Actually, I have a picture of ATS v1 @ day 4 as well so you can see the difference.
ATS v1 @ day 4
ATS v2 @ day 4
ATS v1 @ day 4
ATS v2 @ day 4
Ace's ATS Build
- Thread starter Ace25
- Start date
Naw, picture doesn't show detail nearly as much as in person.. it looks much darker and has more "stuff" on the screen for sure. Plus most of the white areas on the new screen in the picture are not actually white spots, just spots where lots of water/bubbles were running over the screen so it appears whiter than it really is. I would say there is about 2x as much growth between this screen and my first screen, but I have to wonder how much going with a single screen vs a double screen before is playing a role in it. BTW, the CFLs were a much warmer color @ 2700k vs Neutral/Warm LEDs which I believe are closer to 5000k.
This is good news. However, I can't with absolute certainty say that the LEDs were the cause yet. It is a circumstantial evidence 
. You water condition, flow, blah blah can be different this time.
Very nice and clean set up nevertheless. And I enjoy your pictures
.
How much GFO do you run in there? I read that I needed one teaspoon for my 30 Gal every week or two. I would like to add more, but I don't know if it is safe. Advice?
. You water condition, flow, blah blah can be different this time. Very nice and clean set up nevertheless. And I enjoy your pictures
. How much GFO do you run in there? I read that I needed one teaspoon for my 30 Gal every week or two. I would like to add more, but I don't know if it is safe. Advice?
It all depends on what your phosphates are at and how much you feed IMO. I usually run 1-1/4 cups on my 75G. Also, GFO can be used up in as little at 48 hours depending on your phosphate levels. It is never a good idea to just go off a time frame to replace it because that causes fluctuations in levels. On my setup, I get about 7-10 days out of my GFO at this point before I need to replace it. If you are adding significantly more GFO than you normally do just keep an eye on pH and Alkalinity because GFO is known to drop Alkalinity and if you are on the low side before adding, you can put your tank into a crash if you put too much in without adjusting for the drop.
Here is my day 7 picture right before cleaning.. I think it is doing great. It is more brown slimey stuff on the screen vs algae, but my first ATS went through this initial phase as well for the first 3 weeks.
Looks like definite progress. Fundamentally speaking, I don't see why LEDs wouldn't work just as well as CFLs (actually, they should work even better), assuming a good spectral spread, which natural whites certainly have. Just keep regularly cleaning the screen, though, and it should be in good shape. That regular cleaning encourages the proliferation of turf species over film-like ones.
Yup, working almost too good now.. I had to clean the screen today because it was getting clogged already and my emergency overflow started to kick in. It makes a pretty loud gurgling sound so it is easy to hear when the screen gets clogged. There was a lot more algae on the screen this time vs brown slime, probably 75% algae / 25% slime, so the slime phase is going away much quicker on this ATS than it did on my first one.. whatever that means. I could just be my tank / parameters and nothing to do with the different ATS setups. Sorry, no pics, didn't think about it until I started cleaning it. I walked in the door from work, heard the sound, and grabbed the screen and cleaned it right away without thinking of taking a picture first.
Ya, I am very happy with it so far. I am still shocked it is working as well as it is.. nothing you design in your head usually works out as well as you hope, but this is a rare instance where it has.
One thing I noticed was causing way more problems than helping on my old sump was all the live rock I had in the sump. When I replaced the sump I scrubbed all the rock and stuffed it into my 29G hospital tank and within 3 days I had a major cyano outbreak from putting the rocks in there, just like I was having in my old sump. I guess I would call it 'bad' live rock at this point and I think the best course of action is to take it out and soak it in FW for a week to kill everything, let it dry out, and then put back in my hospital tank to get reseeded. My hospital tank now looks more like a live rock bin at a LFS anyway because it is so stuffed with rock now.
I have been having a bacteria bloom for about the past week in my tank after scrubbing the rocks in my display (took them out and scrubbed off the algae). Thought that would subside within 2-3 days but it is day 5 now and still pretty milky looking, although corals look fine. My next big purchase will be new rock from marcorock. My live rock is at least 10 years old now, and even though I have scrubbed and cleaned it often, I still think it is about to it's expiration date as far as being good live rock. I can boil it, dry it, and reseed it and make it good again, and I will do that but I won't use it in my 75G tank once I get new rock. Having the same few big pieces of live rock for so long, there is only so many ways to can aquascape with it and I think I have done every combination possible now so I want some new 'puzzle pieces' to play with to be able to scape my tank differently.
My midas blenny got some nasty infection and I had to dose some meds for that, which I am sure didn't help the water clarity any since I turned off my carbon reactor. Not sure what it is, looks like someone put out cigarettes on the blenny, little black burn mark looking dots on it but it is getting better with the meds (Melafix/Pimafix mixture). So my main tank is still in a recovery mode, but it is getting better each day and the corals in the tank, even the few SPS corals, are looking good with good polyp extension which is more than I could say before I replaced my sump.
On a positive note, my SPS 'frags' are growing great on a frag rack in my 29G tank, actually had to move the rack down towards the bottom 1/3rd of the tank and out from under the LEDs because they were bleaching a little but not bad. My clowns are still laying eggs every 10-12 days as well, so I have one tank that seems to be flourishing right now.
One thing I noticed was causing way more problems than helping on my old sump was all the live rock I had in the sump. When I replaced the sump I scrubbed all the rock and stuffed it into my 29G hospital tank and within 3 days I had a major cyano outbreak from putting the rocks in there, just like I was having in my old sump. I guess I would call it 'bad' live rock at this point and I think the best course of action is to take it out and soak it in FW for a week to kill everything, let it dry out, and then put back in my hospital tank to get reseeded. My hospital tank now looks more like a live rock bin at a LFS anyway because it is so stuffed with rock now.
I have been having a bacteria bloom for about the past week in my tank after scrubbing the rocks in my display (took them out and scrubbed off the algae). Thought that would subside within 2-3 days but it is day 5 now and still pretty milky looking, although corals look fine. My next big purchase will be new rock from marcorock. My live rock is at least 10 years old now, and even though I have scrubbed and cleaned it often, I still think it is about to it's expiration date as far as being good live rock. I can boil it, dry it, and reseed it and make it good again, and I will do that but I won't use it in my 75G tank once I get new rock. Having the same few big pieces of live rock for so long, there is only so many ways to can aquascape with it and I think I have done every combination possible now so I want some new 'puzzle pieces' to play with to be able to scape my tank differently.
My midas blenny got some nasty infection and I had to dose some meds for that, which I am sure didn't help the water clarity any since I turned off my carbon reactor. Not sure what it is, looks like someone put out cigarettes on the blenny, little black burn mark looking dots on it but it is getting better with the meds (Melafix/Pimafix mixture). So my main tank is still in a recovery mode, but it is getting better each day and the corals in the tank, even the few SPS corals, are looking good with good polyp extension which is more than I could say before I replaced my sump.
On a positive note, my SPS 'frags' are growing great on a frag rack in my 29G tank, actually had to move the rack down towards the bottom 1/3rd of the tank and out from under the LEDs because they were bleaching a little but not bad. My clowns are still laying eggs every 10-12 days as well, so I have one tank that seems to be flourishing right now.
