Has anyone noticed?

[jason71832]

Has anyone noticed that during an outbreak of red hair or green algae their lights don't seem to light up the tank as much. Two weeks ago my 195w pc's lit up my tank like the fourth of july. Now that I have the red hair it looks like their are only a couple of 20w NO's on it. I put an old 20 watt NO on it and you couldn't hardly see. I am supposing that this algae ( although you can't see it floating in the water) does float and make your tank look dimmer without looking murky or anything. I know with green blooms your water looks like lime kool-aid. But my water appears to the naked eye to be clear....AM I CRAZY?

 

[theevoys]

No, you're not crazy... the corals, rock, and sand reflect the light when they are clean making it look brighter. But, when everything is covered with brown/red it looks darker. However, some lights are very bright for the first couple weeks/months (like pcs) and then lose their brilliance over time.