Algae Detachment

1. My ats has been running for some six weeks and i get green nice growth and has been cleaning following Turbos guide for break in of screen. Only rinsed the 4 first weeks. Last 2 weeks I’ve rubbed the screen with my fingertips. On some small places the algae loosened like a film and fell off. No signs off detachment until I started rubbing the screen. I also dipped in freshwater last 2 weeks.
   
   Do I need to rough up the screen more on the mentioned areas ?
   I was really thorough when I roughened the screen though ( with a hole saw ) can’t imagine that I missed spots. Double - triple checked.
   
   Longer interval between cleanings ?
   
   This time I’ll let it grow 2 weeks without cleaning.
   
   I’ll post some pre / post pictures during the next harvest/cleaning.
   
   Regards Emil / Sweden

 

Any ideas ?

 

Pictures / vids from yesterday’s cleaning - harvest. 14 days since last time. Here you can see that it comes off like a carpet which is a couple of millimeters thick. I only rubbed the screen with my fingertips, no tools used.

Additional info:
•Ats been running
for 1 1/2 month
•No - 3-5 Po - 0,04
•Dosing iron daily
•Dosing nopox


A side before cleaning:
B side before cleaning: Algae comes off in “stripes” and “blanket/carpet” shape:
After cleaning. Both sides look like this after rubbing thoroughly with fingertips during rinsing:

 

Allright. Will do ASAP.

 

Ok, here we go :

*Can you post a few pics of your scrubber




*and give us some parameters, such as overall dimensions: ( Info from manufacturer - Sea Breeze ACU )
The unit measures 32cms in length, 13cms width, 19cms height.

*screen dims: ( Info from manufacturer - Sea Breeze ACU )
The measurement of the screen is 30.5 cms wide. 14cms high.

*flow rate:
Im running a controllable dc pump through a ballvalve thats just a little closed, which gives approx 400 l/h

*light fixtures: ( Info from manufacturer - Sea Breeze ACU )
4 LED bars with heat sinks consisting of two sets of two bars of red & blue grow lights each side giving 36 bright LED?s to each side.
2 bars of 15 watt led's are provided on each side to easily and fully illuminate the screen,
The wavebands for leds are as follows red 630mm, blue 430mm there is a warranty of 1 year on all leds. growth ratings are for blue 400-470 nanometers and red is 610-720 nanometers.

*photoperiod:
Tank lights 12pm to 12am ( 12hrs )
Ats lights 12am to 6pm ( 18 hrs )

*Also tell us more about your system ( 900 litres mixed reef )
- how old is the system:
5 years give or take

*what other filtration you are also using:
Uv filters, Polyfilter, Filter sock on returnpipe

*livestock:
5 tangs + some misc small fish

feeding : ( Every other day is frozen food, and the other day is dry food )

Day 1:
5 cubes of mysis/brineshrimp rinsed in rodi 3 times, and then pre soaked with vitamins.

Day 2:
0,25 dl Ocean Nutrition Algae Flakes + 0,25 dl Ocean Nutrition Brineshrimp - seafood flakes
OR
1pc of 15 x 15 cm Nori Algae + 2cms ball of Easy Reefs Masstick ( doughlike seafood/protein food )

/EMIL

 

Ok, great input !
Ill try this, and keep posting images and progression !

 

Pic from today.
I have only done smaller cleaning ( every 4-5th day ) of the pipe and top part of the mesh. Then swept palm over the algae while rinsing it. I’ll keep doing this for some time and we’ll see.

 

Ok. You mean only light one side until its getting good attached growth, and then in time start lighting the other side aswell ?

 

Hello.
I’m doing ICP laboratory testing regularly, and iron is never traceable. This is during daily dosing. They actually recommend dosing iron to achieve natural sea water params. But sure, I could try stopping the iron doses for a couple of weeks and see how the scrubber reacts.

When it comes to NO/PO it’s steadily available at NO 3-5 and PO 0,03-0,06 even if I’m dosing nopox. My plan has always been to gradually reduce the carbon source, once the algae starts affecting these parameters.

So do you think the algae would grow more/better with bigger numbers of NO/PO ?
Does it work like that I wonder, that you get noticeably more growth at, let’s say NO 10-20 and PO 0,06 - 0,1 than the lower figures I have today ?
Sounds logical, and at the same time it doesn’t

When I ran chaeto, a lot of people claimed that you just have to have no/PO available, the numbers doesn’t matter.
Your ideas ?

Emil

 

Seems pretty logic in a way, since the bacteria would be more concentrated inside a biopelletreactor than dosing your carbon source as a liquid straight out in the water column as in vodka/vinegar etc.

I’m goin on a trip for a week. I won’t do any changes before that. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your input.

Btw. Do you have any ICP testing service in the states or do you send to European (Triton, ATI, Aquaforest, Fauna Marin) laboratory’s if you need an ICP evaluation ?

 

The algae mat is now approx 3 mm thick. I made a new slotpipe since i have had problems with uneven waterspread on the screen. The result was much better, but my friend is gonna make one more with an industrial saw. Hopefully that’s gonna be as good as it gets.