SantaMonica

Well here is my 7-day cleaning from yesterday. First, here's the screen before cleaning, looking at the the edge:










Here's the screen after cleaning:







And here's what was removed:







So it was a half-pound of wet green hair, about the same as last week. Once thing about cleaning green hair compared to real turf (my other screen that's now at the LFS) is that it slides off so easy, it's hard to leave any on the screen. I tried to only clean one side, but some of the other side detached too. You can almost just run tap water over it, and the loose stuff comes off. Maybe a better design is two half-screens, so you can just pull one out and clean it completely, while not touching the other one.

SantaMonica

Reminder Of The Day:

Why Larger Is Not Better: A larger screen, by itself (without larger lights), is not better than a smaller screen. This means that if you want more nitrate and phosphate removal from your water, the best way to do it is by getting stronger lights, or by moving the lights closer to the screen. If all you do is get a larger screen, the new larger edges of the screen will be too far from the light to have any effect. Of course, the most effective way to increase nitrate and phosphate removal is to do all three: Increase screen size; add more lights to cover the new screen parts; and position all the lights closer to the screen.

SantaMonica

Text Version:

Food --> fish,corals --> Organic Nitrate, Organic Phosphate.

Organic Nitrate, Organic Phosphate --> Bacteria --> Inorganic Nitrate, Inorganic Phosphate.

Inorganic Nitrate, Inorganic Phosphate --> Algae --> Oxygen

Jess

Thanks for the cheat sheet. I did print it out.

SantaMonica

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Reminder Of The Day:

Feeding: Here are the two building block articles by Eric Borneman that cover what happens when you feed your tank. This information is what you need to know to understand what scrubbers do:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/eb/index.php

Here is an excerpt from the second one:

"detritus [waste] ... is the principal food source for the many bacterial species that work in various nitrification and denitrification activities. Before reaching the microbial community, however, [waste] acts as a food source for the smaller consumers such as amphipods, copepods, errant polychaetes, protozoans, flagellates, ciliates and other animals whose activities contribute to the stability and productivity of a coral reef and a coral reef aquarium."

and

"Of the many food sources available to corals and already discussed in this series of articles, particulate organic material [waste], dissolved organic material [DOC/DOM], and bacteria are the most universally accepted food sources"

and

"The use of detrital material, or particulate organic material, as food source is a cornerstone of coral reef ecology and forms what is well accepted to be the base of the entire food chain"
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SantaMonica

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Here's one reason I really like using scrubber without a skimmer. My purple gorg and red feather star stay open and extended all day and night, even though they naturally do so only during the night. But since there is no skimmer removing organics (food), and since the scrubber adds pods to the water all day, not only do they eat well, but they do so 24/7. Note: You cannot keep filter feeders likes these if you have a skimmer...



Hi-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/My90starAndGorg.jpg
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Jess

WOW! Thanks for the hires. They are really beautiful! Did you plan your tank with a color scheme in mind? It looks like it happened that way.
Are they open because they are constantly looking for food? Oh I get it the scrubber adds a food for the purple gorg and feather star. What would a skimmer do? Eliminate the food these guys need? (I have freshwater so this is a bit different for me.)

SantaMonica

Yes they are feeding. A skimmer would remove their food and they would die. I did not plan a color scheme, it's just the coralline that's filled in once my phosphate got to a low level.

SantaMonica

Stages of an aquarist's happiness with a scrubber:

1. The day you see the first very light-brown color on the screen.
2. The day you see the screen covered left to right, top to bottom.
3. The day AFTER you think you saw your N or P test go down. Because that day after, you tested again to be sure.
4. The day you realized, for sure, that the the piece of filtration equipment you removed last week was really and truely not needed.
5. The day you finally realize that the N and P problems you've been fighting for (weeks, months, years) are finally gone.
5. The day another aquarist asks you, "How did you do it?"

Jess

: ) I just need some time to set this up. Sounds like at least a weekend of work. Think this maybe my winter project. (after raking the leaves)
But well worth it as you've shown.

SantaMonica

I think you can do it in a day

MinxMermaid

I have no idea what you're talking about

but i'm glad to see another fish lorian in so cal!

and a SMART one too

SantaMonica

Thankx Minx. I bet you got me beat in the FW scene though

SantaMonica

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Text Version:

Nutrients, part 3

The amount of Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate that a scrubber removes is directly controlled by how much light-power hits the scrubber:

1" - The light-power is full strength.
4" - At 4" distance, the same bulb power has to cover four times the area, so the power per square inch is only 25 percent of what is was (reduced 75%).
6" - At 6" distance, the same bulb power has to cover nine times the area, so the power per square inch is only 11 percent of what is was (reduced 89%).

This is why placing the bulb very close to the scrubber is extremely important.
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jenglish

It is NOT true that filter feeder will die in a tank with a skimmer. If you are running a high flow system and a large skimmer then your water may become so sterile (for lack of a more accurate term) that they require target feedings. Most people I know that keep these keep them in skimmed tanks.

SantaMonica

Reminder of the Day: Proper Flow


While not as important as how strong and near the bulb is, proper flow has shown to help a lot. Before Mrobo770131 on the UR site got things tuned properly, his flow looked like this:




Zennzzo on the MFK site, however, got it perfect from the start:





The trick is to have 35 GPH (adjustable) for every inch width of the screen. And this is assuming your waterfall pipe has a slot. If your pipe uses drilled holes (not recommended) then you will use less.
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hop2jr

Would this set-up be good for a Freshwater system? Was thinking about building one into my 29 gal sump for my 75 gal tank the overflow would be around 300gph. Would this cure all aglea problems no more GW or BGA?

SantaMonica

Yes scrubbers work the same way in FW, although you could also use plants. For a 300gph overflow, your screen width would be 300 divided by 35 = 8 inches. For a 75g tank, the screen hight would be 75 divided by 8 = 10 inches. So make a 8 X 10 screen, with a half inch or so in the water, and put the full overflow through it.