Hi, I'm running an L2 on my 50 gallon SW mixed reef and am having trouble getting the growth dialed in. The below pic is 2 (maybe 3) weeks of growth. I'm running the scrubber lights for 7 hours during the night. I'm running it with a Rio 1100 dialed back a little bit. When I clean the screen I've been cleaning both sides. I have GHA growing in the display tank. I've been feeding less than 1 cube of frozen food per night. Any ideas what I can do to help get screen growth dialed in?
It looks like you need more hours - try running your scrubber for 18 hours on - 6 off. The majority on at night when your DT is off.
Do not increase light. The 18 hour photoperiod is for CFL, not LED. For the L series scrubbers you should not exceed 9 hours/day until you have full coverage, because the light intensity is more than double CFL and also spectrum specific. Any more than than 9 hours and there is not enough algae to absorb the amount of light, which causes photo saturation and a decrease in growth (you'll have a bare white screen) The yellow slime you are getting is just a base growth starting. 3 weeks is still within the curing phase, and every tank is different, so this will usually pass. What you might try temporarily is splitting up the photoperiod into 2 blocks of 3 to 4 hours, with 1 to 2 hours in between. But I would wait another week or so before doing that. When you clean the screen, just swipe the growth off with your fingertips and rinse. Make sure you are not scrubbing it at all, except for the top edge - the area that is not roughed up, approximately the top 1" - this area you will want to scrub with the black bristled brush down to bare white screen, as well as the slot pipe. Also, if you are battling tank algae (a scrubber in the tank, basically) it might take a little longer for algae to get a foothold on the screen, but it will take hold. Something you can do to encourage growth after cleaning is to clean and rinse the screen in saltwater instead of tap water: https://www.turbosaquatics.com/vb4/...aning-your-screen-with-Tap-Water-vs-Saltwater A few other hints can be found here: https://www.turbosaquatics.com/vb4/forumdisplay.php?11-Basic-Principles The bottom line is to give it time, and don't constantly change things unless something is obviously not working. Hope that helps! Bud
Thanks for the tips. I've changed the lighting to two sessions of 3 hours each with 2 hours in between. Also increased the flow a little bit. Also pulled out some chunks for GHA from the DT.
