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Lights causing algae growth?

888 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  rich815 
#1 ·
Hello TPT,
I just added another new compact florescent light to my tank. I have been noticing this dark algae growing on the leaves. Can the light be causing this?
The light I was currently using is 4x 65w 6700k. I added 2x 65w 6700k/10000k. Would the 6700k/10000k promote this type of algae growth? At first I had the lights on for 10hrs. That’s when I started to notice the algae growth. So then I staggered the lights. The 4x 65 on for 10hrs and the 2x 65 on for 9 hrs. But did not see a significant change.

120g, co2 injection, Kh 4, Ph 6.4. Temp 81. Planted tabs and dose pmdd everyday and potassium and iron every other day.

2 discus, 5 angles, school of cardinals, 3 pairs of rams, bristle nose, sea, 4 algae eating shrimp and 4 otos.

amazon swords, crypts, anubius, and other plants I can not name.

Thanks Ghost
 

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#3 ·
Try all lights 4 hrs on 2 hrs off 4 hrs on. The 2 hour nap helped me.
Strange. Mid-day "nap-time" had opposite affect for me. More algae.

The way I see it my CO2 goes on 1 hour before my lights go on. About 4-5 hours into the light period is when I see the pearling on my plants really begin in earnest, with the final couple hours being the most intense. If I'm turning the lights off at 4 hours and limiting my period to that amount max then I'm seemingly missing the best growth period of my plants. And key to defeating algae is the main plants doing better and using the nutrients more leaving less for the algae.

To the original poster: I think you have too much light and for too long. I had 4x54W T5HO over my 72 gal for 10 hours and I was getting serious algae, particularly GSA. I cut the lights to 3x54W and the light period to 7 hours and my plants grow very well still (and I do not need to prune 2x a week!) and the algae went WAY down.
 
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