
Felix you can just clean the whole thing... no real need for cleaning half right now. Yes leave a little after a cleaning. Your reflectors look good.
Arkansas the brown/yellow still absorbs nutrients; it just can't get 3D like the green hair.
Race, a 13 watt bulb pointed at a 6 X 7 screen should grow quickly if all the light is hitting the screen. As for your flow... it will fill-in as the growth occurs, as long as the slot is about 1/8 wide. Growth in the display should reduce if you are getting growth on the scrubber.
5kool yes you could have phosphate coming out of the rocks; a new scrubber introduced on a tank that had high phosphate will pull the P out of the rocks and cause HA growth on some rocks for a while.. weeks to months... depending. Mine took 6 months. The stronger the scrubber, the less time it takes.
parrotchute
DUSTOFF MEDEVAC
Thanks SM! I'll have a PAR meter by next week, so I'll post my numbers once it shows up.
parrotchute
DUSTOFF MEDEVAC
I'd think not....
old 5k0ol
Scurrilous
me either
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Slower flow is never better, unless algae is letting go.
Yes the green is from the stronger light.
Yes the green is from the stronger light.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Study shows that corals prefer to grow when they actually touch turf algae
Note: Scrubbers are supposed to grow green hair, which is not covered in this study. But many people still think that scrubbers grow turf, and this study does include the amount of microbes related to turf. Brackets "[ ]" added.
"Microbial to reef scale interactions between the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis and benthic algae", Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, Nov 2011
Microbial to reef scale interactions between the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis and benthic algae
Page 2, Col 1, (a)
"This study was conducted on the island of Curacao, former Netherlands Antilles"
Page 4, Col 2, (b)...
The [...] coral-associated bacterial communities increased in tissues near [coralline] and [dictyota], but decreased for coral tissue adjacent to [halimeda] or turf algae.
Page 5, Col 1...
We found [anaerobic microbes] present in coral tissue near or at interfaces with three of the four groups of algae: 8.5 percent relative abundance at [coralline] interfaces; 2.2 percent relative abundance near [dictyota] interfaces, 2 percent relative abundance near [halimeda] interfaces; but absent near and at interfaces with turf algae.
Page 5, Col 2, (c)...
Every coral colony observed [on the natural Curacao reef] was interacting with at least one type of alga, with an average of 61 to 80 percent of the coral perimeter involved in any type of algal interaction. Interactions with turf algae were the most abundant, accounting for 32 to 58 percent of the coral edge. [In other words, the corals grew this way, touching the algae, naturally. And more of them grew and reproduced while actually touching turf algae, than grew anywhere else.]
Page 7, Col 1...
This study is the first to identify the types of bacteria present along coral-algal interactions, and we find that bacterial stress response pathways were reduced at coral interfaces with [coralline], [dictyota] and turf algae.
Note: Scrubbers are supposed to grow green hair, which is not covered in this study. But many people still think that scrubbers grow turf, and this study does include the amount of microbes related to turf. Brackets "[ ]" added.
"Microbial to reef scale interactions between the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis and benthic algae", Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, Nov 2011
Microbial to reef scale interactions between the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis and benthic algae
Page 2, Col 1, (a)
"This study was conducted on the island of Curacao, former Netherlands Antilles"
Page 4, Col 2, (b)...
The [...] coral-associated bacterial communities increased in tissues near [coralline] and [dictyota], but decreased for coral tissue adjacent to [halimeda] or turf algae.
Page 5, Col 1...
We found [anaerobic microbes] present in coral tissue near or at interfaces with three of the four groups of algae: 8.5 percent relative abundance at [coralline] interfaces; 2.2 percent relative abundance near [dictyota] interfaces, 2 percent relative abundance near [halimeda] interfaces; but absent near and at interfaces with turf algae.
Page 5, Col 2, (c)...
Every coral colony observed [on the natural Curacao reef] was interacting with at least one type of alga, with an average of 61 to 80 percent of the coral perimeter involved in any type of algal interaction. Interactions with turf algae were the most abundant, accounting for 32 to 58 percent of the coral edge. [In other words, the corals grew this way, touching the algae, naturally. And more of them grew and reproduced while actually touching turf algae, than grew anywhere else.]
Page 7, Col 1...
This study is the first to identify the types of bacteria present along coral-algal interactions, and we find that bacterial stress response pathways were reduced at coral interfaces with [coralline], [dictyota] and turf algae.
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
No, all algae use N and P. But only when growing.
Green hair grows the best because it lets the water and light penetrate and flow though all the algae, and does not block it like red or brown does.
Green hair grows the best because it lets the water and light penetrate and flow though all the algae, and does not block it like red or brown does.
parrotchute
DUSTOFF MEDEVAC
SM, hoping for some advice..
Been running my scrubber for about a month now and I'm not not seeing more than dime sized spot or two of green hair algae. I'm running a mag7, the screen is 10" wide, and the light seems bright enough. (the eshine LEDs you did in your experiment - hitting 1200+ par just outside the light)
I've got a decent amount of algae in the DT, so I know there's food for the algae! Just seeing a lot of brown/tan fillm algae growing on the scrubber.
Any advice?
Been running my scrubber for about a month now and I'm not not seeing more than dime sized spot or two of green hair algae. I'm running a mag7, the screen is 10" wide, and the light seems bright enough. (the eshine LEDs you did in your experiment - hitting 1200+ par just outside the light)
I've got a decent amount of algae in the DT, so I know there's food for the algae! Just seeing a lot of brown/tan fillm algae growing on the scrubber.
Any advice?
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
How much are you feeding
parrotchute
DUSTOFF MEDEVAC
About 1" x 1" of nori a day, 2 small pinches of flakes, and about 1/5th a cube of frozen - but it seems to be enough to fuel algae in the DT
SantaMonica
Reefing newb
Is there growth on the plastic parts in the display...
parrotchute
DUSTOFF MEDEVAC
Yes - on the acrylic overflow as well as the rocks & glass.
I'm tempted to go back to a skimmer but I don't want to, I'd rather figure out what the problem is with my scrubber!
There's a little GHA that's been growing on the top part of the scrubber screen, but not in the middle. I'm wondering if maybe the eshine LEDs aren't strong enough to grow algae - but after seeing your experiment, I can't imagine them not being strong enough.
My slot is 1/4" wide - is that too narrow? Maybe not enough flow?
Here's a photo of my last cleaning:
I'm tempted to go back to a skimmer but I don't want to, I'd rather figure out what the problem is with my scrubber!
There's a little GHA that's been growing on the top part of the scrubber screen, but not in the middle. I'm wondering if maybe the eshine LEDs aren't strong enough to grow algae - but after seeing your experiment, I can't imagine them not being strong enough.
My slot is 1/4" wide - is that too narrow? Maybe not enough flow?
Here's a photo of my last cleaning:
