I started to notice that tanks with LEDs don't have GHA problems. I had various LEDs on my tanks and never had any of it growing. I switched to T5's on one of my tanks and noticed a small patch started to grow a week later. I can't say that every tank with LED's does not have GHA, but I was curious are there any LED users that have it or had it when using them? I have seen around 20 tanks with LEDs with various manufactures used and didn't see any GHA at all in those tanks.
Do LED users have GHA?
- Thread starter jaa1456
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Painted skin
New member
You can still have GHA with leds, I had them.. Though lights do have some bearing in having GHA there are other factors in promoting GHA.
I know the common factors of GHA growth, but this is not what I'm asking about, it is more about can it grow under LEDs? I have been in the hobby for over 20 years and was battling GHA in 1993 before there was any real understanding of it. I'm also just putting out the info from what I have observed, and that is I haven't personally seen a tank with LEDs and Growing GHA. I have seen other types like cyano, and Dino's things of that nature.
Skinnysloth
New member
GHA does not discriminate depending on the source of photosynthetic energy. If the wavelength of light is conducive for the photosynthetic process, and you have the correct nutrients in the water, GHA will grow regardless if the light came from T5s, halides, leds, etc.. You would hope that leds will be capable of growing any algae, as the symbiotic zooxanthellae in the coral requires the same or similar light spectrum/wavelength for growth.
Short anwser, yes:
and yes:
Short anwser, yes:
and yes:
Squidmotron
New member
What you're seeing is probably a correlation.
The purchase of an expensive LED unit signifies a long-term financial commitment. I would expect that purchasing of one expensive form of equipment for a reef aquarium makes it more likely that you purchase others, some of which improve water quality, flow, etc. It also means a long-term serious commitment to the hobby.
The purchase of an expensive LED unit signifies a long-term financial commitment. I would expect that purchasing of one expensive form of equipment for a reef aquarium makes it more likely that you purchase others, some of which improve water quality, flow, etc. It also means a long-term serious commitment to the hobby.
You would be surprised how many tanks I have seen over the years with all the best equipment and they look like crap. People buy the stuff, yet they don't know how or they don't do the upkeep. I have seen nicer looking tanks with cheap equipment. I have also seen people with bottomless pockets just throw money into a tank with no idea about what they are Doing and buying $500 fish and up. Thanks for the pics of the LED/GHA tanks. I was wondering if the LEDs were missing part of the wavelength that GHA loves.
Squidmotron
New member
By no means I am a suggesting that's not possible or even frequent. Only that there's a correlation.
I had GHA and it cleared up after the switch to LEDs. I place the blame on my aged T5 bulbs. Not the LEDs. I think one cause could be that people can't monitor the wavelength of there bulbs and as they age the yellow. Algae likes a more yellow light than the blue we like to have and LEDs maintain that blue look so you don't have that shift in spectrum giving the algae a more beneficial spectrum.
Painted skin
New member
Though some spectrum is use to grow plants and can promote GHA like wild fire more than other spectrum. You can still have GHA grow under light that is on the blue side. I had kessil 15000k leds ocean blue and had no problem growing GHA if I let my tank go unmaintained.
Painted skin
New member
This argument doesn't make sense. A tank with say 200 watts of blue T5 that has shifted spectrum is going to produce a ton less red than a 400 watt 14k bulb. I have never found any correlation between old lights and algae personally if anything replacing my lights have always caused more algae for me.
So I won't argue that old bulbs can cause hair algae there has been many reports of this the described mechanism doesn't hold up scientifically.
ACBlinky
Premium Member
I'm guessing it's all coincidental. That said, I am using LEDs and haven't seen ANY hair algae since starting up the 150g. Bryopsis? Yep, at the start. Green powdery stuff on the glass? Occasionally. The area of the back I can't really get to has a film of greenish hard algae on it (need a razor blade to remove it).
The sump is lit with PC bulbs and besides the caulerpa and chaeto I'm cultivating on purpose, I also have a little cyanobacteria, but no GHA or anything even resembling tufty, fuzzy, green/brown/pink algae. Oh, and phosphates are embarrassingly high, around 0.75ppm.
The sump is lit with PC bulbs and besides the caulerpa and chaeto I'm cultivating on purpose, I also have a little cyanobacteria, but no GHA or anything even resembling tufty, fuzzy, green/brown/pink algae. Oh, and phosphates are embarrassingly high, around 0.75ppm.
That makes no sense because you are stating that there is a negative correlation between the use of led lights and the presence of hair algae in our systems.
If this was a negative correlation why would people use leds to grow algae in an ATS?
I see people all the time on here spending more in a single year on expensive equipment than others have in the past 10 years only to fail and get out.
Expensive equipment can only go so far when poor husbandry techniques are practiced.
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