PDA

View Full Version : Added lights now tank looks like crap!


brian762
02/15/2011, 08:04 PM
So i bought a 4x T5 light fixture and plugged them in on sunday, now i have a major algea bloom. Tank has been running for 2 months now. What kind of algea is it and how can i get rid of it?!!! It is only on the side oposite of my powerhead. and a little right below my power head where there is not much flow. There are little bubble all over it on my rocks. :mad2:

john_blaze
02/15/2011, 08:11 PM
did you run the tank without lights up until this point??

Assuming that you did: excess nutrients + light = algae

Do a WC, try to avoid overfeeding, and consider a macroalgae in the sump to compete for nutrients. If you do not have a sump, a GFO reactor will do the same thing.

Go get that algae :blown:

HTH

:beer:

~RuSh~
02/15/2011, 08:12 PM
Looks like diatom algae. Likely a result of the new light being more powerful.

Scrub the algae as you see fit and keep your parameters in check and it should reside. If you don't have corals, you can also cut back the lighting to reduce algae growth, or even shorten the photo periods to help reduce algae growth.

brian762
02/15/2011, 08:16 PM
did you run the tank without lights up until this point??

Assuming that you did: excess nutrients + light = algae

Do a WC, try to avoid overfeeding, and consider a macroalgae in the sump to compete for nutrients. If you do not have a sump, a GFO reactor will do the same thing.

Go get that algae :blown:

HTH

:beer:

I did have lights just the basic single bulb flouresent ones that come with the tank.

Agu
02/15/2011, 08:20 PM
Yes it looks like diatoms. A result of more intense lighting and excess nutrients. Typically it'll cycle through your tank and go away.

Aggressive use of water changes, mechanical filtration and carbon will usually make it go away in about three weeks. If you just ignore it and do your usual good maintenance it'll be gone in about 21 days.

brian762
02/15/2011, 09:27 PM
Which lights would be better to run to minimize the growth/spread of it? 10000k or Actinic?

john_blaze
02/15/2011, 11:19 PM
If it is diatoms (which is what I am battling right now) it is too much silica (or silicate?) that they are taking up in order to make their shells so they can grow...and grow...and grow...

I have searched and searched but cannot seem to find a "universal" fix because apparently there are 8,123,256,200 different kinds of diatoms and a precise fix depends on which one you are actually dealing with :hmm3:

With that said, I am currently at day 4 with no lights and one light feeding a day (trying to minimize my phosphates) and am waiting for my phosguard to come in so I can run it in my reactor (with low concentrations of phosphates phosguard will take up silica).

Did not mean to hijack your thread, just trying to share my experience

HTH

:beer:

steelhead77
02/16/2011, 12:54 AM
Yes it looks like diatoms. A result of more intense lighting and excess nutrients. Typically it'll cycle through your tank and go away.

Aggressive use of water changes, mechanical filtration and carbon will usually make it go away in about three weeks. If you just ignore it and do your usual good maintenance it'll be gone in about 21 days.

+1 on this. Don't sweat it. If this is all that happens in your tank over the next couple months, count yourself lucky.

Uncle Salty 05
02/16/2011, 08:18 AM
If it is diatoms (which is what I am battling right now) it is too much silica (or silicate?) that they are taking up in order to make their shells so they can grow...and grow...and grow...

I have searched and searched but cannot seem to find a "universal" fix because apparently there are 8,123,256,200 different kinds of diatoms and a precise fix depends on which one you are actually dealing with :hmm3:

With that said, I am currently at day 4 with no lights and one light feeding a day (trying to minimize my phosphates) and am waiting for my phosguard to come in so I can run it in my reactor (with low concentrations of phosphates phosguard will take up silica).

Did not mean to hijack your thread, just trying to share my experience

HTH

:beer:

+1 silica/silicates are what diatoms feed on.
The addition of a silicate filter to you RO/DI unit will help immensely.
http://buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=182&Sub=127

chimmike
02/16/2011, 08:29 AM
cut your photoperiod in half for a few days and slowly add an hour per day, but IMO don't exceed 8hrs.

spieszak
02/16/2011, 08:34 AM
Aggressive use of water changes, mechanical filtration and carbon will usually make it go away in about three weeks. If you just ignore it and do your usual good maintenance it'll be gone in about 21 days.
6 of one, half a dozen of the other? :-)

kctango
02/16/2011, 08:56 AM
I would also run test on your water to make sure your NO3 is not building up to high.

chogendoorn
02/16/2011, 01:03 PM
6 of one, half a dozen of the other? :-)

Yeah it didn't really make sense to me...pay attention and be dilligent, or just leave it be, either way it'll be gone in 3 weeks? I'm assuming the first one would get rid of them faster than the second :)