Updated mini ATS light
- Thread starter Walter White
- Start date
Ive been really impressed with it. I have never been able to feed as much as i do now without doing very large weekly changes and running GFO. Right now im only doing 5 gallon changes once a month and will soon find out if I even need GFO anymore. I'm also pretty sure that its done wonders for stabilizing my pH but Ive also started using more kalk in my ATO so that could and probably is playing a big part with the pH. I will be building a down flow version for my 350 gallon (total) system and I don't plan on making all that big, i'm thinking 18"x15". I think you could probably get away with 12"x12" for a 180. honestly though I'm no expert on these and the size of the ATS you build actually depends more on the amount you feed rather than the size of your tank. When my big tank is up I want the ability to feed like mad so im going to build a fairly large ATS and run a pretty mean skimmer. There is a huge thread on R2R an RC started by the same guy (cant think of his name at the moment but his avatar is a picture of Johnny Carson) that knows more about these than anyone. There you should be able to calculate the size. Ill try to find the thread later.
Im not sure without seeing your setup but there at allot of ways of doing this. Mine is not the best way it just what works for my setup. The first thing you need to decide is how much space you have and are will to give to it then determine if up flow or down flow is a better option in the space you have to work with. If you go with the upflow type like mine you can just read through this thread below. There a ton of ways people have come up with doing it.
http://www.marinecolorado.org/forum...minate-green-hair-bubble-turf-and-slime-algae
Im not sure without seeing your setup but there at allot of ways of doing this. Mine is not the best way it just what works for my setup. The first thing you need to decide is how much space you have and are will to give to it then determine if up flow or down flow is a better option in the space you have to work with. If you go with the upflow type like mine you can just read through this thread below. There a ton of ways people have come up with doing it.
http://www.marinecolorado.org/forum...minate-green-hair-bubble-turf-and-slime-algae
wish I knew that before trying, now have I kitty hair growing everywhere and my sea hare can't keep up with it. and the salinity from teabagging that i have started using fresh water for water changes.
sorry i'll stop hijacking as i do want to follow the comments on this thread...planning my own ATS at the moment...Kalgra's point on feeding is what convinced me of benefit in my system...
sorry i'll stop hijacking as i do want to follow the comments on this thread...planning my own ATS at the moment...Kalgra's point on feeding is what convinced me of benefit in my system...
So it's been about another three weeks. Still getting a ton of growth. Interesting thing though is that now most of the algae is growing everywhere in the fuge except where the light is most concentrated. This can only lead me to believe that the intensity is too high. I haven't figured out what ill do about this yet but I may need add a dimmer or reconfigure the lights.
Front
Back
With all the algae collect of the sides of the fuge it covers the whole screen in about 1/2" of very dense algae
Front
Back
With all the algae collect of the sides of the fuge it covers the whole screen in about 1/2" of very dense algae
Ok so it's been about another three weeks with the lights it backed down to 8 hours. I do have even better growth but still have the bald spots where the light is too intense. I've decided to try something else. I pulled the light off the tank and took some 400 grit sand paper and dulled the plastic cover right over each led a circle about the size of a dime. Hopefully this will diffuse the intensity enough to run the light more hours. So with the the diffuser in place I ramped the photo period back up to 16 hrs. Ill report back again in another three or four weeks.
Thanks for the update Kalgra. Following in your footsteps, homes. Do you see algae growth on the glass, right in front of the parts of the screen where there is growth? If so, do you scrape this every few days? This is becoming a big annoyance to me I can only imagine it hampers growth on the screen.