[dinor2]

Can someone who has lots of experience in lighting please help me know which one of these is best? My fixture is the nova extreme pro t5 lights 6 39w bulbs, 3 460 actinic and 3 10k daylight.... I'm especially interested in the affects on algae growth...

Thanks!
Dana

[Jay03GT]

The 12k are (or at least should) run a little more blue than the 10k bulbs. Problem is, there doesn't seem to be a standard for rating the colors of the bulbs. I do know that the bulbs that the Nova Extreme fixtures come with are not very high quality, and you can get both better color AND better par by switching the out with other bulbs, like Giesemann, ATI, or UVL.

[unclejed]

I am not sure of the question?

[Lowej82]

im not sure but I dont think that a 10k or 12k bulb will promote algae growth unless there old, most say that when a bulb ages it shifts into the red spectrum that algae loves, that I belive is around 65k and below. I could be totaly off, I think thats how it goes though. You need mr.Nativeman to chime in I would consider him a lighting pro!

[RyanG]

The 10k will promote more algae growth, however your corals will grow faster as well.

[dinor2]

Sorry about that, I am wondering if I need to change my 10k bulbs (3) to 12k OR if the current brand bulbs are known to promote more algae growth than coral growth... My corals are doing well, btw, along with my lr almost being completely covered in coraline, which I know is great. I just have too much algae on the glass and some hair and bubble algae. I'm doing everything else right, believe me, I've researched algae growth in depth! The lights were my last and only other possible cause of the algae growth. Not out of control, yet, but sure is a lot more than there were before my new light fixture!

Thanks guys, yes, I'd love to hear what Nativeman has to say as well!

[Jay03GT]

If you have a problem with algae, you need to do good WC's, make sure you don't overfeed, make sure your water is good RO/DI with 0 TDS, make sure you aren't getting phosphate from your salt, and run some phosban. It takes some time but it will go away. How old is your tank?

[dinor2]

I have done all those things, except for the phosban. My tank's been running since August of last year so, almost 8 months... I'm about to post some more full tank pics onto the thread I started. Other than the extra algae, it seems to be chugging along fine, taking everything slowly, only 3 fish, cuc and 3 corals, my kenya being the largest one and like i said, coraline is starting to cover up all the lr, along with my hermit crab and snail shells!

Also, I've been doing some aggressive skimming for the last couple of weeks as I know that helps remove nutrients as well but, all in all, everything in my water is perfect! Only thing that could be causing it are the type of bulbs I have, or, possibly my salt, which I already changed from Aqua Medic salt to Red Sea salt, just to see if that's where the nutrients are coming from. But the AM salt tested 0 for nitrates and phosphates, so did my ro/di water.

Could it be that my tank is just going thru another cycle? I haven't seen any spikes in ammonia, nitrite or nitrates?....

[Jay03GT]

I'd try running a phosban reactor, I think that would help alot. It is possible some stuff is still leaching out of the rocks or sand. As they say though, a tank is always cycling!

[unclejed]

O.K. dinor2, My 55 gal. went through a real algae problem also. I think worse than your. I han green hair starting to get out of controll. Long story short, I added a multi media reactor and run phos loc. I hear phos ban is good also. I didn't see results by just putting it in the mesh bag in the the sump, but saw great results after the addition of the reactor. They only run about $40.00 or so and well worth it. After thing are under control you can run calcium or nitrate removers or whatever so you aren't wasting your money. Also, your lights are at the end of their "full" spectrum output if they are 8 mos. old. That will cause algae growth.Don't change out all the bulbs at one time as this will shock the tank. Change an actinic and 1 daylight and wait a week and do the rest.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Dana first off I dont think your lights are the problem since almost all t-5 bulbs will last 16 months to 2 years.Changing them would be the last resort.I doubt that after 8 months phosphates or nitrates suddenly started leaching into the tank.I would do two things in the short term.Add to your cleaning crew including a lawn mower blenny.Cut the feeding back to once every other day for two weeks.And feed lightly at that.Algea needs two things to grow light and food,you have to cut off the food supply ,it may sound cruel but the fish will survive.There are a lot of people that feed every other day.

[unclejed]

To address natives point about the leaching, if dinor is using tap water or even water from lfs and they aren't on top of their filter changes, phosphate can get in. Another point is no one has asked what food sources are used. Flake food can (most do) contain phosphate. There are plenty of unsuspecting ways things get into our tanks. I had a similar problem and a trusted lfs friend said, if you use the reactor and things clear up, you will know for sure what the problem was. Sure enough, got the reactor and within about 8 days I saw a vast improvement and now a couple mos. down the road everything looks beautiful. I never heard that about t-5s holding their spectrum that long. I will research it and post my findings. If it is true everyone can save tons of money!

[dinor2]

Originally Posted by NATIVEVAMAN

Dana first off I dont think your lights are the problem since almost all t-5 bulbs will last 16 months to 2 years.Changing them would be the last resort.I doubt that after 8 months phosphates or nitrates suddenly started leaching into the tank.I would do two things in the short term.Add to your cleaning crew including a lawn mower blenny.Cut the feeding back to once every other day for two weeks.And feed lightly at that.Algea needs two things to grow light and food,you have to cut off the food supply ,it may sound cruel but the fish will survive.There are a lot of people that feed every other day.

Thanks Nativeman, I will try this first as it seems to make good sense. I did get a lawnmower blenny a few week ago and he's always picking at the rocks and glass and I've noticed my hermit crabs are actually eating the hair algae too, maybe trimming it with every water change every week helped that?... Even though the salt I used tested 0 for nitrates and phosphates, I went ahead and started using Red Sea salt, on the posibility that there was 'something' in the other salt that won't be in other brands (it was a little bit cheaper brand although they boast world aquariums using their salt...)

Update on the algae; I do weekly water changes (6gallons) every Sunday and today, I've noticed another slight decrease in the growth of the algae on the glass, seems to be growing a tad slower every week... I have some kind of algae plant that is growing on a piece of lr, plan on letting it grow another week or two before I try twisting it off so it'll compete the other algae for nutrients, does that plan make sense?...

I always feed frozen foods to my fish, I mix it up and give them anything from krill, mysis, plankton and the occasional pellet with garlic. I also dose the frozen food with liquid garlic to help keep their immune systems strong. As for how much I feed them, they get one squirt of a tiny syringe twice a day (maybe a fourth of one block of frozen food worth). I'll cut that back to once a day every two days for a week and see what happens with the algae as well.

I'm sure the phosban does work well, but, I would really like to find how to balance my reef tank without adding more equipment and chemicals, other than the kalwasser dosing kit I'm getting in May for my birthday! (Could that have an affect on algae as it helps maintain stable alk?).

Anyways, thank you for all the help guys, not sure what I'd do without you all! (Probably not be in this hobby!). I'll keep you posted as to what works and/or doesn't work.

Oh, Nativeman, about the lights, is there a big difference in the 10k and 12k? One better than the other?...

[NATIVEVAMAN]

If you are going to feed a constant diet of frozen foods you will need to make sure they have vitamins added or add them yourself.12k is a bit bluer than 10k.It may make a difference in the appearnce of your tank but it wont offer you any help in the algea catagory.Most algeas do consume calcium but you dont want to lower your levels because the coral needs it.Do I remember correctly that you do have an ro/di unit?

[Jay03GT]

I've always been told that there are alot of nutrients in the frozen foods. You can get rid of most of them by straining out the liquid portion. As for myself, I feed frozen cyclopeeze one time a week, and I use spectrum pellets the rest of the time. I only feed as many pellets as I see the fish eat pretty quickly. If you don't want to use phosban or similar, getting some cheato or mangroves going in a fuge will help.

[dinor2]

Ok, so, I'm going to stop by my lfs and get some cheato and a vitamin supplament for the food and go with the feeding one time every two days.
Oh, I am using ro/di water as well.

Thanks guys.

[unclejed]

O.K. gang, the t-5s are as native stated as far as longevity only a little better! This artical;Frequently asked questions on T5 lighting | Practical Fishkeeping magazine gives them 18 mos. Live and learn.

[dinor2]

Ok, so on Wednesday, I didn't feed my fish. Thursday I fed them some garlic pellets and yesterday didn't feed them. This morning I fed them some frozen mysis (and they'd probably have eaten more than what I gave them) and the most noticeable change in my tank from doing this has been a larger increase in coraline algae and a few of the algae bubbles dissintegrating. I also added a couple of turbo snails which have been munching mercilessly on the 'harder' green algae that the other snails won't touch that borders the glass. But it seems that the coraline is challenging the green algae for rock space now! I'm doing a water change a day early today and am looking forward to what my tank will look like after it's cleaned up. I'll post a pic or two after the water change, like a month or so before pic and a now pic.

Thanks all for the help, seem to have found that the nutrients were coming from the frozen foods! I'm going to start thawing them and letting the moisture strain out of the food before I feed the fish, hopefully that will solve that problem.

[jtravapd]

do u have bioballs in your sump? I had an Algea problem that went away in two weeks after changing the bioballs out for cured live rock. Worked for me now I can feed as much as I want and my sand stays white and have no Algea. Problems

[dinor2]

Nope, no bio balls. My filter system is all of 75lbs of lr, 75lbs ls and a berlin turbo protein skimmer. I also use my overflow box as a refugium with lr rubble and soon some cheato.

[gramesy777]

As far as bulbs....stick with 10k! the range between 10k and 20k has a very low par and not good for coral growth. 10k is a little less blue but better for coral growth. 20k is also decent for coral growth while still being blue. 10k is best...then 20k....followed by the crap in between lol

[dinor2]

lol, ok, thanks, that's what i was looking for!

I am experiencing some off water parameters, could this be caused by the different brand salt i started using? I went from Aqua Marine Life salt to Red Sea salt, going to go get a bag of the former to see if that helps.

My params are:

temp 76
sal 1.024
nitrates 0
ammonia 0
alk 1.6 (usually holds steady at 3)
ph 8.0 (" " 8.2 or 8.3)
dkh 6 (" " 10 or 11)
calcium over 520! Usually is a consistant 420-450!

I'm really starting to think there's more calc in the RS salt, also noticed it doesn't mix as well... Also, trying to wait till my bday (in May) to start up a kalkwasser drip system but, should I do that now? I have two corals, kenya tree and yellow polyps. Suggestions please?

[Arnold40]

Originally Posted by gramesy777

As far as bulbs....stick with 10k! the range between 10k and 20k has a very low par and not good for coral growth. 10k is a little less blue but better for coral growth. 20k is also decent for coral growth while still being blue. 10k is best...then 20k....followed by the crap in between lol

I think this is a little off......The best coral growth happens with a Kelvin temp of 6500K the higher you go the bluer the light and less coral growth occurs. What you need to do is find a light configuration that is good for coral growth and pleasing to the eye. I have a 5 light set up and I am using: 1 actinic, 1 6500K, 3-10000K bulbs. Using the actinic will give you a bluer appearing tank.

[ToxicDice]

You're definitely on the right track Dana and I'm glad you're starting to see progress now. Nativeman's statement that algae needs two things to thrive was spot on. For all sorts of reasons you don't want to take away the light so you want to take away the nutrients. there's many ways to do that and you're on to a lot of them. The Chaeto if/when you add it will help a LOT. It will outcompete the nuisance algae for nutrients, just make sure that it has enough light. You may also want to reexamine the flow in your tank. Higher flow rates will benefit corals and has the side benefit of inhibiting smaller algaes (nuisances) from taking hold, quite literally.

Anyway, glad you're seeing progress and even more glad that you're doing it without chemicals. Nature is an incredible thing and emmulating it the best we can is the surest way to fix a problem for good.

Can't wait to see those before and after pics, they'll inspire others with your problem and give them hope as well.

Nate

[ToxicDice]

Blue spectrum lights, especially actinics, makes things fluoresce more brightly. As far as what light makes coral grow, research the definition of 'PAR' as it pertains to aquarium lighting, you'll be surprised at the amount of misinformation on this topic...