lighting

[seakwon]

Hello everyone,
I have a 45 gallon tank with a 250 watt metal halide fixture for it. i have a bad outbreak of algae and i think it is because of the light. i only have it on for 7 hours a day but it is too much for a fish only tank. is there a light that would be just as bright and blue but would not cause an algae problem? i basically need to know what kind of lighting is perfect for a fish only tank. and also i dont have a lot of money to spend so i would like the light to be on the cheaper side.

[triggerfreak]

On my fowlr tank i run the coralife aqualight t5 light ( regular not ho ).I keep it on for only about 4 hours a day when i am at home at night.I used to have a bad hair algae problem with not being able to keep a cleanup crew with all my triggers.After about 2 weeks of only running my lights for 3 to 4 hours all the hair algae was gone.Not i only clean the glass about once a week and no hair algae at all.

[tadashi123]

hmm i'm in a similar position. i aquired 2x150 watt DE fixture for what ultimately will be for a 46 gallon FO tank.

As far as algae problems, i think it's due to your tank breaking in and establishing. But yeah, i think if you keep your MH lamp toward a blue bias, perhaps 14k. and run it for 6 hours a day it should be OK.

But hey, i'm a newb too, but these are just my insights from the research i've done.

Good luck!

[seakwon]

thanks guys... so i guess i will try to run the light for a less time from now on and see what that does.