algae reactor

[xeanliao]

Hello, I diy'ed a algae reactor:

• 300 led light strip, warm white, 3000 - 3500k
• 80 ghp, (It feels weaker though)

It has been a month, it seems fulfilled the purpose and I am happy about it except:

All sort of micro algae outgrows the chaeto I put in the reactor, eventually killed the initial chaeto I put in. It It still does the job but the problem is, that makes the algae reactor very hard to clean.

Do you have any guess what I did wrong, or any suggestion, i.e. light or water flow is not strong enough, or maybe the chaeto I put in is not enough to start with?

 

[silverado61]

How much light and what type are you using? The Chaeto should grow to fill the reactor chambers. The only "cleaning" you should need to do, if it weren't for the other Macro Algae, is harvest some of the Chaeto when it fills the chamber.

But that's just me.

 

[xeanliao]

How much light and what type are you using? The Chaeto should grow to fill the reactor chambers. The only "cleaning" you should need to do, if it weren't for the other Macro Algae, is harvest some of the Chaeto when it fills the chamber.

But that's just me.

The led light strip is warm white, 3000 - 3500k.

 

[silverado61]

That's strange since the Chaeto should be outcompeting any other Algae. The only thing I can suggest clean it, let it bone dry and try it again with fresh Chaeto and see what happens.

Maybe someone else has a better idea. I'm more into DIY up-flow Algae scrubbers.