My L2 has been running on my new 80 gallon reef tank for 4 months now, and there is a very lush growth of green algae in a 4-5 inch band down the center of the screen on both sides, with brown algae growing on either side. I'm guessing I need to adjust the flow, but I am not sure if I need to increase or decrease it, and by how much. Any ideas? I took pics when I cleaned my scrubber but I left my phone somewhere I can't get it back till the weekend.
I just came acrooss this message when I was sorting my emails from the last 3 months....you posted this when I was on the tail end of a vacation from hell, and the front end of the month one level above hell!! Got any pics? Is the slot pointing straight down?
@grandprixsj you have to click the "view this thread" button...replying to the e-mail alert just triggers an auto-reply and throws you reply to the automated bounce e-mail handler system
Here's a pic. I will check if the slot is facing straight down when I clean the scrubber on Sunday, but I'm pretty sure it is.
Slot position it probably not it, that's a pretty odd growth pattern and it's been like that for a while you say?
It came in that way when I set it up. I seeded it by rubbing a few strands of hair algae from my old tank in the middle of the screen. I thought the green would push out from the middle, but it's been that way for a couple of months now.
What are your nutrient levels? Nitrates and phos What is your feeding regimen? Do you have algae in your tank or sump and what kind? (Hair, cyano, chaeto etc) What is your lighting times? I had similar to this on a system a year ago and what was the case was no nitrates, some phos. I used alternative methods to reduce phos. Nutrients were undetectable so I was happy. 3 months later I added bio load. I also increased my feedings for the new fiah and did a 10% increase in flow (my pump died and the one I replaced it with happened to increase flow by 10%). I did not change my lighting. I did heavy cleanings on the screen. It ended up changing over to the more hair algae on its own.
Nitrates and phosphates at zero. I only have 4 fish in there from my old tank, I feed them one cube or some R.O.E. every other day. I don't use flake food ever. I have a little cyano in the tank-- I just (todayroordered some Zeovit Cyano buster to remove it. I have two AI Vega Colors 11" form the waterline that are on 9 hours a day--colors are all around 40%. Tomorrow is screen cleaning day, so I can give the brown areas a good scrub. I have a ball valve on the feed line to the scrubber, I can increase flow a bit as well if you think it will help.
Nitrates and phosphates at zero. I only have 4 fish in there from my old tank, I feed them one cube or some R.O.E. every other day. I don't use flake food ever. I have a little cyano in the tank-- I just (todayroordered some Zeovit Cyano buster to remove it. I have two AI Vega Colors 11" form the waterline that are on 9 hours a day--colors are all around 40%. Tomorrow is screen cleaning day, so I can give the brown areas a good scrub. I have a ball valve on the feed line to the scrubber, I can increase flow a bit as well if you think it will help.
Since your nutrient levels are at 0, I would not worry too much IMO. Your feedings are 1/2 of scrubber capacity and you are probably starving your cyano already. It may not be the picture of full hair algae that you envisioned, but you have 0 nutrients, a clean and, I assume, healthy tank. If you want, do the heavy cleaning on the sides and a very gently cleaning in the middle. I would make sure what you leave in the middle is firmly attached, if it is not I would clean it. I have never used anything to remove the cyano from a scrubbed tank. It takes a while but it will die.
The middle is firmly attached, so I won't touch it. I'm guessing I should leave the flow alone. Thank you very much for your advice!
Do you know the GPH currently going through the waterfall? I shoot for 40gph per horizontal inch. I test my pump by having the scrubber drain into a marked 5 gallon container with the 3 gallon level marked and timing it. If you are significantly below that I would increase.The best number is probably available on the forum, 40 comes from my own testing.
^this It comes down to this: how is your tank doing? If your N and P are zero, and the tank looks good, then it's doing the job. The goal isn't necessarily to grow huge globs of algae. I've ran scrubbers with 20 GPH/in and possibly less and grown a ton of algae (the first couple were large and the return pump was restricted so that's all I could get). There definitely is a range of flow you can use and that depends on the tank/system.
Doing the math on my set up I am at about 45-50gph/inch. I was thinking that might be a bit much however the scrubber has only been running for about a week and phosphates are at 0.00.
I cant find on any of the posts the ideal GPH/horizontal inch. 35 is the minimum, and 40-45 seems common. Is higher better? Is there a maximum number where the results start to suffer? I shoot for 40gph per horizontal inch. I test my pump by having the scrubber drain into a marked 5 gallon container with the 3 gallon level marked and timing it. If you are significantly below that I would increase.The best number is probably available on the forum, 40 comes from my own testing.[/QUOTE]
