LED lighting causing brown algae?

[BigAl859]

I've recently switched my light from t5 ho to dimmable led lighting and since then brown algae is covering my sand bed? Anyone know why this would happen?

[moe458]

how long are you running the lights

[goreef170]

I've recently switched my light from t5 ho to dimmable led lighting and since then brown algae is covering my sand bed? Anyone know why this would happen?

Just curious... why the switch ?

[E fishn C]

Any update on your brown algae. Seems I have the same issue.

[Pogue]

I'm battling the same issue.

How long are you running your LEDs? How long, and what intensity, for each spectrum?

I just read somewhere today that brown algae can show up and become a problem if the system isn't getting enough light.

In my case, I had my corals bleaching and looking really bad, being run over with the algae. Some of it had bubbles, so naturally I'm worried about dinos.

I blacked out my tank for 72 hours. When I unwrapped the tank, all the algae was gone.

I turned my LEDs back on (3 days ago) with these settings:
Royal Blue - 8 hours (1.5/hrs each for sunrise & sunset) reaching %40 max.
Whites - 6 hours (1 hour each for sunrise & sunset) reaching %30 max.
UV (+ Red and Green) - 3 hours (30mins each for sunrise sunset) reaching %20 max.

While my corals appear to be recovering, I'm seeing the algae forming again.
Its on my rocks where light has touched them, also on my glass. I don't see it appearing on my sand, possibly because my new orange spot goby is keeping it really clean.

Let me know what you've set your lights too.

[s2nhle]

Have you been dosing the carbon (vinegar or voka)? The brown algea bloomed when I dosed them. So I stopped carbon dosing and have been running the gfo. it is decreasing slowly now.

[Ryannn]

I've recently switched my light from t5 ho to dimmable led lighting and since then brown algae is covering my sand bed? Anyone know why this would happen?

The stuff I have read says LEDs have a much deeper penetration/PAR rating at the sand bed than T5s, since the light is directed out of the lens. You may be getting a lot more light than you actually think. I would try turning them down a little bit, or cutting your light time down.