Algae in one system but not the other...

[nauti1us]

Hi All

I am running a dual reef tank system. One tank is a 210G and the other is a 80G. Both tanks are physically plumbed together however they are in two different rooms. The main display tank is in the living room while the 80G is on the other side of the wall in my guest room, which is also where the sump and filtration is.

The main display 210 is a mixed reef: lps, sps, clams, anemones, etc. This tank is 8+ years running and in pristine condition. Beautiful corals and a very clean tank. No unsightly hair algae or any other undesirable algae to speak of...

While the 80G tank which houses LR a few mixed corals along with a small rbta and skunk clowns seems to be plagued with green hair algae... I scrape it away and within a month or two it comes right back... I have a tremendous amount of flow in both tanks. There is no sunlight hitting either system. I even feed the 80G tank less than the 210G.

The main tank has a ATI fixture with ATI T5 lamps. The 80G has a Deep Blue Solar Extreme T5 fixture with stock lamps. Could the hair algae be coming from the use of the stock(junk) lamps or am I missing something more fundamental..?

 

[KurtisRay]

The Deep Blue fixture is nice but the stock bulbs are crap..I would change those out right away maybe with the same ATI bulbs you have on the other fixture and that should solve your problem with the Hair Algae.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I have the same problem i think it is the old cheap t5 bulbs in my case also

 

[Chris27]

Are you sure it doesn't have to do with the clean-up crew? What are the differences in the two tanks in respect to that?

 

[nauti1us]

Are you sure it doesn't have to do with the clean-up crew? What are the differences in the two tanks in respect to that?

The main reef has more of a clean up crew than 80G does... however the 80G has a very small amount of live rock and very few corals. Pound for pound I think the red legged hermits and turbo snails I have in the 80G should be able to handle a good portion... however I would say that I would benefit from adding a small Kole or Chevron...

My new ATI bulbs will arrive tomorrow. After I make the swap out I'll find out relatively soon whether I made the right choice. It'll prolly take about a month to verify that the hair algae growth has stopped.

Fingers crossed.

 

[SmyrnaReefer]

from my understanding, hair algae likes light, so when the bulbs are good, the algae is getting enough light, but when the bulbs are bad, it starts growing to get closer to the light to find more of it.

 

[Karp]

I also agree with the above poster. I think you need to replace your bulbs as they may have started to dim.