SantaMonica

Cleaning Guidelines:

Black/oily growth, but no green: Clean every last bit of it off every three days.

Dark brown growth, but no green: Clean all of it off every 4 days.

Light brown growth, but no green: Clean most of if off every 5 days.

Mostly brown growth, but some green: Clean all of the brown off every 6 days, but leave some of the green.

Half brown and half green growth: Clean most of it off every 7 days.

Mostly green growth: clean most of it off every 10 days.


In all cases, stronger lighting will help you get to green faster, even if the extra lighting is only temporary.

Also, when there is lots of green, you are getting the most filtering. So to minimize nutrient spikes which might occur after cleaning the green off, consider cutting the screen vertically into two halves, and cleaning only one of the halves every 5 days. This give 10 days of growth for each half (about the max you can go), but always leaves the other half to do the filtering.

After several months, you may start getting some thick brown algae that feels like fuzz, and it won't come off. That's turf algae. You don't want turf because it's thick and dark, and it blocks light from reaching the screen (also, because turf does not grow fast enough to be a good filter.) Scrape the turf off with a hack saw blade. Matter of fact, if you start getting turf, you can just start doing all your weekly cleaning with a hack saw blade.

thedrunkingpig

any suggestions on how to make mine better?

the lights are 25w 65k clf's about 10cm away

I have 40w bulbs at 65k (i think) but they look dimmer. more of a blue light.

I seem to just get brown/red growth.

perhaps the flow isnt strong enough

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SantaMonica

Clean every 3 days.

jeffteo

After reading the whole thread, I decided to make one for my FW nano tank with an overhead sump. At the 3rd reversion, attached are some photos of my current set up. As the lamp is raising my water temp to 30°C+ I added a CPU fan above the screen.

No space for another lamp on the other side for now so will stay with 1 screen till I can upgrade to a bigger tank and sump.

Thanks SantaMonica for dropping a line on my youtube video comment of my first version of the algae scrubber. I lifted up the lamp when i shoot the video to be able to see the screen properly.

Version 1


Version 2


Version 3 in attached photos.

Version 3.1 with a bigger quieter fan.

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thedrunkingpig

sooo, how long before i get green algae growing?

its been running for 2 months now. lights closer?


sorry for all these noob questions!

SantaMonica

Is it still cycling? Are you feeding? Is the screen still one-sided?

Generally, dark growth is when your lights are too weak for the amount of nutrients in the water.

thedrunkingpig

its finished cycling, ive 2 clown fish in the water and feeding. the lights are about 10cm away, clf's 25w 65k.

ive changed 1 bulb for a 40w 65k but it doesnt seem as bright as the 25w. its difficult to say the watts here as standards are quite loose in china.

ive seen some phosphorus coming out of the sand, and my rocks are turning a nice shade of purple

thedrunkingpig

sorry, and bulbs on both sides. should i move the bulbs closer?
the flow is rated at the the recommended flow rate. perhaps could be stronger?

SantaMonica

Make sure the bulbs are not older than 3 months. Other than that, just clean every 5 days.

jeffteo

Update after 4 days since changing the lamp to new 6000 K cool daylight.
SantaMonica, how is the growth. It is ok? Can I clean the screen 1 week once?

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SantaMonica

Hard to see, but it seems like it's ok. Has some green.

addicted_ind

hey dear really nice job and nice to see you.

jeffteo

Version 3.2

thedrunkingpig

right. i just dont understand what im doing wrong.
all i get on my screen is black. i do have some green but so little.
i changed my bulbs for 35w 27k yellow/warm ones and the growth is faster.
i moved my lights (clfs) closer so they are about 3cm to the screen, 18 hours on, 6 off
i clean every 4/5 days, yet all i get is black or brown. no green at all.
theres fish in the tank and im feeding.
when i first started i did have small clumps of green growing, but it soon was overcome by brown.
its been running for nearly 3 months now.
my nitrates and phosphates are generally quite high, thats why im trying to use a scrubber.
my screen is 7x8 inches. i actually have more green on the screen that is under the water line than on the screen.
should i increase the flow? its about 35gph at the moment (or near enough)

any ideas before i go crazy?

jeffteo

My first full screen cleaning.

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thedrunkingpig

so jeffteo, what are you doing to get algae like this? i get nothing.

jeffteo

Nothing special, mine is a FW tank and i had not done any water change for more than a month. Other than that, all are as per recommendation from this thread.

SantaMonica

Jeff:

1. Did you cut out a window for the light to shine through?
2. Why do you have two screens separated? Is water going down both?
3. Is there a fan on top?

Pig: Your pics showed lots of dark growth.

jeffteo

No window cut for the light. I am still figuring how to fit a light internally without getting it wet. Need the container wall as high for now as i top up water from there and it will over flow from the side if I have any holes on the side. I only have 1 screen btw. The smaller piece is just for scrapping the algae. And yup. got a fan on top. Not very efficent to put it there but it works for now.

thedrunkingpig

is dark growth normal? its just really dark brown growth. no green at all.
is this because my nutrients are really high?
i know my phosphate is high and the nitrates will be a little high as well

SantaMonica

You might cut a window, and silicone in a clear thin piece of acrylic.

Dark is from high nutrients. Stronger light will make them come down faster.

jeffteo

Last weekend, cut the window and silicone a thin piece of acrylic from inside as suggested by SM. How does it looks now?

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SantaMonica

Will certainly help...

jeffteo

Mod the scrubber to version 3.4.

Spray painted the bucket to black and change the power head hose to a larger one.
After changing to larger hose, the flow was too fast for the drainage pipe and fills the bucket half full. Restricted the flow temporary till I upgrade the drainage pipe.

jeffteo

Upgraded the drainage pipe to a bigger one and set the flow free!

Oops... The screen is too clean and the screen being black, algae are difficult to see. This is the 2nd full screen cleaning.

SantaMonica

Flow looks good off of the bottom of the screen.

Yours is the first black screen ever

SantaMonica

Here is the micro table saw that I use to cut the slots in the pipes:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/MTS3.html

It comes with two blades, and if you put them together like a pancake the thickness will be perfect for a 1/8 inch slot for a single layer of plastic canvas. I've cut about 20 slots and the blades are just starting to need replacing. There are other similar micro saws if you search for them ("mini table saw", etc), as well as some slightly larger "mini" table saws which get a bit expensive for just cutting pipes.

jeffteo

@SM: What is the preferred lamp to use? White or warm white(yellowish) lamp?
Mine currently is using a Osram cool daylight(white) with 6000K(865)!!!
When I replace the lamp in a few months time, what should I change to? A 3000K(830) warm white, 3500K(835) white or 4000K(840) cool white? Thanks in advanced!

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SantaMonica

3000 (warm)

jeffteo

But your old post #19 shows more growth with a 6500K lamp. I may had missed something in the thread so why 3000K?