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Grigor's ATS Version 2 (1 Viewer)

I'm running mine for 12 hours a day at 700ma using the constant current drivers... no issues with algae growth, however the red/blue side needs a light diffuser appears to provide a more uniform growth. The white side is doing pretty well without the diffuser and shows more growth.

BTW I also restarted the skimmer largely to help with particulate type stuff, but to cut down some of the wild algae thats taken over the tank
 
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Striping meaning just the light on the screen. Not the algae. I haven't actually pulled the screen out to inspect only inspecting from the top but doesn't appear to be any algae colors striping. While maybe not the first few weeks but I'm expect a 3/4-1 quart of harvest becuase I know it should be capable of that. 1 cup would be disappointing for me.

My only fear in your situation is that its possible the nitrate could go down faster/further but may be phosphate limited with the gfo still going.

Any visual signs in the tank itself that things are getting worse. If not may want to pull the plug on the gfo or just wait until fully exhausted then yank it.

Pretty sure from what I have read that the slimy is pretty normal until nitrates get lower then more of the 3d will take over.

While I can't speak for starfish specifically. When you not as limited with feeding with ATS you should be able to keep many things that you didn't before. My only concern though is starfish I think are mostly herbivores and when everything running well you might has less algae to feed than before.
 
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Curious Mannish, the white side, is it growing different looking algae than the blue side as well or does it appear to look the same just more. I have to order a few more 4.5K leds for another and may order enough extra that I can try it and see at some point. I'm hoping I can run the full throttle just afraid to try all at once. I'm a little over 50% intensity I think. The pot maxed out measures 40w and I'm at 25W now.
 
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I had the same thought about phosphate limiting...Might be time to pull the plug on the GFO...I just fear it.

As for visual signs in the tank: I had a VERY little bit of red slime. I blew that off and I haven't really seen it come back. I maybe have some acro stress here and there, but I can also attribute it to a few other things (nitrates at 25, changing of a light bulb, my alk got to 8.5 which is high for me, bases getting shaded by colonies growing above them). Per usual, nothing is certain. Carl was over, he said my acro colors looked the same, said he saw no ill effects.

I thought starfish actually fed on the bacteria that live on the rocks, but what do I know. I don't think anyone knows, hence their poor survival rate. If it is indeed the bacteria, I hypothesized that this would really keep the bacteria population up as they would have more food versus skimming it out before it dissolved. I may just try a starfish again if this thing matures the way I want it to.
 
It looks to be the same on both sides, but the lights are deceiving to the eye; I will get pics when I take it out for next cleaning. Day 1/2 after the cleaning there is hardly anything on the screen.. days 4-7 it takes off.. by day 10 its really hard to get it off the screen... takes about 3-4 passes to get it decently clean... I hope they come out with better cleaning credit cards :kackle:
 
One more question. Do you clean this thing pretty regularly at 7 days or do you find it works better to wait closer to 10? I have done 7 as it is easier then to remember to do it every week on the same day...
 
I personally like to do it the same time every week. My routine is on Saturday mornings. I have waited 10 days several times but usually that's becuase of holiday weekends that can throw off my schedule. Like Mannish, it takes a couple days after cleaning to get going again so if you can wait 10days and your sure the roots are not dieing from being choked out then its okay to do. Like you, it generally doesn't fit my schedule.

The only starfish I've ever had was a blue linkia that lasted less than 6 months. I haven't tried since so I really don't have much clue what it eats.
 
LowersMyBP said:
One more question. Do you clean this thing pretty regularly at 7 days or do you find it works better to wait closer to 10? I have done 7 as it is easier then to remember to do it every week on the same day...
Click to expand...

For a while I did the 7 days schedule just because I could toss the algae in the trash on trash day. but I find that day 10 works better for algae growth... let me tell you this.. you dont want rotting Turf algae around even in a bag.. something worse would be a dead rotting clam
 
Well, extremely dissapointed. I was hoping to be further along in the tuning phase.

After the first cleaning at 10 days, the old one would create 3/4 - 1 quart of algae goo, now only 1/2 cup. Just a small fraction of the amount.

About mid-week, I turned the LEDs full throttle and no bald spots and growth looks even. A few days ago I removed the light diffuser. So it's getting the max light possible but wasn't the whole 10days.

The back half of the screen was getting a little more flow and was evident by the more growth. So need tweak the slot to even out the flow better plus need to increase the return pump flow by unrestricting the pump some.

Going to do a more traditional light cycle 12 hours on 12 hours off and keeping increasing the ON until shows signs of yellowing or bald spots.

I hope next week is much better. I can tell not working as well as the glass needs cleaned every couple of days vs. once a week prior. No visable algae thought in the main tank.

1 encrusting monti is loosing flesh from the middle out. I also added better reflectors to the Radion light so not sure which if any might be the cause. The coral was located way up high. Moved it lower hoping it will recover. Everything else looks great.
 
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Just to give you some encouragement, it is my opinion that it was more likely the lighting that did it to the monti than the nutrients. I mean, it is a monti.

I took the specs on the lights from you when we built mine and I assume you got them from some 'all knowing forum' somewhere. I saw that you were intrigued by Manish' better growth on his 'all white side'. Do you suppose the red/blue combo is not quite right? Or do you figure you will get it with the tuning?

I'm still not getting out of mine what I expected, and I don't know what it is. I've increased my daily "lights on" time to 11 hours from 10 now and been without gfo since we "spoke" above. I am hoping for a better harvest come next monday, but I am beginning to waiver in my conviction to this. Last harvest was still slimey and dark green, maybe a cup.

I am still skimming with an underpowered skimmer and still changing water 2 times a week, 20 gallons per time, and I can't get my nitrates to move off 25. Do you have a test kit other than salifert that has better resolution for nitrates? If you do, I may have to pay you a visit....though I think you have said you rely on the LFS for your seldom nitrate tests, so that is out. Tank still looks ok. Corals have same color. I am not scraping the window because I am afraid to take any actively growing algae out of the system, plus I'm lazy. The only thing I notice is a touch of red slime here and there. Not crazy about that and it makes me even more pessimistic.
 
Hoping I don't have to monkey with the LEDs configuration but certainly will if next week is again just a small fraction of algae compared to what version 1 produces.

Going to play with the flow and duration first but it's way off again next week, I'm going to need to resolve pretty quick. Probably put the old ATS back online if next week isn't any better and rethink the LED thing.

As long as your not seeing bald spots or severe yellowing just keep increasing the time, I'd probably be more aggressive and keep upping the light scheduled until you see negative signs or get all the way up to 18 hours.
 
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Just posted an update on my build thread... the white side looked better than the red side. just like corals it looks like the algae takes time to adapt to LEDs ;) getting increasingly larger harvests.

DG - if I have this right your ATS1 got as far as it did over 7-8 months? which still beats me as we scrub the daylights out of the screen.. unless the roots get stronger and more productive
 
Yep. Been consistantly pulling out 1 quart ( sometimes a little shy of a quart , sometimes a snow cone pile above a quart ). Pretty sure it would have produced this amount much sooner than the 6 months, if I had known to play with the flow earlier.

The screen is the same so it doesn't need to seed but I guess your right it could take some time to adjust as it is radically different type and spectrum.
 
David, can you offer more insight on flow? Are you talking more slit width or gph?

I have a 14 inch screen/bar. I have a slit cut about two saw blades wide give or take. I am feeding it with an OR2500 (625gph less any head loss).

I am thinking about switching to an OTP 3000? (750 gph).

I have decided that I am going to 'play with the flow' as you say above as I think the rest of the setup is ok and I have yet to do anything with regard to flow other than widen the slit way back at the beginning.

Can you have 'too much flow' (should I go mag 9.5?) How do you know if you don't have enough?

As always, thank you.
 
Update on mine, I did increase my slit and increased the flow the max my pump will go. I've already found my max slit I can go with for my existing pump so I'm now concentrating on light hours. If still not satisfied after that I will revisit the flow. I have been stepping up my hours 1 hour after every 2-3 days after confirming no yellowing or bald spots. I'm up to 14 hours now. I'll probably keep going until I do hit yellowing/bald then back off an hour or until I hit a max of 18 hours whichever comes first. The one thing I didn't think of initially, I did go with 120degree LEDs thinking would blend better. Perhaps those that have bald spots were using 60degree LEDs and why I haven't encountered that issue.

I did break down and buy a nitrate test kit so I can attempt to track whats going on better than just with gut feel and tank observation. Looks like no alarm bells yet as nitrate shows undetectable at the high res on Salifert. On low res ( looking through the side of the vial as opposed from above ) there is a slight tint so looks to be something between .1 and .25. Undecided if I want to invest in another ( I already sold off 1 ) Hanna phosphorus checker. Tank inhabitants outside of the 1 monti that lost tissue from the middle ( may have been new led refectors and seems to have stabalized ) all other corals and Live rock are looking steller. No algae accumulation at all and corals look very nice. So nothing to be too concerned with yet about even though algae production compared to version 1 is low. My confidence is up a little that I will begin ramping my feedings back to the way it was with version #1. I have been a little hesitant not knowing if version 2 can keep up since algae harvest was so small.


Tuning:

I'm not really sure which should come first with an LED setup. On version 1 using T5s and 12 hours a day, I didn't really have to tweak light mostly just flow. I'm thinking it may be good to know first what the max amount of light hours you can have before balding/yellowing then moving on to tweaking flow.

As to tuning the flow. For me, pvc is cheap so by trial and error I first find out what the widest slot I can have and still get good flow across the entire screen. May not be exactly the same abount from end to end but close. So using a dremel and a bit variety pack from Menards ( $7 ). I just keep increasing the slit. It's an easy job, since the initial slit is straight from the table saw the bits just follow it and while may not be perfectly straight it's really close.

Next week if not improved then gradually keep stepping up the size. If you finally do reach a limit where it doesn't flow all the way across, your at the crossroads. Do you stick with the existing pump and just shorten the slit or do you go with a bigger pump.

On the version 1, my decision was always shorten. If I shorten the new version it would only be about 2 inches. Not thinking I would go any shorter and probably would rather increase flow by changing gph if it comes to that.

To the best of my knowledge there isn't really a too much flow. If you have a higher flow pump already or can borrow one, it may be worth a try.
 
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I have both an otp3000 and a mag9.5 on hand. I am gonna swap out to the otp3000 this evening. Not sure if I need to widen the slit yet. I guess from what you are saying, if it can be widened and still get coverage on the screen, then it should be. I will see if I can widen it a little tonight then as well.

I have a hanna phosphate checker if you would like to borrow, but it is not the super high resolution one, sorry. I haven't been using it. I am watching my nitrates with salifert and just watching the tank. Salifert says between 10 and 25 consistently. Corals look ok/good, no nuisance algae. My fuge macro algae isn't any smaller, isn't any bigger. Point is, what I am getting out via the ATS and the small skimmer appears to be keeping up, but not getting ahead. I think it should be able to get ahead, especially with the skimmer in place and the water I am changing.

I think I am down to flow to play with. Hope to know more in a week or two.
 
So is GFO offline yet ? Changing the pump the obvious too much flow for the slit size will be if water shoots out the sides rather than down. Mine did that intially when it was just the saw blade width.

I wish there was a good formula for tuning. Perhaps will get there and can come up with a consistant process for others to follow.
 
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