The Dynamic Aquarium, algae turf scrubbing

[Dary421]

That kind of makes me sad. I remember diving in Hawaii 20 years ago and it was fabulous. Wasn't there stuff to see?

Yep,...the reef's were alive and well ,...unfortunately there was a south swell so the waters were a little more churned up and cloudier than we had hoped for,... What I was saying re. Your tank vs the reefs were that IMHO your tank (coral wise) is simply so refined ,clean and colorful compared to what one would normally see snorkeling over there ,HOWEVER the amount of reef fish one see's over there (as you well know) is mind boggling,... Nice job on your tank Greg!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thanks Dary!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Anyone know the wattage of the LEDs that the Marineland fixtures use? They aren't very bright, but was wondering as they don't seem to publish the wattage of each fixture, just the length and LED count.

 

[Smitty]

Their website showed the single bright LED was .06 wat (wow!), the double bright was 1 watt and .06 watt LEDs, and the "reef capable" fixture was 1 watt LEDs

 

[Gregcoyote]

No wonder they generate such little PAR.

Thanks!

 

[Gregcoyote]

New shrimp added to frag system. Shrimp disappear in my reef tank, here he is out all the time and isn't threatened .

 

[Gboy66]

My god i cant even believe someone could have a tank like this. Yours really is my dream tank. That is such an accomplishment. And that growth..amazing!

From the pics it seems youre adding more sps? They look really good. Is there anything that DOESNT do well in your tank?

 

[Gregcoyote]

My god i cant even believe someone could have a tank like this. Yours really is my dream tank. That is such an accomplishment. And that growth..amazing!

From the pics it seems youre adding more sps? They look really good. Is there anything that DOESNT do well in your tank?

Thanks for the nice compliment! Many have tanks this nice and some have even nicer. Mine is a product of 20 years of failures and success's. Yes, there are many things that will not grow in this tank, that is why I built a second one to house the stuff this one would kill, shrimp, some hard corals, some soft corals. It depends, when the coral density gets to this level, the issue is corals that attack each other and being sure you take that into account when trying to grow something out. I am adding more SPS, but most of it is going in the new frag tank. I will keep a couple of mother colonies in the display reef.

 

[Keimaxbode]

I would like to do one of these but don't have room with my sump/cabinet. Do you have any experience with the new version that uses air to run up the screen that is placed in the sump with lighting?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I am sorry, I don't. Mine was made years ago to plans I supplied the acrylic builder with. But in general they are dirt simple. Needs to be easy to clean is one must have.

 

[Keimaxbode]

Thanks! I'm not sure where I saw the newer version now. I think I read you also run a skimmer, is that correct? Is it possible to run only the scrubber with a sump/refugium?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I run skimmers because they are the first line of defense. They actively lift all long chain protein molecules (uneaten food, fish poop, etc) out of the water column. The ocean uses algae and foam fractionation (beach foam) to cleanse itself, so my theory was to use both.

The advantage the algae scrubber gives is similar to a refugium. The algae can be disposed of and it carries nitrogen by products out of the tank with it.

 

[crister13]

And your talking about an upslope algae scrubber. I have heard they are not as efficient. But you could built a double sided vertical screen that takes up almost no room. Here's mine.

 

[Gregcoyote]

And your talking about an upslope algae scrubber. I have heard they are not as efficient. But you could built a double sided vertical screen that takes up almost no room. Here's mine.

Mine is old school with a dump bucket that dumps water over a flat screen with magenta algae growing LEDs inches above.

 

[crister13]

Upflow**** stupid phone haha

 

[Keimaxbode]

Well I have a 55g sump with a refugium that has a small deep sand bed section and Chaeto with light and a large amt of live rock. No skimmer yet because both my husband and I got laid if shortly after buying tank . I'm going to have to modify sump in order to allow room for skimmer. Current section too small because thought fuge section was supposed to be largest. Is a scrubber better than fuge? What about a place for pods?

 

[Gregcoyote]

They kind of work together. The refugium supplies a good place for pods to reproduce while the skimmer removes waste that the rest of the system doesn't have to deal with.

 

[Gregcoyote]

New video

 

[Dary421]

Truly an amazing display... So clean and so full of life and energy.... Great job greg!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thanks Dary...keeping it simple.

Good water
Good flow
Good lighting
Great food

and patience. Everything else sorts itself out.

I also have a pair of 12" adult engineer gobies that keep the substrate just perfectly. They are work horses.