Biocube bulbs

[rncarter]

I have a 29g Biocube with the same bulbs for the past 14 months... I am having algae over growth. Is there any truth that the bulbs need to be replace to help reduce algae issue. These lights are only on 5-10pm daily and my water parms are normal.


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[Sniperhank]

It can help, but algae feeds off of excess nutrients in the water column as well as the light. I would want to address the nitrates and phosphates in the tank, even though they read 'normal', the algae is consuming something...making it read 'normal'.

[jeffaquarius]

Yes the frequency band of the florescent bulbs will shift as they are used up. The algae will flourish due to this and that's the reason why they must be replaced within a year. If you have a dual bulb try using just the actinic and see if it will help. The daylight is where the frequency band where the algae will usually bloom.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by jeffaquarius

Yes the frequency band of the florescent bulbs will shift as they are used up. The algae will flourish due to this and that's the reason why they must be replaced within a year. If you have a dual bulb try using just the actinic and see if it will help. The daylight is where the frequency band where the algae will usually bloom.

This is a fun statement that I hear a lot but don't really believe.

The main reason for this is that the tao fixtures most people on the forums here use have 6500k white bulbs. If the daylight spectrum of the lights really caused algae growth we would all be overrun.

Personally, I would look to other factors. How long do you run your lights daily? How often and how much do you feed? What exactly do you define as "normal" parameters? (This is very vague and a lot of people have different views on normal)

[jeffaquarius]

You have to understand that the human eye is less sensitive to blue, and more sensitive to green, yellow and red which is at the full spectrum band. You may see white light in your tank but the truth is your eyes is deceiving your mind. Try turning on your white LED to full and turn off your blue and find out yourself what will happen. I guarantee that your algae will start to grow more. If you look at the blue fluorescent bulb spetrugraph you will see that the blue frequency is way up and about 10x more than the intensity of lower light frequency such as green, red and yellow but you still seem to see more white in your tank.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by jeffaquarius

You have to understand that the human eye is less sensitive to blue and more sensitive to yellow and red which is at the full spectrum band. You may see white light in your tank but the truth is your eyes is deceiving your mind. Try turning on your white LED to full and turn off your blue and find out yourself what will happen. I guarantee that your algae will start to grow more. If you look at the blue fluorescent bulb spetrugraph you will see that the blue frequency is way up and about 10x more than the intensity of lower light frequency such as green, red and yellow but you still seem to see more white in your tank.

Yes, but it's all about the frequency of light delivered. You could have 1 6500k bulb and 10 actinic bulbs over your tank. That doesn't change the fact that you are still putting out light that is in the 6500k spectrum. It doesn't matter what we see with the human eye. Algae doesn't care what we see, just the light that's delivered to it.

[jeffaquarius]

That's the reason why I suggest to reduce the white and turn up the blue. The algae does care about the frequency or color of light. Can you explain your own reason why the flourescent bulbs need to be replaced after several months of use?

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by jeffaquarius

That's the reason why I suggest to reduce the white and turn up the blue. The algae does care about the frequency or color of light. Can you explain your own reason why the flourescent bulbs need to be replaced after several months of use?

I don't think they need to be replaced after several months of use. If anything I replace my fluorescent fixtures yearly because they get dimmer and I want to keep the high light output.

I don't think you understand what I'm getting at... Roughly half the ebay 120w LEDs are at around 6500k. Why then do we not see large algae blooms on the tanks of people using these fixtures?

[jeffaquarius]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

I don't think you understand what I'm getting at... Roughly half the ebay 120w LEDs are at around 6500k. Why then do we not see large algae blooms on the tanks of people using these fixtures?

The temperature rating does not apply to LED fixture. LED light has individual color or frequency. You set your own mixture of white and blue or other colors such as red, green and yellow. I do have the 120W LED and I notice my algae slows down if I use more blue and cut down on white.

[Mebbid]

Temperature rating absolutely applys to leds. The blues and whites are on separately dimmable channels allowing you to shoot for the color mix you want, however that mix still boils down to its base components of 6500k and actinic blue. Thats something you cant change. It would be like getting a mixed basket of apples and oranges. No matter how you mix them, they are still apples and oranges.

Turning up the blue light doesnt negate the yellow light you're pumping into the tank, no matter what your eyes are telling you.

[jeffaquarius]

The temperature is the color. That means the temperature varies and depends to your mixture.

[jeffaquarius]

Are you saying that regardless of the color intensity (PAR) the algae doesn't care? And do you really believe algae is not sensitive to specific frequency?

[Mebbid]

I am specifically saying that if you mix this




with this




You are getting a hearty mixture of yellows, greens, blues, purples, and reds. This is what is happening with the Taotronic LED panels that many many people use. Regardless of how much you crank up the actinic lights, you are still getting that mixture of colors.

I will accept that the spectrum will change over time for fluorescent bulbs, but I do not accept that those mixtures of yellows, reds, and greens cause algae blooms. There are other more important factors at play in algae blooms than light temperature.

On a funny note, the fresh water crowd says that color temperatures above 10000k cause algae growth. The salt water crowd says the opposite. Kind of a strange thing don't you think?

[jeffaquarius]

Each variety of algae may flourish on a different frequency band. That is why you see different colors of algae. Dark colored absorbs the white and reflecting the color you see.

[jeffaquarius]

The ratio of colors in a flourescent lamp change as it gets older and the frequency band may shift as gas changes composition.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by jeffaquarius

Each variety of algae may flourish on a different frequency band. That is why you see different colors of algae. Dark colored absorbs the white and reflecting the color you see.

Yet the same algae plagues both fresh and salt water. Namely: green spot, hair, and diatoms

Originally Posted by jeffaquarius

The ratio of colors in a flourescent lamp change as it gets older and the frequency band may shift as gas changes composition.

[jeffaquarius]

All I am saying is that algae prefers the white light than blue. It's not the only cause of algae bloom but it accelerates it. It's not just the color either but the intensity of the color or the PAR. Now if you have both white and blue fluorescent lamp, overtime the frequency band of the blue may shift towards the white (red, green and yellow) so now what you get is more intensity of the white than blue which favors your algae. If you are using 5600k in your sump for your macro algae doesn't that answer the question why white is more efficient than blue for your algae?