Hi gang, I've always had mixed results with regards to growth. This is something I'm now recently getting after removing the light diffuser from in front of the screen. Never seen this before, what does this indicate? How do I resolve this? Thanks for any help!
Never seen that before, but it would indicate to me that an algae type is using blue light to photosynthesise, at a faster rate than the green algae. What lamps have you got?
After reading the other thread on AS, I think this is the brown slime growing on top of the green. Usually you see this in a streaky vertical pattern but I guess it doesn't have to be. I get this on my screens occasionally, when you shut the water off and clean the screen, this is what makes it stink. You can swipe it off with your hand and it's all green underneath it. This stuff is really thin and LED light penetrates it easily. It might be a stage that passes, or it could be over-exposure, I noticed this on my UAS test unit that when I upped the light photo period to a really long time, this stuff grew over the top of the screen (looks similar to dinos - don't worry, they won't transfer to your DT). It might not hurt to take the screen off when you get more than 50% coverage of this stuff and just swipe the screen with your hand and give it a quick rinse, a swish in a pan of saltwater from the tank should do it. The brown stuff detaches really easily. Let us know if this sounds like what this stuff is...
Yes, Bud, you've described it spot on! So this is the first time I've been getting a consistent green on the screen after about a year of having the scrubber running. This could be the beginning stages of a properly working scrubber now? I sure hope so. I've cleaned it down to the screen, and like you said, there was pink on the material. The slime comes off very easily with a quick swipe.
Garf, I'm using one of these on each side of the screen WITHOUT the blue LEDs on because they were burning the screen. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004L5EZQU
I had a similar version of this on my badass for a couple of cycles, in the beginning. Pretty sure It was down to having a screen acclimated to low light (it was a section of my GHOST screen that was hardly lit). I use a similar bulb to yours but a 36watt (with blues) without issue (on badass)
Wow what exactly is going on there? Can you explain your setup, Garf? Looks to be very successful in growing algae. I'm sure you've posted about it before but I must have missed it. Got a link I can read?
Thanks Garf. Makes me want to give the bubbles on the screen a shot again. And I'll add a bunch of cut up short zip ties all over the screen to try to promote 3D growth. Time to go get airline!
Well I've given up on the scrubber for now. I know that it works, but it just wasn't growing well for my tank and my corals took the brunt of it. Just about lost everything to what looks like phosphate issues. Sps turned brown, GHA covered everything, rocks and glass included. I started by dosing some chemi clean to get rid of my cyano problem that I've battled for years. I've removed as much GHA as possible by hand. Then set up my skimmer again which is almost full after just 2 days of skimming. I'm going to try my hand again at a new scrubber while the skimmer runs. Hopefully brings me better results.
As far as the screen goes, I always got a dusting of green algae covering the screen, but then brown, red, and black slime always took over. I could never get a nice thick mat of algae like I see users on here get. I feel like the display was being a more dominate scrubber than the actual scrubber. Now I have to play catch up to find a nice equilibrium in the aquarium to sustain coral life, what's left of it anyway.
My new plan is this: Put scrubber in sump chamber just after the skimmer, on a dedicated pump. Pump will be Maxi Jet 1200 6x6 screen 9 red LED per side How many hours to start?
Sounds about right, except for the pump. MJ1200 (cobalt version, the better one) has bad head loss resistance. I would go with a Rio 1100, you'll get more than 35GPH/in initially.
Well I set up the new scrubber. After first day in its already showing brown on the screen. Flow is kind of sporadic, missing some parts of the screen but that should fill in as the screen grows. Question: I added a bag of phos ban to the sump because of an enormous amount of hair algae in the display tank. I'm talking rocks, powerheads, and glass covered in a weeks time after removing. Now, if phosphates are eliminated, shouldn't the growth stop? What else can fuel this? It's getting out of control. I am at wits end
