Scrubber build

some results

 

Still doing incredibly well; lid 17 hours per day .

 

1,5 months ago I placed two big blocks of marine pure in my tank too see what would happen. Despite feeding a lot, I notice by scrubber is growing a bit less and I also noticed some diatoms (I think) developing on the sand. So I decided to check the water paramaters to see what is going on.

It turns out no3 is way lower than before; instead of 3.0.. it has dropped to 1.0 !! Apart from that po4 increased from 0.03 to 0.06. I do not like to jump to conclusions.. but I think the is some denitrification due to the marine pure blocks which is driving no3 too low; inhibiting algae growth.
I will probably remove them to restore the No3 : po4 balance, I fear there will be a cyano outbrake if the growth of hair algae is restricted and po4 keeps climbing.

On the other side I think this is very interesting moment.. as I can test too what extend po4 is removed by algae when no3 is limited.. I can tell by the about of growth and testing water parameters. I will remove 1 block by the end of the week, test for no3/po4, and leave the other one in there too see what will happen.

 

Building new led light;

 

In between MX-4.. I hope this is going to be a bad-*** light. It will light the scrubber much more even now.

 

Today I finished the new led build. results:

 

So far the led is performing really well, the heatsink becomes just a little bit warm. I also notice now the scrubber is maturing there is a thick layer of hair algae that just does not come off easily. I really have to scrape hard to remove the algae. Is this normal? Or should I leave this layer and just scrape off the excess?

The scrubber is still lid 17 hours per day. Flow increased; the scrubber is fed now by a jecod DCP5000 at 40%.

 

Your tutorial on soldering also helped out a lot bud, unfortunately my iron did not became hot enough to quickly apply the solder, but it looked much cleaner than before. I will light the scrubber from 2 sides for now.. I think that would be overkill. I already have a hard time getting enough algae on 1 side. I have too feed a ton..

that also makes me wonder if I should leave the bottom layer of algae.. when the scrubber is scraped off clean.. I guess no3/po4 will rise a bit initially and affect stability a bit..

 

so far so good. I recently dumped 10 cubes of frozen food in the tank... i accidently forgot to place the blister back in the freezer. scrubber just explodes with algea and no3/po4 remains stable. incredible... I also burned the algea.. flow was too low again and I increased flow to 3000lph (for 42 cm screen).

Apart from that I ordered MnEDTA and will experiment with this. FeEDDHA is thusfar without any problems. I am also in the process to come up with a 2-part for ATS systems.. i wonder too what extend K/I/B/Sr is consumed by the scrubber and will be measuring these.

It will be in the form of a genuine 2-part based on JimWelsh. However, I will add trace elements and make sure Na:CI:SO4 will be balanced nearly spot on (also taking into account the exact amount of water to remove and adding back the lost trace element by doing so etc)
kH mix contains: sodiumhydroxide/sodiumsulfate/potassiumiodide/trisodiumtreaborate/sodiummolybdate
Ca mix contains: calciumchloride anhydrate/magnesiumchloride hexahydrate/potassiumchloride/strontiumchloride hexahydrate

I do not know if it is possible to combine MnEDTA and FeEDDHA. for now i'll just dose them seperately.

I also tried calciumcarbonate dosing for clear water (like kz coralsnow). I tried it with the scrubber.. no problem whatsoever and the water is very clear!

 

hair algae looking awsome.. I just scrape of the top layer.

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Yes, I am very pleased, I notice the increased flow definitely prevents the algae from yellowing. I will be adding many NPS corals to my tank. I think this will be the biggest advantages of the scrubber; keeping the water nutritious and rich. I wonder if I can get away with just dumping a big chunk of frozen food in the tank two times a day. I do not own NPS at the moment though, I do have a feather seastar for a few months now.

 

So I recently got Mn-EDTA 6% fertilizer solution. 1 drop equals 9.5 ppb increase for my tank volume. This is 5x the more than desired. I found this out too late, as I forgot a comma and thought I was dosing 0.95 ppb. I expected a tank crash but it did not happen... I wonder too what extend the scrubber will have absorbed the manganese. Anyone an idea how much % of algae consists of x elements? I think it may be very interesting to figure out...



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Another good harvest.


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So, the past growth has been a bit of a disappointment. I have been feeding a lot, overfeeding, I think maybe 1/4 is eaten by the fish.. the remaining demineralises in the tank. I have a low fishload.

I wonder, bud, it is possible to skew the no3o4 balans to po4, if there are not enough fish to actually eat the food and supply no3? I say this because I noticed algea growth dit not recover after the last harvest. I expected a massive amount but did not got much.

No3: 0.2
Po4: 0.2

I do have a big marinepure block in my sump... other than that; nothing. Should I remove the block (which may denitrify and inhibit algae growth) or is it true po4 rises if there are not enough fish to consume the food and supply no3. I am confused by my findings as I thought the amount of cubes fed determine the size en flow of the scrubber.


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Hi Turbo,

Thank you for your advice. To be honest, I like to experiment and test the limits of the scrubber to a certain extend. I am planning on having NPS corals and broadcast feed them by dumping chunks of frozen food in the tank. So this skewed ratio is an opportunity to understand the scrubber dynamics.

I will remove the marinepure block and start dosing potassiumnitrate, to see if this is the limiting factor for the scrubber. I find it hard to believe I initially had a very thick mat of hair algae which suddenly came to a halt.. despite improved lighting, high flow a fair amount of trace elements. There must be something limiting.

Iron and manganese are ok; I dosed both (Fe-EDDHA/Mn-EDTA) and it did not make a difference. Apart from that potassium has been corrected from 340 to 400+ and molybdate added to the kH-mix.. Sr/B/I are also on target. I think, but do not know for sure, that the scrubber can handle all the excess food given the right circumstances. Iuse some gfo in a panty hose to drive po4 down a bit. If I can drive it around 0.1 that would be excellent and I will remove the gfo and block and start adding the potassiumnitrate to the topoff water. Hopefully that will be the solution. I will report my findings in time.



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