Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, Everythin

To SantaMonica,

Below is my water test results:
NH3=0
NO3=<5
PH=8
PO4=4 (max on the chart is 5 mg/l)

my turf scrubber has stopped growing algae. my fish become lazy except feeding time. two of them have developed fin rot today. this never happened before. 2-3 times feeding daily each consumed in less than 10 seconds. Maybe high PO4 and low NO3 results in black algae? will have to lower the PO4 in a hurry! I tested my water source but the PO4 is almost zero. wonder where this high PO4 is coming from? will keep the scrubber running for another week and test PO4 again to see if that can help under the current water condition.

 

Well you need to take care of the fish first, of course. You did not add any chemicals to your system when you added your screen (as long as you washed it well first), so something was probably developing all along. Your nitrate is not high, and that's the important one for fish (phosphate is the important one for corals), so it's probably something else, and thus time for waterchanges and carbon. If the fish are eating then you are still early in the problem.

As for the screen having stopped growing, without pics and dates, I really can't tell. So just do the safe thing and clean one side today, the the other side after a few days. I would imagine there are some chemicals you may have added by mistake that could, possibly, stop the screen from growing, but I can't imagine what (Algae-Away?). So this is all the more reason for a series of waterchanges and carbon. Some other folks experienced in fish care should be able to help more directly.

 

Here are some interesting technical points taken out of the current issues of Advanced Aquarist:

Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and the Reef Aquarium: an Initial Survey, Part I
Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and the Reef Aquarium: an Initial Survey, Part II


"Greater than 97% of the organic matter in the oceans is in the form of DOC"

"The majority of the DOC in the oceans is consumed over a time span on the order of hours-to-weeks."

"The generally accepted value of deep ocean TOC (DOC in this instance) ranges from 0.45 - 0.60 ppm, a number that appears to be insensitive to collection location. On reefs, however, the DOC (and TOC) value is considerably higher. Even with this point noted, the values of DOC on reefs from the South Pacific to Japan to the Caribbean to the Red Sea are remarkably consistent in their range: 0.7 - 1.6 ppm"

"Bacteria are a critical component in the food web of the reef, as they occupy the role of 'middle man' in the transfer of energy from the source (sunlight) to the consumers on the reef"

"sponges are some of the most prolific repositories of marine bacteria. In fact, some sponges have been studied as effective bioremediation agents in marine aquaculture as a consequence of their exceptional ability to absorb TOC"

"Where does the DOC go ... studies suggest that it is rapidly consumed by bacteria that live in and on the coral itself and not by bacteria present in the water column. Shutting down these endogenous bacteria by antibiotic treatment abolished DOC uptake."

"In total, these data unequivocally demonstrate that the [skimmer] is not required to deplete the aquarium water of TOC. Apparently, naturally biological processes are sufficient in and of themselves to return the post-feeding TOC levels to their pre-feeding values after about 4 hrs or so ... Clearly the skimmer is doing something, given the copious residue accumulated in the collection cup at the end of the week. Perhaps, however, the residue removed by the skimmer is only a rather small, even inconsequential, portion of the entire TOC load that develops in the aquarium water over the course of a week."

 

I just read this whole thread and found it very interesting and informative. Here's some pics of my sump. I may have to make some modifications to it for the screen to hang into the water.
I've never owned a fish tank before so I'll experiment with it. It's still gonna be a couple/few weeks before my rocks get cleaned and cycled.

You sure put a lot of effort into making all the photos and diagrams. I appreciate it.

 

I have a 180 gallon tank with 33 gallon sump. How many square inches of screen do you think I would need? I'm wandering how many degrees it cooled your tank also. How many gallons is your main tank?

 

Glad you are getting your first tank, and that you want to try a scrubber. You have about 200 gal, so 200 square inches should do: 10 X 20, or 14 X 14, etc. And that size screen is a bit large for just one bulb per side, so you may consider twin bulbs per side (like the one listed at the beginning of the thread.). A tall narrow screen works will with two bulbs per side. My tank is a 90; my screen is the standard bucket size with 144 inches (but I'll soon be disconnecting it to let my 120 inch acrylic version take over.)

 

Reminder Of The Day:

What Scrubbers Consume: Algae scrubbers consume INORGANIC nitrate and phosphate. These things are what your test kits read, and what the nuisance algae on your rocks and glass require to live. What scrubbers don't consume is ORGANIC nitrate and phosphate. Organic nitrate and phosphate have another name: Food. Any and every piece of food you put into your tank has nitrate and phosphate in them, but they are organic. Scrubbers leave them in the water for the corals to eat. Skimmers do the opposite: Skimmers remove the organic nitrate and phosphate (food), and leave in the inorganic nitrate and phosphate; these inorganics are then used by the nuisance algae on your rocks and glass to grow.

 

Didnt I see this same thread on other forums???

 

How is the new acrylic version doing... I was wondering how close is your new light to the screen/acrylic?

If I built mine the same as your acrylic.. would I still need 4 lights like the T5 you have?(for 200inch)