Hey everyone. I have a couple questions regarding my Algae Turf Scrubber.
My other half got me my turf scrubber for Xmas. I had wanted one because I am a decently heavy stocked 180g with 75g FOWLR and I wanted something to help with nutrient export. Tank has been up and running for about a year and half. I have a number of semi aggressive larger wrasse living together and like to make sure they are well fed to subside any aggression/territorial behavior. So far it has worked. I feed my tank about 4 cubes a day which consists of a mix of PE mysis, regular mysis, spirulina brine, and omega brine (This doesnt include the hand feeding for the lion and eel which eat every 2 to 3 days). My tank tends to stay in between 30 and 60 ppm for nitrates with biweekly water changes. Currently I am running this ATS, a reefmat 1200, and a protein skimmer. I seeded my ATS on Jan 27th and it took it awhile to grow. After no growth for about 3 weeks, I ended up running the system for 20 hours on and 4 hours off and upped the lighting to almost 100%. The turf finally started to take off. I am curious as to when to harvest for the first time. I feel that my nitrates were keeping steady in between 30-40 for the past couple of months but did a test yesterday and my nitrates are about 55. I would also like to note that I got a raccoon butterfly to deal with an aiptasia outbreak. He has been mowing them down so that may be contributing to my nitrate spike a bit as well. I have attached a video of where the algae is now. It does not fill the whole screen but was thinking that maybe I need to harvest a few times for it to become thicker and thicker and it will then take out more nutrients. Is that the case? Does it look like I need to harvest now? Any input on this would be appreciated as I am trying to get my nitrates steady again and fairly new to ATS's.
I also attached a video of my tank to show my stocking. I dont have any food left over but does 4 cubes a day seem like way too much for my stocking list and tank size? I know I want to overfeed a bit but want to make sure its not crazy excessive. In my experience, I also feel that PE mysis doesnt have very much per cube so Im not sure I even really consider them a "full cube". Any input on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
https://youtube.com/shorts/gD41PTniqRI?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/pHGrqmLftgs?feature=share
My other half got me my turf scrubber for Xmas. I had wanted one because I am a decently heavy stocked 180g with 75g FOWLR and I wanted something to help with nutrient export. Tank has been up and running for about a year and half. I have a number of semi aggressive larger wrasse living together and like to make sure they are well fed to subside any aggression/territorial behavior. So far it has worked. I feed my tank about 4 cubes a day which consists of a mix of PE mysis, regular mysis, spirulina brine, and omega brine (This doesnt include the hand feeding for the lion and eel which eat every 2 to 3 days). My tank tends to stay in between 30 and 60 ppm for nitrates with biweekly water changes. Currently I am running this ATS, a reefmat 1200, and a protein skimmer. I seeded my ATS on Jan 27th and it took it awhile to grow. After no growth for about 3 weeks, I ended up running the system for 20 hours on and 4 hours off and upped the lighting to almost 100%. The turf finally started to take off. I am curious as to when to harvest for the first time. I feel that my nitrates were keeping steady in between 30-40 for the past couple of months but did a test yesterday and my nitrates are about 55. I would also like to note that I got a raccoon butterfly to deal with an aiptasia outbreak. He has been mowing them down so that may be contributing to my nitrate spike a bit as well. I have attached a video of where the algae is now. It does not fill the whole screen but was thinking that maybe I need to harvest a few times for it to become thicker and thicker and it will then take out more nutrients. Is that the case? Does it look like I need to harvest now? Any input on this would be appreciated as I am trying to get my nitrates steady again and fairly new to ATS's.
I also attached a video of my tank to show my stocking. I dont have any food left over but does 4 cubes a day seem like way too much for my stocking list and tank size? I know I want to overfeed a bit but want to make sure its not crazy excessive. In my experience, I also feel that PE mysis doesnt have very much per cube so Im not sure I even really consider them a "full cube". Any input on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
https://youtube.com/shorts/gD41PTniqRI?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/pHGrqmLftgs?feature=share