There are no "layers" the algae is about 1/16" thick. I could wipe it, but I doubt this is the issue after looking at some of the harvests you guys have done.SantaMonica;2465372; said:
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!
- Thread starter SantaMonica
- Start date
It is it. It's a dark thin tight layer. Different kind of algae. It's the type you get when you start a scrubber. Later you get thicker stuff. But the stuff you have now does not let any light through, and thus stops growing and worse. It will come off in little chips.
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Text Version: Nutrients, part 5
When Food Decomposes
Food ==> Bacteria ==> Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate ==>
==> Algae growth on your rocks and glass eats most of the
Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate.
==> The remaining Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate
stays in your water, which is what you read when you test.
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
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients4.jpg
.
.
.
Text Version: Nutrients, part 5
When Food Decomposes
Food ==> Bacteria ==> Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate ==>
==> Algae growth on your rocks and glass eats most of the
Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate.
==> The remaining Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate
stays in your water, which is what you read when you test.
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
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Nutrients4.jpg
.
.
.
LEDs for Scrubbers
Many folks want to try an LED scrubber. We do to, which is why we are trying to figure them out on the scrubber site. However, they are a ways down the road; nothing to report yet. If anyone wants to try themselves, here is a starting point:
Low-Power LED panel, to experiement with:
http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=1
Higher-Power LED panel, not sure if enough for good growth:
http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=10
The deal with LEDs is that you need lots of light power to have good growth. How much is still unknown. But the above panels are cheap enough that some folks should be able to give them a try. It's just for experimenting, though. If you need results you can count on, get a 23W CFL full spectrum or bigger, or a T5HO, or halide
Many folks want to try an LED scrubber. We do to, which is why we are trying to figure them out on the scrubber site. However, they are a ways down the road; nothing to report yet. If anyone wants to try themselves, here is a starting point:
Low-Power LED panel, to experiement with:
http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=1
Higher-Power LED panel, not sure if enough for good growth:
http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=10
The deal with LEDs is that you need lots of light power to have good growth. How much is still unknown. But the above panels are cheap enough that some folks should be able to give them a try. It's just for experimenting, though. If you need results you can count on, get a 23W CFL full spectrum or bigger, or a T5HO, or halide
Just wanted to share my success with a turf scrubber with my freshwater tank.
Currently I have a 125 with:
5 6 inch piranha 6 4 to 5 inch giant danios
About 20 1 inch baby black cons
2 2 inch green terrors
2 2 inch jack dempseys
1 2.5 inch blue malawi cichlid
The smaller fish were all supposed to be feeders but the piranha ignore them.
Anyways I've had the scrubber up and running for almost three weeks now and I finally tested the water parameters.
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
Not too bad! Usually the Nitrate sits around 40 to 80 ppm right before a water change so this is definitely an improvement. All I can say is thanks for the great idea!
Currently I have a 125 with:
5 6 inch piranha 6 4 to 5 inch giant danios
About 20 1 inch baby black cons
2 2 inch green terrors
2 2 inch jack dempseys
1 2.5 inch blue malawi cichlid
The smaller fish were all supposed to be feeders but the piranha ignore them.
Anyways I've had the scrubber up and running for almost three weeks now and I finally tested the water parameters.
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
Not too bad! Usually the Nitrate sits around 40 to 80 ppm right before a water change so this is definitely an improvement. All I can say is thanks for the great idea!
Successes of the Day (in addition to brian's)...
worley on the scrubber site: "Well just got my phosphate test kit and did a test... *drumroll* .... 0ppm. It's the API phosphate test kit, and it was the very lightest green on the salt water card (0ppm). That's a great result, especially as I'm now feeding tonnes into the tank, 1 block of brine shrimp and 1 of mysis, plus some live brine (fed with live phyto a an hour before feeding to the fish) and some pellet foods. [...] I still can't get over the phosphate test, and how low the nitrates are considering there's not been a water change in 2 months and so much food has gone in.
jan on the RPhil site: "Today is my 24th day of cycling, I measured my water my parameters and here are the result: Nitrate 0ppm. Turf algae is almost all over my screen Razz !!!! thanks for this great Idea!
worley on the scrubber site: "Well just got my phosphate test kit and did a test... *drumroll* .... 0ppm. It's the API phosphate test kit, and it was the very lightest green on the salt water card (0ppm). That's a great result, especially as I'm now feeding tonnes into the tank, 1 block of brine shrimp and 1 of mysis, plus some live brine (fed with live phyto a an hour before feeding to the fish) and some pellet foods. [...] I still can't get over the phosphate test, and how low the nitrates are considering there's not been a water change in 2 months and so much food has gone in.
jan on the RPhil site: "Today is my 24th day of cycling, I measured my water my parameters and here are the result: Nitrate 0ppm. Turf algae is almost all over my screen Razz !!!! thanks for this great Idea!
that's so awesome to hear. I guess this is almost a necessity in every tank setup...some probably already consider it that way.
