Why is my brown & Algae So bad?

[JMcGarva]

Hey all. So I have a 70 Gal Reef setup. I used to have the current USA orbit Marine LED's and of course when the tank cycled I got tons of brown etc.. the normal cycling funess. The corals would not grow under that light too well, so I went out and bought two sunspec LED's fixtures. They sit about 9" above the water line. Ever since I bought these lights my algae has boomed. I acclimated the new lights. Ive owned them since Oct of last year. I now have them turned down to the lowest setting. They are on for 30 mins of blue in the morning. I think its from 0700-0730. From 0730 to 1930 they are white. Then from 1930-2000 they are blue.

I am getting tons of brown in the sand.. and then once the lights go off, the sand almost gets completely clean within a few hours. Its unreal! But it takes no time for the brown to come back once they turn back on. Also, any place that the live room makes a shadow, there is no brown.

I also have tons of brown on the glass. I have also been getting grass on my return loc-lines. Also, inside my u-tube is "green"

I have about 5-6 Mexican snails and about 15 smaller snails. I also have a few crabs. I do not have any shrimp (yet)

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem. I do know that my lights have 2 red and 2 green LED's on each fixture and I have two fixtures. I was wondering if I changed out the LED's to another color, would that fix, or at least help a good bit with the issue. I dont want to change them out if its not going to help.


Thanks in advance.

 

[drillsar]

check your phosphates, alk. Whats your PH at?

 

[drillsar]

I can guarantee you have a phosphate problem.. You using ro/di water and tds 0?

 

[pyithar]

so are you running about half of the led chips for 12 hrs/day and another half for only 1 hr/day? you could reduce the white lighting hour to 8 hrs/day and increase blue lighting to 12 hrs/day. for example: blue on at 9am, off at 9pm. white on at 10am, off at 6pm.

also, you probably have excess nutrient problem. do some testings first especially the nitrates and phosphates. regular water changes, wet skimming, algae scrubber, growing macro algae like chaeto, running gfo, carbon dosing,. etc will all help to lower the nutrients.

 

[JMcGarva]

I hear a lot about having a phosphate problem but I am only getting a reading of .03 as the highest I've ever had.

I will get an updated pH when I get home. Also the blue is on the same time as the whites sorry I typed that wrong. The morning 30 and the last 30 mins of the day is just blue only. The rest of the time the lights are on. The blues are on as well

 

[djbon]

I too had algae problem when I run my white too long and too high. You need to find a sweet spot for your white and don't run it more than 8 hours in a day. Get some algae eating critter/fish to help out cleaning.

 

[JMcGarva]

Bump? So What do I need to do? Im tired of looking at the brown sand. And its brown on my glass too. I seem to clean it daily on the glass. I never had this issue before? Would it be better to change those red and green LED bulbs or is it not worth it? I dont wanna change it and risk something happening if its not gonna change anything? Do I need to change my time on my lights or what?

Thanks

 

[Grkgod36]

Are you using ro water?

 

[civics14]

try reducing the length of your light cycle?

 

[bat21]

You're running white lights for 14 hours. Most people only do 8-10.

 

[Justintegra]

I hear a lot about having a phosphate problem but I am only getting a reading of .03 as the highest I've ever had.

It reads low because the algae is feasting on the rest of it. That's my understanding of these situations.

 

[JMcGarva]

Yes I'm using RO water. I am only running the lights for less then 10 hours a day.

 

[Justintegra]

RO, or RO/DI? There is a difference.

 

[JMcGarva]

Im using RO/DI unit. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-4-stage-value-plus-ro-di-system-75gpd-1.html

Same unit listed there

I have raised my lights up some. They were 7" above the water line, now they are about 12" Not sure if that made a difference or not. I also completely cleaned all the sand and shifted the sand bed some. I also shorted my light on time. So far knock on wood, no brown back on the sand. I keep my white channel on the lowest possible, and I uped the blue to hopefully cancel out the green/reds which causes algae. Well see how it goes

 

[alljap]

I got the same prob. I did changed 20% every otherday for a week and it helped. Also try to increase the flow a litle. Good luck.

 

[JMcGarva]

Hey all update here. I added another 1100gph flow to the tank. I have raised the lighs higher off the water line, and shorten the time they are on for. I am STILL having brown in my sand. It HAS to be something with these lights. My water is perfect. I do water changes all the time. I just suck the brown out of the top layer of the sand. It takes about less then a day for the brown to show back up. Mean while the brown is ONLY in my sand. I do have some on my glass but I have wipe that right off. But the sand has a golden brown. I included a picture. This is after just a day or two after a water change. What else can I do guys? I cant stand to walk by this tank and see brown!

 

[heathlindner25]

Can you get a close up picture of the sand , and algae?

 

[JMcGarva]

Here is a picture of the sand. My clown photo bombed me...

 

[Capt.Nemo]

Lessen your food amount too. Too much food and maybe your flow should aim down a smidge. It'll go away

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[mcgyvr]

Just turn the lights off for a few days (3 min) and then go back to your normal schedule and see how it does..

Do you even have corals? if not then you don't need light at all in the tank other than for YOU to see whats in it.. But go dark for a few days..

Not really sure how long your tank has been setup yet but seems just like a normal newish tank..