Algae Problem

A

aab3rd

New member
I am having a LOT of algae growth durring the time that my metal halide is on which is a 175w 10K AB bulb. I only have it on for about five hours a day but the algae really grows durring that time. I was wondering if a higher kelvin bulb would not cause as much growth. The other lighting in the tank is a 65w PC consisting of a 420/460 bulb.

Another thought. My tank gets up to 80-81 degrees when the MH is on. I do have a chiller on the tank but it can not keep it down to 78 where I have it set. I know that higher heat can cause more growth. This is making me consider going with T5s. I have the ballasts so I just need the ends and reflectors. Any thoughts on T5s?

Water quality is not bad. 0 amonia, nitrates very low with the test strips I got from Memfish. No phosfate test on hand so don't know about that but am running a mixed bag of carbon and phosfate reducer. The skimmer on the tank is an Octo HOB 1000 which is rated up to 90 gallons and this is a 30 (thanks Richard for letting me try this! :thumbsup:)

Any suggestions?

Austin
 
I've been fighting algae in my 30 as well. I don't know what test strips you are using but I just quit using them when the strips showed nitrates of 20 when they were actually 80! I went back to using api tests, little more time consuming but far more accurate, at least in my experience. Also how old is your light and how is your water flow? I've had a lot of success simply blowing off the rocks a few times a week. Good luck and these are just a few things I've done that seem to have given me some (not complete) success.
 
How old is the MH bulb? As they get older the spectrum changes which can cause excessive algae growth. If it's older than 10 months then this could be part of the issue.
 
Thanks for the replies. The bulb is six to eight months old. I am running the charcoal/phosphate remover combo in the return section of the Octo skimmer. As far as flow goes, I have a Quiet one 1200 pushing water through my chiller. I have a maxi 1200 and a Koralia 2 in the tank as well. These provide fairly good flow for the tank. There is also flow comming from the skimmer, of course.

I love the way a metal halide looks but am wondering if T5s would be better. Not planning on keeping but one or two sps and they would be at the top about four inches from the surface.
 
I have sps under 6 54w t5s and have no problems in my 55g and my neighbor's 180g with 12 54s is what sold me on them. I think they look better than under mh.
 
I am running 3 75/25 bulbs by UV, 1 reef wave, 1 coral wave, and one super blue I think is the last its 460 nm. I got all of them at Kermits. The 75/25 is almost like a 14 k mh so its kinda blue but the other bulbs really bring out all the colors. Ill get you some pics. But I love them. They look great and I think the growth is good.
 
my sps in my nano under t-5's are thriving and growing well, a higher kelven bulb with lower par will reduce growth of algea , but the locked nitrates and phosphates will feed the algea , run the phosphate remover and change media as needed , weekly water changes and wet skimming will help.lights out for a few days will also help release the nitrates and phosphates from the algea to be broke down and removed.some cheato wil lhelp allot . buy good test kits , the strips are not very acurate and if multi reading strips will leach into eachother giving false readings.
 
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