Finally got my 120 Gallon Reef tank up and running. Recently completed cycling the tank and added my first fish. I plan on running the L2 with a protein skimmer, filter socks and periodic use of carbon. Last two days the screen has really taken off from next to nothing. I have the LEDs on 100% and the photo period of 18 hours, this might be too long and I will back off if I see any ill effects. So far so good....
So you have the Rev 3.5 (which is the Rev 3 with the dimmable lights) - with the dimming option I recommend running the lights at 6 o'clock for 9 hrs/day until you get a base of growth, but hey, whatever works right? As long as you aren't getting photosaturation (zero growth or patches of no growth) then you could do worse!
Exactly, if I see any bare spots developing I will back it off. The tank is experiencing the first diatom bloom, I am happy to see the scrubber growing well so far.
It is generally better to light the screen as long as you can at a lower level versus as high as you can for a shorter time. If you dial back to 2 or 3 o'clock, you can probably light 22 hours or more without risking photosaturation. Plus it might actually start faster under slightly dimmed lighting. One of the reasons is that the LEDs are PWM dimmed, meaning, they flash at a very high frequency vs current reduction dimming. Flashing isn't "proven" to make a difference in algae scrubbers specifically (one of those non-studied things) but it has been studied in both corals and plants/algae, it has to do with efficiency and the "dark cycle"....don't have time to get into it at the moment
Thanks for the recommendation. I adjusted the dimmer to about the 3 o'clock position and upped the light to 21 hours.
I had to dial back the lighting period and intensity once the cycle ended. I have the lights on form 14 hours and the dial at the lowest setting after the screen started to turn yellow and then white in most areas. Over the past three days the white and yellow has started to change to green.
Long overdue update. The 120G is doing great. I have registered 0 Nitrates and consistently low phosphates in the tank. The success of my tank is directly attributable to my use of the ATS. I change my filter socks once a week, stir up the tank to remove as much detritus as I can. I no longer run a protein skimmer. I do small water changes every other week.
