Lighting advice

[thericker]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on my lighting situation. I have a 125g tank which I've had set up for about 18 months with a Odyssea light set up (because it is what I could afford). Recently I needed to replace the bulbs and since I've replaced them my live rock is turning brown, there are bubbles all over the live rock and I'm starting to have a bad red algae problem. The current light set up is 3 175 W HQI's, 2 130 W Actinic and 12 blue LED's. What I have inside the tank are anemones, tangs and some LPS corals. I am wondering if I should switch my lighting setup or maybe the issues I am having are being brought about something else. It is a 6 foot long tank, 20 inch tall and 18 inch deep tank with the lights set about 8 inches over the water. Any advice on what I can do about the lighting situation would be helpful.


Thanks,

Mike

[ScottL4619]

Sounds like the new bulbs are substantially brighter than the old bulbs and are causing a bloom. What bulbs did you switch from and to?

[luke33]

I think its due to something else. Whats your setup like? What skimmer are you using, do you have a fuge, whats in it. What are your trates at, what kind of flow do you have in your tank? Are you using rodi water?

[ScottL4619]

The tank has been setup for 18 months with no issues and as soon as he switched lights, the algae started to get out of control. I assumed for sure that it was the light change. I could be wrong of course, that was just my opinion.

[DarG]

The lights are probably not the cause but they may be the factor that is bringing another issue to the forefront. Usually, if other things are favorable for nuisance algae growth, spectral shift to the red in old bulbs can start an outbreak. But it is possible that the increase in light with the new bulbs has sparked an outbreak. Phosphates have to be present in some minimum amount for the algae to grow. Nitrates can also contribute to accelerate growth. But if you have no phosphates (or a trace amount below the minimum level) the algae cannot live. test kits often cant measure it because it is being used by the algae and other life as soon as it is available. or it is the type of phosphate that most kits dont measure (organic I think).
So the lights may have sparked the growth but only because other factors were favorable. I wonder about some bulbs as well, like the ATI procolor or the KZ Coral or even Fiji Purple which all have some red in the spectrum. Same lower K halides and maybe lower K flourescents as well I believe.

If I added any of the above bulbs or others that were different than what you had and may have some red in the spectrum, you could replace them with something else and see what happens. Or put your old bulbs back in for a week or so and see if the algae starts to regress. I have stopped and reversed algae growth in the past by replacing old VHO's with new. So you could do the bulb thing and test for sure whether it was the bulbs.
But you have to treat the other factors. Use GFO for phosphate control and get the nitrates under control. If you already are using phosphate absorbing material, make sure you keep up with replacing it and make sure you are using enough. Watch your feeding, maybe back down some on it and make sure what you feed isnt loaded with more phosphates than "normal". Make sure any supplements are phosphate free. Check for nitrate and nutrient traps like live rock crevices or areas of the substarte where detritus and uneaten food may accumulate. You can blow out the LR with a powerhead if it is trapping detritus and maybe use a filter bag/sock on the overflow drain hose to help pull it out. You can add a refugium and macroalgae to outcompete the nuisance algae for nutrients. Make sure skimmer is working as best as possible. Also, kalkwasser is supposed to help precipitate phosphates so you can consider dripping some if you arent already.

Cant think of anything else. Ive done all the above in the past to deal with hair algae or other nuisance algae except for the refugium (which I will set up next time if I ever have a problem). Sometimes the above thinbgs work real well, sometimes they help and once in a while it seems like they dont help at all. But whatever you do, start to do something before it gets worse.
And I would ask on, maybe the chemistry forum, as well. Im not an expert in phosphates, nitrates, reef chemistry or nuisance algae control. There are probably things I am missing, new or old. Last time I had a HA issue that I was actively trying to get rid of I dont think many reefers had refugiums let alone knew what they were :D

[thericker]

ScottL4619,

I tried to get the exact bulbs I had before and I was told I got the same bulbs but they look alot brighter than before that why I was thinking it was the lights.


Luke 33,

I have a sump underneath my tank with houses my Corallife skimmer for a 125gal, chaeto and return pump. To be honest my trates have always been high and nothing I've done ever helped. I am using RODI water and I'm not sure on my flow is but I have increased it a little bit recently to try and help with the recent bloom.


Darg,

I have been thinking of buying something for Phospate control but I'm not sure what GFO stands for. I also have been thinking that I need to reorganize my landscape but I don't want to lose any of my livestock. I was also thinking of getting rid of the sand that I have in there and replacing it with live sand. The reason is that I purchased the tank with the sand from a fish store which the sand has been in there for over ten years so I'm wondering how good the sand is? My nitrates have always been high and I can't get it down no matter what I do. Any advice would be helpful.


Mike

[DarG]

GFO is granular ferric oxide. Basically granulated rust but it has been used for absorbtion of Phosphate and arsenic in water treatment for a long time and has been popular in the hobby for a few years now I guess. Phosban is one brand name, phospure is the Fosters and smith house brand, Rowaphos is another brand or buy in bulk from buljreefsupply.com or othe vendors.
Use it in a 35 dollar Phosban reactor with a small powerhead and it lasts a couple months or more per refill. Very good idea to try some as it isnt much cost up front to set up. I use 1 gram per gallon which is a pretty common amount to use.

A sand bed isnt necessarily going to lead to high nitrates. I have run plenum systems with deep sand bed for a long time. My last tank was neglected for 3 plus years, no water changes at all. My nitrates were low when I finally got around to getting it back up to speed (below 10 mg/l). Overfeeding, underskimming, too little circulation, bioballs, mechanical filters with media that isnt changed frequently ... can all lead to detritus and excess food being trapped or concentrated or not exported efficiently (poor skimmer performance) and lead to nitrate build up. Taking care of these issues by removing nitrate related detritus sinks often by simplyfing filtration increasing in tank water movement and better skimming can all help lower nitrates along with water changes. Can use de-nitraters as well to really get it low like some of the newer sulphur denitrators. But all that said, some reefers just havent done well with deep sand beds.

Need to get your nitrates down. Have you tested for phosphates at all to see if you are dealing with high levels? I would do so. Then you'll know if they are measurably high atleast.

I think it's evident that it is other issues like nitrates and necessarily, phosphates in some adequate amount, that are the root of the cause and the lights are most likely just the trigger that showed the underlying problems. I would attack the nitrate issue and also set up a phosphate reactor with GFO for starters.

What type of skimmer and how is it working?
What are you using for water movement in the tank?
What type of filtration are you using, cansiter, filter pads in sump drip tray, bio balls, hang on tank filter etc ?