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

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by SantaMonica, Aug 9, 2008.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Jakerupe

    Jakerupe Skunk Shrimp

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2008
    Messages:
    278
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Great info SantaMonica.

    Have a question for you about the red turf algae and if you know the name. I ask because I just notcied some algae in my tank that I hadn't noticed before. It is not the red slime but it is red and actually feels like felt won't just rub off. It actually feels like the cloth on the santa claus decorations. If you have seen any you'll know what I'm talking about.

    Got all the "stuff" and plan on building one of these soon just to keep you in check ;) Might use this stuff to seed it but google gets me nothing that looks like mine.
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    Thanks I hope all that info was clear. Glad to hear you are gonna try one. Which version? Do post lotsa pics :)

    Not sure of the type of algae you have in your tank; I never studied tank algae much, and I don't have any in my tank, so I'm no help. However, green hair or slime or diatoms is probably the best to seed with. Anything helps, though.

    Don't forget your N and P measurements, and screen pics, each day too :)
     
  4. Tangster

    Tangster 3reef Sponsor

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2006
    Messages:
    5,644
    Location:
    Va/Ct
    If you want to see some faster results with this thing I found out when I was running mine that a red bulb makes for a better growth rate I ran warml white and red on a 4 bulb strip I run a red 24 " Led now on my refugium. But if you got a red or even a yellow buld then you would stimiulate more and faster algae growth .
     
  5. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    Interesting point. I've been reading about plant grow lights, but a red bulb would be way low K. However Mike at IA says to use 10K. And I've been using 5K. So I guess there's a lot of room to experiment.
     
  6. Phayes

    Phayes Aiptasia Anemone

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2008
    Messages:
    584
    Location:
    Ontario, Canada

    You're not likely to get turf algae growing inside your tank, as it usually grows on places where water tends to flow over it (First time I saw mine, was ontop of the black foam on the micro-bubble diffuser of my hang-on-back protein skimmer, where the water pours over back into the tank. Just noticed it one day- coincidentally, around the same time period, my GHA stopped spreading on my sand (a problem I had had for months prior). Now that I have upgraded to a 90, and my PS is sitting in a sump underneath my stand, it doesnt get the same lighting, so I'll definitely be going with one of these methods with a pump, pumping out war from the sump through a spray bar over some type of foam/screen, and let it trickle back into the sump. Hopefully it will reinact the same process.
     
  7. Jakerupe

    Jakerupe Skunk Shrimp

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2008
    Messages:
    278
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    That is kind of the situation I have. The only place is is growing is where there is a ton of water movement and on a smooth surface. Even where the pvc pipe touches the rock it has not moved to the rock. It is just on the PVC.

    Not a problem, yet, but you never know.::)
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    This is why it's important to have swift turbulent flow over the screen. That's second only to very strong light.
     
  10. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    Wow. There's so much to post that I don't know which should be first. Today I'll cover max inputs that's I've been able to achieve.

    I've been experimenting with how much I can feed my 90g, with only my 144 square inch turf screen doing the filtering. I'd add more food for a few days, then the Salifert N test would start showing a tiny bit of pink (about a .2 reading). Then I'd cut the food in half, until the reading went clear (zero N measured). Interestingly, P never increased. Ever. Only N. So after a few tries, here's the max I've been able feed the tank while just barely getting an N increase:


    Max Feeding:

    Liquid Life Marine Plankton with Cyclopeeze: 3 pumps a day
    Liquid Life Bio Plankton (live phyto): 2 pumps a day
    Frozone mysis: 2 cubes a day, unwashed, thawed in 4 oz tap water.
    Silversides: 1 per week (for the eel)


    Tank:

    90 Display, BB
    20 Sump
    150 pounds LR
    60 inches fish
    40 corals, all softie and lps
    6000 gph circulation
    Carbon now used once a month for allelpathics


    I'm now settling in on a lesser amount:

    1 pump phyto
    1-2 pumps plankton
    2 cubes mysis, unwashed, thawed in 4 oz tap water.
    Silversides: 1 per week (for the eel)
     
  11. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    Here is the screen from the person who bought pre-grown turf from Inland Aquatics, after growing on the tank for one week, and then after cleaning:


    [​IMG]
     
  12. SantaMonica

    SantaMonica Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2008
    Messages:
    312
    Location:
    Santa Monica, CA, USA
    Here's a rather ingenious screen-in-a-trashcan that someone just built. This type of design will eliminate evaporation (and cooling), if that's what you want. One thing I might change would be the distance of the bulb to the screen; it should be so close that it almost touches it. In all the builds I've seen so far, the ones that have slow growth always have the bulb too far away, or too small a wattage.

    [​IMG]
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.