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02/06/2018, 09:35 AM | #1 |
My reef tanks my wallet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
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Kessil a360 and algae growth
Preface: I know I have higher levels of nutrients than I would like and this thread is not about nutrient control.
Background I've been operating my current tank for about 8 years. For the first 5 I had everything in a smaller tank running T5s with 50%10k and 50% actinic. The last 3 years I've been running 6 kessil a360s. The first 5 years I had pretty much zero algae and I fed very similar amounts. The last 3 years I've been battling algae. Observation: I have an enclosed sump that has a cheap LED puck light from Ikea, just to light up the cabinet so I can see around. Its fairly bright and the whole 100gallon sump is lit up. I haven't measured the PAR. Its a soft yellow. I have rock in my sump, from the same rock in the tank, and I occasionally move pieces from the tank to the sump. The rock in the sump has 0 algae. If I move a piece of algae covered rock to the sump, the algae dies very quickly. Question 1: Does anyone have any thoughts as to why the a360s are causing the algae to grow pretty quickly while the algae rapidly dies under the cheap puck light? Question 2: Any thoughts why the a360s would cause more algae growth than the T5s?
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300g custom acrylic from James 72x36x27, 4 Mitras Lx7 &6 a360, 2 Stream 3s, C2C beananimal. 100g sump, Jebao DCP- 8000 (Vectra M1 died) -> 114w aquauv -> SRO 5000ext , varios8 return Current Tank Info: Me v Dinos - I'm winning for now... |
02/06/2018, 09:58 AM | #2 | |
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90g Mixed Reef |
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02/06/2018, 10:02 AM | #3 | |
My reef tanks my wallet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
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Quote:
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300g custom acrylic from James 72x36x27, 4 Mitras Lx7 &6 a360, 2 Stream 3s, C2C beananimal. 100g sump, Jebao DCP- 8000 (Vectra M1 died) -> 114w aquauv -> SRO 5000ext , varios8 return Current Tank Info: Me v Dinos - I'm winning for now... |
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02/06/2018, 10:12 AM | #4 |
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The light isn't on all day or all night is it? It's just on when you are working inside the cabinet right?
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After about a 16 year break from fish keeping, Wow, how things have changed. Current Tank Info: 90g, mixed reef, I hope haha |
02/06/2018, 10:56 AM | #5 | |
My reef tanks my wallet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
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Quote:
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300g custom acrylic from James 72x36x27, 4 Mitras Lx7 &6 a360, 2 Stream 3s, C2C beananimal. 100g sump, Jebao DCP- 8000 (Vectra M1 died) -> 114w aquauv -> SRO 5000ext , varios8 return Current Tank Info: Me v Dinos - I'm winning for now... |
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02/07/2018, 12:46 PM | #6 |
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From my experience in this hobby, algae is going to grow somewhere. That's what algae does. It grows. If your conditions in the display are better suited to grow algae - that's where it is going to grow.
Once I setup a proper refugium, with a proper light and turn-over - I have never experienced algae in my dislpay. So what I would do in your situation: Ditch the puck light. Pickup an h380 and setup a proper fuge. Never look back. |
02/08/2018, 04:29 AM | #7 | |
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02/08/2018, 03:57 PM | #8 | |
My reef tanks my wallet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
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I know the algae is feeding off excess phosphates in the water and probably leaching from the rock. Its interesting that I'd never had issues with algae using MH or T5s in previous iterations of this tank.
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300g custom acrylic from James 72x36x27, 4 Mitras Lx7 &6 a360, 2 Stream 3s, C2C beananimal. 100g sump, Jebao DCP- 8000 (Vectra M1 died) -> 114w aquauv -> SRO 5000ext , varios8 return Current Tank Info: Me v Dinos - I'm winning for now... |
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02/08/2018, 04:07 PM | #9 | |
My reef tanks my wallet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
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Quote:
Interesting that algae seems to favor the Kessil's over T5.
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300g custom acrylic from James 72x36x27, 4 Mitras Lx7 &6 a360, 2 Stream 3s, C2C beananimal. 100g sump, Jebao DCP- 8000 (Vectra M1 died) -> 114w aquauv -> SRO 5000ext , varios8 return Current Tank Info: Me v Dinos - I'm winning for now... |
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a360, algae |
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