Mega-Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover Replaces Skimmer, Refugium, part 1-4

What's the rate of flow that would be appropriate for an overflow box for a 75-gallon?
 
SM,
Hey, Im just not growing anything green much at all on my system. I get lots of red. I have a screen thats 10" wide and 12" tall very rough, used the hole saw as described. plastic screen from craft store with small square holes.
pump pumps out about 360gph per my test once the unit was assembled. I clean one side of the screen once a week.
My lights are full spectrum 5000k 27 watt with the metal reflector behind. the bulbs are about 3" off the screen. water flow is overall pretty even. but Im just getting lots of red after 6+weeks.
Yesterday I cut my screen down to 8" with it still being 12" tall hoping that that would increase the flow since Im guessing that must be my problem.
Any other ideas? I unplugged my skimmer 2 weeks ago hoping to see extra growth on the screen, but nothing much yet.
I do have hints of green here and there, but nothing that grows thick like the others Ive seen. My phosphates were at .5 and nitrates at 40 before the scrubber and bother are at 0, so I guess I shouyldnt complain, but I'm hoping to get it growing like the others Ive seen.
 
You are just not feeding that much. Since your N and P are zero, double or triple your feeding.

Remember that the goal of a scrubber is not to see how much you can grow; it's to see how low you can keep your nutrients while still feeding a lot.
 
I only have two fish. I'm feeding a whole cube of my homemade food about 1" by 1" cube every day when I get home from work. This is up from just a sliver of food every other day before the scrubber? I only have 2 fish and one is a mandarin so really only 1 fish to eat. Nervous about elft over food just laying on the bttom of the tank or something I guess. Thoughts?
I guess I could feed my corals more often, that stuff is little and I only feed once a week.
 
I'm actually starting to get alot of green growth the last couple of days now. It must have been a flow thing. too little flow for how wide my screen was. LOL, Right now I just switched tanks the last 3 days and I'm redoing my sump plumbing so my tank isnt even connected to my sump. the scrubber is just circulating the same 40 gallons or so of water. Best growth Ive had so far. Water is flowing faster, no heater so the water is colder. I'll have the new tank hooked up by tommorow hopefully then i'll start feeding coral food every day or two.
 
ive been trying this and it does work but i think i need to work on a new screen as my algea just slides off in big clumps atm , took about 4 weeks to get going good and in that time it took my nitrates from 180 (test kit problems ) to 0 and i have some messy fish .
im building a new tank atm so am going to build one into my filtration , well two infact double screen with 3 lights should be cool .

still going to run a skimmer on it tho but not until my screens are good to go

awsome idea , any ideas on what is best or worked best for you screen wise ? im useing like an perforated plastic and it just doesnt hold it good enough , do i need to wait and let it get a good hold or try something new
 
Try going to craft or sewing stores, or just get one of these online:

http://www.everythingplasticcanvas.com/pc-20049-260-plastic-canvas-7-mesh-12-x-18.aspx

Many people ask about using the fiberglass screen from their windows (never use metal!). The main problem of this kind of "soft" screen will be getting it into the slot in the waterfall pipe; it will bend and fold too much. And sometimes window screen has mildew repellents, so be careful.

Some people try to use acrylic or plastic sheet. They will grow, but the problem is that when you clean it, everything comes off and you have to start growing from scratch again. This means you get three or four days of zero filtering. You can try drilling hundreds of small holes in the sheet, but it's easier to just find a screen. Or you could cover the acrylic with screen.


ScreenHoleSaw.jpg



CanvasCompare.jpg
 
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