Well, I added a bunch of live sand a couple of weeks ago, which released a lot of fines and organic detritus--all of which quickly coated every strand of algae on the screen. As a result, I had to hose off the screen, which blasted off a lot of the algae on it, making me have to almost start over again. On the bright side, I see a few spots with dark brown turf growing, which is more along the lines of what I want.
As a note to those looking to try this, I'll admit I've had difficulties with it. Before that deters you, I'll say it's in more of a positive way. I've had to feed significant amounts of food to actually induce algae growth on the screen. Once I got that, I noticed cyanobacteria really taking off. However, I also noted at the exact same time that the Cladophora-esque brush algae that had taken over was dying and was beginning to get cyanobacteria on it. I'm definitely seeing a succession of algal types (well, and cyanobacterial ones) in the tank and on the screen. It will be interesting to see what happens in the long run, but I would say that it looks promising. The cyanobacteria should subside once the algae have completely died and gone.
One last thing is that if you hate seeing your tank a mess in the meanwhile waiting for algae to grow, these aren't for you. You must be patient with them and look for certain signs--either too much or too little inorganic nutrients, etc.
As far as pics go, I should've taken some before I put the sand in. You'll have to wait for another week or two, I guess. Either that or I'll have to feed more
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