updated pics of my algae scrubber

[snakeblitz33]

So, I run an algae scrubber on my 20g nano tank. I started the cycle two weeks ago with a good sized chunk of shrimp that I left in there! I also started the tank with half TAP WATER! woohoo! The first three days I got a good diatom bloom and my algae scrubber actually picked most of that up and kept it out of the tank. This week my algae scrubber turned from a brown diatom bloom to:


The other side is equally as bad. lol. I have a theory that if it wasn't growing on the screen, it would be growing in my tank. I do have some algae growing in my tank as well, but I don't have any snails or hermits or anything to eat it in the display.
When I started my tank, my water parameters were as follows: nitrate is high at start because of the tap water. (my guess)
Salinity: 1.019
Nitrates: 30ppm
Phosphate: 0.25ppm
pH: 7.8 - 8.2
Calcium: 440
Alkalinity: 10dKh
As of today, because of the growth on the screen:
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrates: 10ppm (maybe closer to 15ppm)
Phosphate: less than .25ppm
pH: 8.2-8.3 constant
Calcium:420ppm
Alkalinity: 10dKh
That's just 6 days of growth, and I haven't even cleaned it once yet. lol. I'm probably going to throw in some snails in my sump to keep the hair algae and other algaes at bay and help with some detritus build up. Also, something to watch when I can't sleep. Mise well throw in a hermit crab or two as well. lol. Oh, and yes, I did top off my tank with saltwater a few times to get the salinity up where I wanted it to be.
Saturday I am going to clean half of the screen and grow it another week and see if my water parameters improve. I'm hoping to get a pair of clownfish in the tank in the next couple of days.
Oh, and YES that is a protein skimmer in the background. I don't have all the parts and pieces to it, so I stuck it back there just to get it out of the way for now. I am going to try not to use a protein skimmer on this system if I can keep from it. If my algae scrubber does not work long term, I'm going to buy an ASM Mini-G protein skimmer in the future. But, I'm going to experiment with this set up for quite a while. I run this setup on a few clients tanks and have had success so far - but we'll just have to see.
I'm having a horrible microbubble problem in my display tank, but I have an idea of how to fix it. I just wish I didn't have to use filter floss . I'm also going to turn down my return pump to make it a little slower going through my sump. Maybe that will also cut down on some bubbles. Eh, a little maintenance here and there isn't going to kill me. lol

 

[snakeblitz33]

The pics above and the pics from today are one day apart. Look at the growth!


I don't care if anyone comments, I think this is just really cool. I've never seen a day to day progression in one of my own tanks. I've just seen weekly progressions in other people's tanks. Tomorrow I'm going to do another battary of tests to see where everything stands. I wish I had a magnesium test kit, because I researched where algae scrubbers increase magnesium too?!? Anyways, enjoy the pics.

 

[slice]

Spontaneously occurring magnesium?!?

 

[kiefers]

Hmmmmm. I've read that Magnesium help rid the tank of H.A.
Would like to see this article.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Somehow or another when hair algae was grown on a screen, magnesium levels come up from 1350 to 1450 and even 1500, in some peoples tanks. I don't know exactly what happens to make it do that. I would like to know as well. Maybe it frees up natural magnesium? I know if mag gets to high then it has been known to kill hair algae.
You can find all kinds of articles on the scrubber forum. Just do a search. I can't post links to other forums. I don't want to get in trouble again. lol

 

[snakeblitz33]

So here is todays pic of my algae scrubber. I am absolutely amazed at the growth rates. No telling how much nitrate and phosphate it is pulling out of my water without test kits.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I took a video of my algae scrubber yesterday and I just got around to posting it on You Tube. Here's an embedded video.

 

[al&burke]

Hey Snake, looks good - How do you know how much flow you have that is my biggest problem, if there is too much there is more splatter coming off the screen.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Well, from what I read from other scrubber threads, they said to start with 35gph for every one inch of horizontal screen...
I don't really know how true that is... All I know is that the entire screen needs water flowing down it and the bottom of the screen should have water coming off of it in a sheet. So, I adjusted the pump down until the waterfall at the bottom of the screen was from tip to tip, but no more flow then that. When I finally got some algae growing on it really well, I adjusted the flow back up a little bit more. I'm using a Rio 1100, at 300gph, but I have it turned down significantly. I feel like I could have used a simple Maxijet 1200 or less and gotten the same result with less head pressure.
The main problem with a lot of scrubbers is that the slot that is cut for the screen is extremely uneven. That slot has to be cut straight, even, and uniform. Any deviation from that and you will have problems.
I'm currently looking for some Enkamat locally so that I can make a new screen to test it. I believe a 1/8th inch 3D Enkamat is going to be the future of scrubbers. So, I'm going to find some and test it first before I start to suggest it as a possible growth medium.

 

[snakeblitz33]

 

[meowzer]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

[spanko]

I like the red chilis drying out on the window sill.
On the mag, are you still using tap water on the aquarium? Is there an elevated level of mag in the tap water?
Also I wonder as the algae grows if some of the mag is leeching back into the water. Found this.....
"Magnesium is present in seawater in amounts of about 1300 ppm. After sodium, it is the most commonly found cation in oceans. Rivers contains approximately 4 ppm of magnesium, marine algae 6000-20,000 ppm, and oysters 1200 ppm.
Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/magnesium/magnesium-and-water.htm#ixzz1al4ZZwp0

 

[snakeblitz33]

Thanks. I grew those chillies myself this year.
They do, magnesium usually rises to 1400+ppm gradually with an algae scrubber. I dose a little extra to keep my levels at 1400ppm. Also, elevated iron levels help grow hair algae really thick.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I dosed a little Kents essential elements in my system and growth has doubled every day for the last week. I don't know where it's pulling it from! lol I guess it's pulling out phosphate from the rocks now, lol. There's a dust on the rock quite often now.