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Filtration Quick question on scrubber screen

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by lovefish77, Apr 12, 2020.

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  1. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Hi Turbo, I did a mistake this week I turned of water flow in my scrubber for like a day or two and lights were left on (15 hours). So the screen dried out and coraline algae in the scrubber died. There is some little growth starting to happen but yellowish not green!
    SO QUESTION HERE; does this mean it will be like starting with a brand new screen? Lmk please so I can reduce feeding accordingly.

    Thank you
     
  2. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    If you cook it hard, and the screen ends up with a white crust on it, you have to vinegar-soak that screen and scrub everything off and start over.

    If it didn't quite get that cooked, you can re-start it without going back to square one

    I'm guessing that happened right after you cleaned it, so it's probably cooked...
     
  3. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Hi turbo thanks for answering not really sure I can tell the difference. Here is a pic I just took now. Lmk whet you think please.

    If was like 2 to 3 days after I cleaned it.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Given that brownish algae shall I increase photo period? It is at 15 hours now.
    I am very scared right now, because i know once nitrates start going up, i will loose all of my SPS (non acropora).
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2020
  5. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    hard to tell. look for the white encrustation, that's not a good surface for re-growth
     
  6. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Ok will take a strong flash light and look closer at the screen again.
     
  7. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Just took a close up only see white in some of the square holes, take a look please
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    it doesn't look like there's much white encrustation, it would look like a solid (opaque) white coating. I'd say you're just starting over

    rinse the slime off, rub with fingertips under running water, etc, just like starting over

    pics out of the scrubber would be better, I still can't really tell for sure but you would be able to see white encrustation like a layer of hard calcium
     
  9. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Ok, sounds good i guess there is no white film because i just gave it a good cleaning with a brush (i know i should not go that far) as part of my regular cleaning. So there was not much of a film algae all over that would make it encrust/get cooked across the whole canvas. i looked closer with my eyes (camera cannot capture it) there was no film encrusting, just those opaque square and the plastic canvas.

    Questions: 1. How often should i take it out to clean the slime? once a week? 2. Shall i increase photo period?

    thanks again
     
  10. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    treat like a new screen, limited photoperiod until you have growth that can absorb that amount of light

    clean as many as 2-3 times/week for slime, rub/rinse

    FYI I never use a brush on my screen, only on the top edge. Over-cleaning should be avoided. In most cases, scraping + rinse is all you want to do.
     
  11. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Thank you, will clean 2-3 times a week. Noted for the brush use, will skip that going forward.

    Question: you think it is a good idea to play with vinegar dosing in small amounts (in the interim while the scrubber catches up) to curb nitrates? Just want your thoughts on this please.
    Nitrates:
    - last week was zero so i fed a bit higher than normal last week
    - now it is like 2-5 ppm
     
  12. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    This is all I am getting after like 2 weeks. I just rub it with my fingers once or twice a week
     

    Attached Files:

  13. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    It looks like you have a hotspot where the lights are located. If you can, back them away from the scrubber a bit. If you can't, you can try a diffuser plate (which might have to be inside the scrubber, depending on how hot those lights get). Alternatively, you can break up the photoperiod into multiple on/off cycles throughout the day, which may help. If you leave it alone, it should fill in eventually.
     
  14. lovefish77

    lovefish77 Member Trusted Member

    Ok thanks for the reply - actually the lights are very strong but i have TWO LAYERS of teflon heat resistant white sheets to diffuse that light, but i guess i need another layer. My fear is that if i diffuse the center (with another layer) where led is the outside of the screen will get much less light that algae needs to grow.
    any thoughts?
    thx
     
  15. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    I'd just let it fill in, it should eventually
     

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