I have a nova extreme 4x 39 watts. I was thinking of changing out one of the 10000K with a 18000K to help get a whiter light and maybe cut down on some of my algae farm I have going. Will this help or is the 18000 getting more to the blue side that white?
18000k T5
- Thread starter ckwatson
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10k is white, 18k is going to be about 90%blue
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I would first look into something besides lighting if you're having algae issues, barring old bulbs. Check your phosphates and nitrates.
I am starting to doubt my T5 lights. Does any one have a 36" MH/T5 fixture I could borrow to see if it will help with some of my problems. Most of what I am having going wrong is algae. Would changing lights even help. my test are coming out fine so I dont know what the problem is. I would just like to see if it helps at all and if I can run MH with out a chiller
the fixture was new at thanksgiving and every thing looks good on test. I have done water changes backed my light cycle down and it helped a little but if I back it down much more I dont think my coral will make it. I have been fighting this stuff for a while now.
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Lights really will not help with this unless your bulbs are old and there has been a spectrum shift to something more in the red/yellow light range. The reason your tests are testing out fine is because the algae is taking the stuff you are testing for out of the water. So you have PO4 and Nitrate in the water feeding the algae, but the algae is eating it. Make sense... You need to get to the source of your excess nutrients to be able to solve the problem.
That is what i keep being told but but I dont know where any thing could be coming from I have not feed the fish that are in there in over 2 months I have done water changes I put in power heads that up my flow for around 500 GPH to just over 1200 GPH (this is in a 55-60 gallon system) I got a sand sifting goby more crabs . I just dont know what else to do the other day I found some stuff that looks like bubble algae. I even did a 48 dark cycle, cut all the lights and wrapped the tank with a blanket. It help for about 2 days then every thing was back.
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i had the 18k daylight on my tank... and i loved the color.. it wasnt blue at all
Like Jorge said, make sure you're using 0 TDS RO/DI water. Also, does your tank have:
-old bulbs?
-direct sunlight from a window?
-an adequate skimmer?
If everything's good, you might want to consider adding a refugium. What kind of algae is growing? I still get bubble algae, despite everything.
-old bulbs?
-direct sunlight from a window?
-an adequate skimmer?
If everything's good, you might want to consider adding a refugium. What kind of algae is growing? I still get bubble algae, despite everything.
I was just about to ask the sunlight question as well...
The tanked being wrapped and the algae subsiding then no more cover and it coming back...
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I am going to combine the two threads from CKwatson that are on the same overall subject (and advice being given) into one.
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Certain types of algae can actually store more phosphate and nitrate than they'll ever need. If it's a form of hair algae, I'm starting to swear by Astrea undoza snails. I've got one more type of algae to try them on before I do.
Brandon thank you for linking the 2
now lets see If I can answer all the question,
I buy my Ro water and dont have a way to check the TDS. If some one wants to some thing to test it with to the next meeting I can bring in some water.
The tank is in the middle of the room maybe 10 from a window on one side and 20 on the other. I dont know if this would have any effect on it but there is a lamp that sits right next to the tank with a very yellow bulb in it.
The algae that is in the tank: almost have the cyano beat, hair algae I think bubble, and some kind that grows on the glass and with in 2 days is long enough to be "flowing" with the water movement.
I have a fudge with some Live rock and a ball of cheato (that had started to get soft and fall apart on me so I have about half of what i did 2 days a go) A super skimmer 65 that pulls out water that looks like coffee.
clean up crew 30-40 blue legs, 15 nassius snails and 10 astrea snails 1 sand sifting goby, sand sifting star.
One true perc clown, one blue cromis
now lets see If I can answer all the question,
I buy my Ro water and dont have a way to check the TDS. If some one wants to some thing to test it with to the next meeting I can bring in some water.
The tank is in the middle of the room maybe 10 from a window on one side and 20 on the other. I dont know if this would have any effect on it but there is a lamp that sits right next to the tank with a very yellow bulb in it.
The algae that is in the tank: almost have the cyano beat, hair algae I think bubble, and some kind that grows on the glass and with in 2 days is long enough to be "flowing" with the water movement.
I have a fudge with some Live rock and a ball of cheato (that had started to get soft and fall apart on me so I have about half of what i did 2 days a go) A super skimmer 65 that pulls out water that looks like coffee.
clean up crew 30-40 blue legs, 15 nassius snails and 10 astrea snails 1 sand sifting goby, sand sifting star.
One true perc clown, one blue cromis
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I had a similar issue a few months ago. I had to be out of town for about a month and the tank was left to the wife to care for. I don't believe that she ever did a water change nor any testing because when I got back I had an algae problem and low Ca/ Alk. I started doing 1/3 tank water changes a week for a month and it was no help on the algae. Finally I sought some advice on using the Prodibio products. I purchased a couple of the nano kits and by the time I had gone through them (2 months) my tank look great again. That is also with doing regular water changes and changing out Rowa Phos and carbon weekly, etc.
It did help me, some say and I agree, that it is not a miracle cure. But if you are working on the problem it will assist. It will help bring down the nutrients in the tank so that algae has a hard time feeding. My $0.02 on it, hope it helps.
It did help me, some say and I agree, that it is not a miracle cure. But if you are working on the problem it will assist. It will help bring down the nutrients in the tank so that algae has a hard time feeding. My $0.02 on it, hope it helps.
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How big is the tank (maybe I missed the answer somewhere)? How much sand is the goby moving? I have a theory about a goby stirring up too much sand and throwing the tank out of ballance add a sand sifting star to that mix and my theory gets stronger. You had a light over your chaeto right? Maybe someone can bring a TDS pen to the next meeting ( I wish I had one) and we can test your RO water. Where are you buying it from? My major advice is to add a Sally light footed crab to your clean up crew. They do an awesome job banging out algae and are much more "reef safe" in the end the emerald crabs.
the tank is a 45 DT and a 20 gallon sump maybe half full. there is a light over my fuge it stays on about 10 hr a day. I did not add the goby till about 1 month into the algae problem and it seems to be keeping the sand clean it even mixed in some of the cyano and helped get rid of most of that. With the problem being around be for the goby I dont think that is it. I may try and pick up a sally light foot
