Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > General Interest Forums > Reef Discussion
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 02/06/2018, 09:35 AM   #1
Zalick
My reef tanks my wallet
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
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?


__________________
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...
Zalick is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/06/2018, 09:58 AM   #2
RobZilla04
Registered Member
 
RobZilla04's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: St. Augustine, FL
Posts: 1,857
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zalick View Post
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? The light source from the A360's are providing a better (more intense and/or spectrum)source for photosynthesis thus algae growth.

Question 2:
Any thoughts why the a360s would cause more algae growth than the T5s?Same answer as question #1
Adjust the color scheme and/or intensity. Specifically the white & red/green.


__________________
90g Mixed Reef
RobZilla04 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/06/2018, 10:02 AM   #3
Zalick
My reef tanks my wallet
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobZilla04 View Post
Adjust the color scheme and/or intensity. Specifically the white & red/green.
I should have added that I have my mid day color on the a360 set at 50.


__________________
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...
Zalick is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/06/2018, 10:12 AM   #4
RCS82
Registered Member
 
RCS82's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Posts: 273
The light isn't on all day or all night is it? It's just on when you are working inside the cabinet right?


__________________
After about a 16 year break from fish keeping,
Wow, how things have changed.

Current Tank Info: 90g, mixed reef, I hope haha
RCS82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/06/2018, 10:56 AM   #5
Zalick
My reef tanks my wallet
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
Quote:
Originally Posted by RCS82 View Post
The light isn't on all day or all night is it? It's just on when you are working inside the cabinet right?
I'm lazy and the sump light is on 24/7. I haven't set it up on a timer yet. Its been that way for 2 years.


__________________
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...
Zalick is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/07/2018, 12:46 PM   #6
YetiCrab
Registered Member
 
YetiCrab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 20
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.


YetiCrab is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/08/2018, 04:29 AM   #7
oldhead
Registered Member
 
oldhead's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 527
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zalick View Post
I should have added that I have my mid day color on the a360 set at 50.
Which tuna do you have? The sun that is made for a fuge and to grow algae or the blue? Also reading through the instructions pdf on BRS maybe try playing with the spectrum. You may need to turn it more to the right to get closer to the antic range.


oldhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/08/2018, 03:57 PM   #8
Zalick
My reef tanks my wallet
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldhead View Post
Which tuna do you have? The sun that is made for a fuge and to grow algae or the blue? Also reading through the instructions pdf on BRS maybe try playing with the spectrum. You may need to turn it more to the right to get closer to the antic range.
I've got the a360w tuna blue.

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.


__________________
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...
Zalick is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 02/08/2018, 04:07 PM   #9
Zalick
My reef tanks my wallet
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 571
Quote:
Originally Posted by YetiCrab View Post
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.
I have a great grow light that I'll set up tonight and test.

Interesting that algae seems to favor the Kessil's over T5.


__________________
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...
Zalick is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
a360, algae

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:53 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.