Still wanna see some conclusive FW results. I've been putting off doing a w/c for a while now, hoping to see the difference in water chemistry when the algea starts growing, but it's just too soon I guess. Probly do a w/c this weekend.
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
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Text Version: Nutrients, part 4
Our Tanks: High Inorganic Nutrients, Low Organic Nutrients.
The Ocean: Low Inorganic Nutrients, High Organic Nutrients.
Previous Versions:
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients1.jpg
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients2.jpg
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients3.jpg
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Text Version: Nutrients, part 4
Our Tanks: High Inorganic Nutrients, Low Organic Nutrients.
The Ocean: Low Inorganic Nutrients, High Organic Nutrients.
Previous Versions:
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients1.jpg
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients2.jpg
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients3.jpg
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N Rising is a fact of life in a FW monster tank. My algae scrubber has not started removing anything noticeable from the water yet. I was trying to leave the N relatively high to encourage the algae growth, but it was getting too high for the fish to be comfortable.SantaMonica;2375641; said:
same position 17 days from virgin screen...
Seems the last 48 hours has been a bit overcast and the screen looks fuller...anybody else think so?
Seems the last 48 hours has been a bit overcast and the screen looks fuller...anybody else think so?
My thinking is to do water changes on a schedule dictated by water quality. Simply put, change water when nitrates reach a target level, say 20-50 ppm, giving your algae filter time to mass up and come on line. I'm certain that water changes will not significantly set back the development of the algae mat in any case...cvermeulen;2375930; said:
Reminder Of The Day:
If you are home when a power outage occurs, then just like you would manually try to oxygenate your tank, you would also take the screen out and set it in some water (even tap water in the sink.) Problem solved, no damage. It can sit there for two days with no ill effects. You could even put it in a shallow pan of water outside in the sun, where it will probaby grow
If you are not home, however, it becomes a question of which you lose first, your screen or your whole display. Long term (days) you are going to lose both, so we'll look at short term (hours). Somewhere in-between is the question: If you are not home when the power goes out for 2, 3, 4, 5 hours, etc., then how much of your screen will you lose, and how much of the nutrients will be "released" back into the water?
Well, most screens are designed to be up and out-of-contact with the water, so there will be zero "release" of nutrients during the power-outage. And floating screens that stay in contact with the water will not die or release nutrients at all in a short-term outage, because they stay wet. So immediate release of nutirents is not a factor in any situation.
The real question is long term loss of filtering, i.e., how much of the screen will die off during the outage. When you get back home, the screen has been drying for a few hours, but is still moist. What you do is put it in your sink with water and give the dead parts a chance to fall off. Not sure of how much time is needed, but just do a regular cleaning of the screen every few hours until it seems that most of the dead stuff is removed. Doing this in the sink will prevent any nutrients from getting back into the tank. You then put the screen back into operation, and it's no different than if you just did a regular cleaning. And this is the worst case.
I myself unplugged the wrong plug once and left the screen 6 hours with no flow. The fan was still on, but the lights were off at the time. It was all still moist, yet a bit hardened. I did not think at the time to remove the outer layers of dead stuff, so I just put it back into operation right way. What happened was the next day or two there was a very slight increase in N from zero (clear Salifert) to a very slight pink; probably got up to about .5 or 1. P did not ever increase, however. And this was without properly removing the dead stuff. So overall, I don't think power outages are really that eventfull for scrubbers.
If you are home when a power outage occurs, then just like you would manually try to oxygenate your tank, you would also take the screen out and set it in some water (even tap water in the sink.) Problem solved, no damage. It can sit there for two days with no ill effects. You could even put it in a shallow pan of water outside in the sun, where it will probaby grow
If you are not home, however, it becomes a question of which you lose first, your screen or your whole display. Long term (days) you are going to lose both, so we'll look at short term (hours). Somewhere in-between is the question: If you are not home when the power goes out for 2, 3, 4, 5 hours, etc., then how much of your screen will you lose, and how much of the nutrients will be "released" back into the water?
Well, most screens are designed to be up and out-of-contact with the water, so there will be zero "release" of nutrients during the power-outage. And floating screens that stay in contact with the water will not die or release nutrients at all in a short-term outage, because they stay wet. So immediate release of nutirents is not a factor in any situation.
The real question is long term loss of filtering, i.e., how much of the screen will die off during the outage. When you get back home, the screen has been drying for a few hours, but is still moist. What you do is put it in your sink with water and give the dead parts a chance to fall off. Not sure of how much time is needed, but just do a regular cleaning of the screen every few hours until it seems that most of the dead stuff is removed. Doing this in the sink will prevent any nutrients from getting back into the tank. You then put the screen back into operation, and it's no different than if you just did a regular cleaning. And this is the worst case.
I myself unplugged the wrong plug once and left the screen 6 hours with no flow. The fan was still on, but the lights were off at the time. It was all still moist, yet a bit hardened. I did not think at the time to remove the outer layers of dead stuff, so I just put it back into operation right way. What happened was the next day or two there was a very slight increase in N from zero (clear Salifert) to a very slight pink; probably got up to about .5 or 1. P did not ever increase, however. And this was without properly removing the dead stuff. So overall, I don't think power outages are really that eventfull for scrubbers.
Wow that's a lot of holes. Did you sand the plexi? If not, go ahead and do it now with real rough sandpaper or a file. Make big deep marks.
Flow looks good of the bottom. Did you measure N and P? Any tank shots?
Flow looks good of the bottom. Did you measure N and P? Any tank shots?
You'll find the growth to happen on the snags and scratches...SantaMonica;2384155; said:
So when SM says make deep marks, he means "DEEP" marks/sandings/filing.
When I started to get growth on mine it was right on those scratches...I wish I would've made more/deeper ones now...
