Question about t5 bulbs...

[AbsoluteFaye]

Been battling hair algae and cyano for a bit now. It seems to get slightly better for a day then get worse after. I have corals in my tank, so I was wondering if I could just keep the blue lights on only for a few days. I have an 8 bulb t5. Would keeping just the blues on damage the corals? Or does the same amount of "energy" needed to maintain corals come out of just the blues? Do you think this method would work on the hair algae? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

75 gal tank:
Black bar foxface, pj cardinal, 2 ocellaris clowns, scooter blenny, cleaner shrimp

Random snails and hermits, BTA, trumpet coral, wall hammer, 2 plate corals, Xenia, zoas, Duncan, and Kenya tree.

Params are normal, ammonia, trite, trate all zero, ph is always at 8-8.1 in my tank, temp 78. TIA!!!

 

[Convict2161]

I'm not sure if the just the blues would help. I've had blue t5's on a Cichlid tank and have seen it grown green algae.

It would be worth a shot. I don't think you'd damage corals in a day or two. Maybe shorten your light cycle? Phosphates are good? Not over feeding or anything?

Can you siphon some of the algae out or take some rocks out to clean them?

Sorry can't be more help... Just wanted to stop in so you know your not alone

Maybe a reactor? Or a nice clean up crew?

 

[MrVu]

How old are your bulbs? Have you tested for phosphates?

 

[AbsoluteFaye]

I have a phosphate reactor. Phosphates are good. Not over feeding. Cut back on lights.... Tried everything besides Turning all the lights off. 4 bulbs are brand new (2 white, 2 blue) the other 4 are maybe 7 months old. Ill try to shorten my lights again and do mostly just blues and see what happens. Just worried about the hammer coral because its new and its my first semi-difficult coral. Plus it was big and expensive! Lol. Thanks for the input guys!

 

[MrVu]

How long are your lights on and what is your water change cycle? I had to do more frequent water changes to handle my algae problem and the cyano had to be treated with chemiclean. None of the problems have come back for 3 months now.

 

[Nogauthi]

I'm not sure if the just the blues would help. I've had blue t5's on a Cichlid tank and have seen it grown green algae.

It would be worth a shot. I don't think you'd damage corals in a day or two. Maybe shorten your light cycle? Phosphates are good? Not over feeding or anything?

Can you siphon some of the algae out or take some rocks out to clean them?

Sorry can't be more help... Just wanted to stop in so you know your not alone

Maybe a reactor? Or a nice clean up crew?

Sorry to but in But what are you doing with green algae and chilids. I have the same problem

 

[AbsoluteFaye]

Lights are on for maybe 7 hours now total. Water changes.... I should probably do more. It's like every 2-3 weeks. :/ I know, I know. But if that honestly helps ill do it no problem.

 

[54seaweed]

you may try cutting back 1/2 your lights see if that might help

or you can do like me

2hrs blue
to
3hrs whites
to
1hr blue and whites
to
2hrs blue

for total of 8 hrs

coral seems to like it
and don't seem to get any big algae outbreaks

 

[MrVu]

Your light cycle is not the problem and corals need light to thrive. People have had good luck with changing out old bulbs or more frequent maintenance.

Something is feeding the algae. Water changes are usually a good start.

 

[jose7878]

I had a green hair algae issue as well. My problem was I had a high level of phosphate. I found this out once I purchased the PO4 Hanna checker. I started to run GFO and carbon and it all pretty much died off now.

 

[Schism]

Lights are on for maybe 7 hours now total. Water changes.... I should probably do more. It's like every 2-3 weeks. :/ I know, I know. But if that honestly helps ill do it no problem.

This is the issue. As with all algae problems its either an import or an export issue. In this case it seems its export. Dont let the nitrate and phosphate test fool you becuase you have nitrates and phosphates, its bound in the algae.

Once algae starts to grow it consumes any additional nitrates and phosphates as they become available.

Cutting back your photoperiod will not solve nutrient issues and really just stresses the tank out. Completely unneccesary.

You need to manually remove the algae and do a large water change. And the continue waterchanges weekly along with removing any algae.

Most problems in a fish tank can be solved with waterchanges. Your already a step ahead since you have a phosphate reactor however it would be a good idea to swap out your media and possibly up the amount you use.

 

[danbstrong]

This is the issue. As with all algae problems its either an import or an export issue. In this case it seems its export. Dont let the nitrate and phosphate test fool you becuase you have nitrates and phosphates, its bound in the algae.

Once algae starts to grow it consumes any additional nitrates and phosphates as they become available.

Cutting back your photoperiod will not solve nutrient issues and really just stresses the tank out. Completely unneccesary.

You need to manually remove the algae and do a large water change. And the continue waterchanges weekly along with removing any algae.

Most problems in a fish tank can be solved with waterchanges. Your already a step ahead since you have a phosphate reactor however it would be a good idea to swap out your media and possibly up the amount you use.

+1 on this i used this method few years back pulling it out by hand is removing nutrient from system along with waterchanges ,however i disagree on the cutting back of lights but this will only help if you have macro on 24/7 lighting ,cutting dt lights will allow macro more time to consume more nutrient and help outcompete the HA, the less photoperiod the HA has the less time it will have thru out the day to consume nutrient but this is only my theory this is how i did it

 

[AbsoluteFaye]

Thank you all for the replies! I'm going to pull it by hand and do more water changes.