Growth Pics

[SantaMonica]

Growth box of a SURF4 or 4x with the saltwater drained out. This growth can be pulled out and fed to fish.

 

[LavenderTi]

Here’s my Rain4. I can’t get the turf algae growing like many usually do. It’s always slimy. 
 

 

[SantaMonica]

Nice growth. High nutrients in the water. Problem is not cleaning often enough, and maybe not cleaning properly, and maybe too little light.

So this:

Take the screen out and brush clean in tap water, including cleaning out all the screen holes. Let soak in tap water for 10 minutes to kill the pods. Should end up almost all white.

Brush clean the tray and pipe and slot in tap water, and use vinegar if needed to remove coralline.

I can't tell the flow, but make sure it flows off the entire bottom of the screen.

Plug in all 6 lights (look to see all are bright), and run for 24 hours (no timer).

Water flow 24 hours of course.

See how it looks in 5 days. A week is probably too long with nutrients this high.

 

[LavenderTi]

My nitrates are 12 and my phosphate is 0.12.

I've cleaned everything per your recommendation. I soaked in citric acid instead of vinegar for the coraline algae. Lights on 24/7 now.

My flow may have been too high. I had water spraying on to the outer shell of the ATS. With this deep clean, I added in a valve so I can adjust the flow. I adjusted it so that it flows across the entire bottom part of the screen. I'll check flow again in a few days after some growth.

Should I be concerned with my parameters since I cleaned the screen so well? I was under the impression you just want to scrap across the screen for cleanings.

[SantaMonica]

No in a few days it will be filtering better than before. It was not really filtering at all because it was not cleaned and the slime was falling off. With the good cleaning, nutrients might go up for a few days but then go down lower than before. The scrape across the screen was not correct for this growth.

[Abarger16]

I need to post some growth in my hog.5 I ended growing a bunch of red ogo in it [12 hour timer] once the turf started to root on the substrate I pulled the ogo out but I could remove half the ogo every week and be back to full everytime.

[SantaMonica]

Yes trying to grow other types is fun, although they are tricky and tend to not absorb nutrients as fast.

[LavenderTi]

Shout out to Nautilus / @Eatfrenchfries for some macro algae. We'll see how it grows until the turf gets established.

 

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

Cladphora is a turf algae that looks like chaetomorpha but with a holdfast. Pretty easy to cull. 

[SantaMonica]

What happened to the tilting of the screen?

Cladophora is a filamentous green algae.

[SantaMonica]

I see what happened. You pushed the red cap all the way in (it's only supposed to go on halfway).

[SantaMonica]

This new SURF4x scrubber (tm) is half shaded with the included black shade cloth, which dims the light that otherwise would be too bright reflecting from the white Green Grabber textures and strings. After more growth fills in, the cloth is not used anymore. 

 

 

[LavenderTi]

Here's what it looks like 14 days later (lighting on 24/7). Flow is on in this picture. I corrected the flow from the first pic with the slime algae. Nitrates at 21 and phosphate at 0.09.

[SantaMonica]

Needs to all be scraped clean in tap water, and use only the top and bottom lights, not the middle. Clean every 7 days.

[LavenderTi]

16 hours ago, SantaMonica said:

Needs to all be scraped clean in tap water, and use only the top and bottom lights, not the middle. Clean every 7 days.

Is the idea to keep cleaning it every 7 days until it starts to get a greener growth? Washing in tap water kills the algae that's on the screen right?

[SantaMonica]

You have to clean it before it gets to thick which blocks light and flow. Tap water does not kill the algae but does kill the pods which eat the algae. 

[SantaMonica]

This SURF4 or 4x is fuffy and full of growth. The red arrow is the light, removed and set down in the water.

 

 

[LavenderTi]

I'm using 4 lights and would like to increase my growth on my Rain4. I can add the other 2 lights, but before I do that I'm wondering what influence the flow rate has on growth rate.

[SantaMonica]

Not much. As long as the flow covers the whole bottom of the screen then it is good.

[SantaMonica]

This HOG2 or 2x in freshwater has been set down in the display to feed the fish overnight. More feeding info here.. 
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/showthread.php?3807-Feeding-scrubber-growth-to-your-fish