green hair algae and t-5 vs.mh

[1628mna]

hello all,

loving that snow and power outages, i guess its better than hurricanes, earthquakes
, poisonous snakes and spiders !!!!!! i have two questions hopefully i can figure this out. i have chaeto in my fuge just spinning away. this is a pretty big piece compared to what i started out with,tripled in size within 1 1/2 months. i have hair algae growing in this ball of chaeto,half of the ball is hair algae and half chaeto. is this ok or should i pitch it and start over? my bulb is only 2 months old. i keep my fuge light on from 6am to 12am. my tank lights are on from 8:30 am from 9:00 pm.
my second question is i was wondering if anyone has any input on whether to go with t-5s or mh. i have in my hood now 4 vhos which i wont get rid of, i just like how they look etc. i just want to add to the lights that are already in there. if i was to go with mh would they be alright in my 90g. tank hood close to my vhos? does anyone have any experience product wise which is the best product?

thanx mike

 

[Murphs205]

MH and T-5 are both good light fixtures ,EVERTHING will love the MH light. You, Electric company to your corals, fish will love MH . it is your best bet, its more money for a good MH system , but worth it all the way around ,,,

 

[ThrowinRoost89]

i went with mh and i like em


my 500w of MH wont cost any more than 500w of T-5's
i was told to run like 720w of t-5's to get good coverage

 

[Murphs205]

Ohio Edison LOVES VHO ,T-5, MH, i am surprised they don't offer bulbs at a discount rate ,

 

[1628mna]

murph do you know what puts out the most wattsvho,t-5 or mh? i was looking on salty critter web site and i was possibly thinking of just going with 2 more vhos, the vho retro kit!!! anybody have 2 cents for the cheato situation? well for now i have to go do the nasty,snow shoveling while the kids sit inside playing guitar hero just dont make sense. that would of never flyed with my dad, but then again i wasnt raised on a farm. thanx for the input guys

thanx mike

 

[Murphs205]

they all will pump out watts vho,t-5,MH ,,but MH can do it in a much smaller footprint under your hoods , massive amounts of light , very small bulbs ,plus MH is diffrent kind of light IMO ,,,much better than vho, t-5 (but they are good too), with the right bulbs you can adjust your colors to what you like , deeper yellow colors 10,000k , just about mid everthing 14,000k , high in the blue side 20,000k. its all up to you really ,, i like 14,000k bulbs myslef ,,, they all will work for sure , i just like MH better, small bulbs, killer amout of light , can go wrong with MH ,,,

Murph ,,,,,,,

 

[LPDK91]

Mike, I use all VHO. I am keeping a carpet, bta, and all kinds of other corals under them. I like the VHO because I also can keep non photosynthetic gorgonian in the same tank without algea build up on them.

 

[sohal1025]

Hey MurphSalty,,,,,,,,, I know you just set up your new tank,,,,,,,,, and were getting that established if I am not mistaken...,,,,,,,What kind of lights did you put on that system????.............How is it working out for you???????

 

[Murphs205]

what i have and what i like are 2 diffrent things,right now i run VHO /660 Ice Cap. what i like better is 14,000k MH , what will i be running soon ? that would be MH. im almost there in the begging department with new MH , i like the VHO color , but ill be glad to get rid of them and go back to MH . that i have ran for the last year on my old tank , just couldnt swing new tank, skimmer, sump,and new 48" MH at one time. VHO are nice , but MH is where is at IMO

 

[1628mna]

bump

anybody have any solutions/answers to the cheato problem!!!!!!

thanx mike

 

[CleveYank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12055802#post12055802 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 1628mna
bump

anybody have any solutions/answers to the cheato problem!!!!!!

thanx mike

I have seen very few pictures or in person (never) or my own refugiums (not that I can recall) that did not have micro growing around, within, on the macro algae cheato or calerpa to lesser or greater extent.

Extra current within the refugium under certain circumstances (don't ask me what variance that is for I have tried that) some have claimed to cut that down and only have macro algae.

Bottom line. As long as the micro is growing all over the fuge the macro therein and staying there you're ok. When are you not ok? If the fuge is part of the sump and the micro is growing all over the place. For some reason it will grow throughout the main too. This usually will only occur in extreme nutrient rich (overfed or bioload challenged or unmaintained tanks) where the fuge contained in the sump is allowing the lighting bleed through of the fuge light throughout the rest of the sump. There are always exceptions to almost everything. But it's probably as I state above a majority of the time.