Santa Monica UAS ATS Turf Scrubber review - hog and surf - EPIC FAILURE

entry #10:

End of week Seven. No changes in lighting, carbon dosing, or air pump volume. I'll give it one more week to validate nitrates have stabilized with the new fish load and then reduce carbon dosing.

nitrate 7.0ppm, 1.6 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .04ppm on the same meter
 
SantaMonica said:
Might be a good time to try dosing iron, such as Kent's Iron+Manganese.
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Thanks for the suggestion. Iron is one of the tests that I run monthly and just as Randy Holmes noted (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/) it's an undetectable level, even when measuring total iron with the hach down to .02ppm. Manganese on the other hand, has limiting factors preventing it from being tested in saltwater with my equipment. Without being able to test for manganese, I don't find the kent product safe. Randy's DIY method is safer. (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php)

While I'm not against starting Iron supplementation in the future, the algae is now starting to show more sign of growth over the last 2 weeks. I'll wait and see how it progresses on it's own and will add iron as a future step it the scrubbers don't come to life on their own.
 
entry #11:

End of week Eight. No changes in carbon dosing, or air pump volume. I fully removed the light blocker from the hog3, both scrubbers are now at full light for 18hrs. Nitrates are still coming down, so at least one more week to validate nitrates have stabilized with the new fish load, then reduce carbon dosing. As a side note nitirte are dropped as expected too.

nitrate 6.16ppm, 1.4 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .05ppm on the same meter
nitirte .0264ppm on the same meter

The surf 4 hair algae clumps increased in size since last week. The dark green other algae isn't growing any thicker and is stuck fast to the surfaces, it doesn't come off when raking fingers over and through the scrubber.
The hog3 hair algae is starting to come in. I also had to clean the sump "glass" surface again as algae was growing on it blocking light.

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SantaMonica said:
Keep in mind that unless you are feeding Nori, then there will be no way for iron to get into the water.
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Totally agree. As the algae is starting to come in now and going to reduce the carbon dosing, starting to supplement iron now would be changing two variables at once. I wouldn't know which made a possible change.
 
entry #12:

End of week Nine. No changes in carbon dosing, or air pump volume. The lighting for the surf4 was changed to 22 hours per previous post. Nitrates have stabilized so I'll reduced vinegar dosing by 20 minutes (25ml) going forward.

nitrate 6.6ppm, 1.5 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .07ppm on the same meter

The surf 4 hair algae clumps increased in size since last week. The large clumps are turf algae and not hair algae, see photo below.
The hog3 hair algae has filled in more this week. The algae is true hair algae, see photo below. I will plan on cleaning the sump "glass" surface weekly when I do WC and photo the scrubbers.

After the hog3 fills in more, I'll toothbrush the surf4. Then seed it with the HA from the hog3. It won't likely be for several weeks.

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During the weekly WC I have to pull out the scrubbers from the sump, it happens every week. Tonight when pulling out the surf 4, loads of the algae came free from the walls and floor floating into the DT. So I harvested the turf algae, pictured below and rinsed the rest of the scrubber in the laundry tubs. You can see the red and green algae in the pre-rinse photo that is quite thick looking. It rinsed out very easily.

I then took the photo of the hog3 which has had an increase in Hair Algae since last week. I pulled a few tufts and put them into the surf4, but within minutes it had already found its way out of the surf and was floating into the DT.

end result... the surf4 is back to mostly white again and the hog3 continues to grow HA. My effort to seed the surf4 with HA apparently failed. I'll post test results tomorrow after testing.


harvested turf algae fron surf 4
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surf4 before rinse
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surf4 after rinse
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The hog3
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entry #13:

End of week ten. No changes in lighting, carbon dosing, or air pump volume that weren't previously documented. Nitrates again dropped so I'll reduced vinegar dosing by an additional 20 minutes (25ml) going forward.

nitrate 5.7ppm, 1.3 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .05ppm on the same meter
 
entry #14:

End of week eleven. No changes in lighting, carbon dosing, or air pump volume. Nitrates jumped up so I'll maintain current carbon dosing levels for the week. Po4 is at my upper limits so I'll change GFO today.

nitrate 7.0ppm, 1.6 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .10ppm on the same meter

The hog3 has a little more algae growth and the surf4 again has a thin green covering of different kind of algae. Nothing worth taking photos of.
 
I'm getting my mantis system set up this week and I'm going to have a smaller one of these on it. I'm thinking of using some of the dirty water from my big FOWLR to seed the tank (I have established rock waiting to go in) so the scrubber should have a good nutrient base to start from (high nitrates yay FOWLR!). Think that might help get my scrubber working pretty quickly? I want to actually put corals in this tank.
 
entry #15:

End of week twelve. No changes in lighting, carbon dosing, or air pump volume. I will increase lighting on the hog3 to 21 hours today. Nitrates are similar so no carbon dosing changes for the week. Po4 dropped as expected due to GFO change.I started dosing Iron this week per Randy holmes info using a home brew iron supplement, fergon iron tablets. I modified the formula, using 3 tablets instead of just one. I dosed 10ml over this last week and 5ml going forward weekly (including today) every Saturday. The increase in the formula is to ensure that if iron is the limiting factor in growth it'll be quickly visible.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1807946
Take 1 tablet and dissolve in 100 mL RO/DI (overnight soak). Let the solids settle out and use the liquid. Then I dose about 1-5 mL to my 200 gallons (dose is not critical) occasionally.

nitrate 6.16ppm, 1.4 on the hach specrtophotometer
po4 .03ppm on the same meter
iron undetectable on the same meter (as expected and in all previous tests - measurements go down to .01 ppm)

The hog3 looks better every week. When in the water it's full of thick HA. The surf4 still looks the same as it did before, nothing worth taking photos of.

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