Do you cover your Red LEDs?

[Velcro]

Then it should be ideal for algae growth

Dunno. There are lots of people with nutrients like this that don't have nuisance algae. I'm assuming my cleanup crew is just really good.

 

[sawdonkey]

its mostly a myth. Yes red spectrum might grow algae 5% faster than blue or white light but algae will grow extremely well under any spectrum from 420-700 if there is enough phosphate and nitrate in the water.

Not sure about the 5% (I understand you’re shooting off the hip here). In my system, I have next to zero algae in my DT (no algae eater until I recently bought a tang and a rabbit), but in my fuge where I use a red grow light, I grow a ton of bryopsis and hair algae along with dragons breath and chaeto. All conditions are the same except the light.

 

[Zeal]

I have my red at 10% on my XR15W Pro Gen 4. I read somewhere that red promotes algae growth

 

[Velcro]

Not sure about the 5% (I understand you’re shooting off the hip here). In my system, I have next to zero algae in my DT (no algae eater until I recently bought a tang and a rabbit), but in my fuge where I use a red grow light, I grow a ton of bryopsis and hair algae along with dragons breath and chaeto. All conditions are the same except the light.

What about cleanup crew and fish being in the display but not the refugium?

 

[Velcro]

I have my red at 10% on my XR15W Pro Gen 4. I read somewhere that red promotes algae growth

I read somewhere that vaccines cause autism ‍;Bookworm

 

[oreo54]

Not sure about the 5% (I understand you’re shooting off the hip here). In my system, I have next to zero algae in my DT (no algae eater until I recently bought a tang and a rabbit), but in my fuge where I use a red grow light, I grow a ton of bryopsis and hair algae along with dragons breath and chaeto. All conditions are the same except the light.

No. not the same..no competition except between algae types..

 

[ihavecrabs]

I removed my red and green diodes from my fixture. That spectrum is covered by the warm white diodes.

 

[sawdonkey]

No. not the same..no competition except between algae types..

Huh? Not sure I follow. The environments are the same except light spectrum. I didn’t put hair algae or bryopsis in my sump. It grew there because of the conditions are right. The only condition that’s different from the DT is the light. So that makes me conclude that the light is the one condition causing algae to grow in my sump and not my DT.

I could be wrong?

 

[oreo54]

Huh? Not sure I follow. The environments are the same except light spectrum. I didn’t put hair algae or bryopsis in my sump. It grew there because of the conditions are right. The only condition that’s different from the DT is the light. So that makes me conclude that the light is the one condition causing algae to grow in my sump and not my DT.

I could be wrong?

I'm assuming you have corals in the DT?

 

[sawdonkey]

I'm assuming you have corals in the DT?

Yes, but mostly just frags and there’s plenty of room for algae to grow....if the conditions were right....you know, more red light. I honestly don’t know what you’re getting at?

 

[oreo54]

It's not the light...esp not "that" red. Some wavelengths ie. 720-ish "may" favor algae..

Phytochromes from land plants, Lagarias said, respond to red light — plants absorb red and reflect green light, which is why they look green. Red light does not penetrate far into water, and some marine and shore-dwelling algae lack phytochrome genes. But others do not, so Lagarias and colleagues looked at the properties of phytochromes from a variety of algae. They found that phytochromes from algae, unlike those of land plants, are able to perceive light across the visible spectrum — blue, green, yellow, orange, red and far-red.


Cyanophora paradoxa, one of the algae with newly discovered phytochromes.

This broad spectral coverage likely helps algae make use of whatever light they can in the ocean, Lagarias said — whether adjusting their light-harvesting chemistry for changing conditions, or rising and sinking in the water column as light levels at the surface change. Because different colors of light penetrate to different depths in water, algae face challenges in light harvesting that land plants do not. This work from the Lagarias lab shows one way that algae can rise to the occasion.

http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2014/04/30/algae-see-a-wide-spectrum-of-light/

Red algae or blue green bacteria not included..

you might make a case that red light can hinder corals (at high red levels) to the advantage of algae.. but red light doesn't just encourage algae..

FW they think blue light encourages algae.. more bunk..
I do reserve the right to change this opinion based on real facts ..

ect..ect...ect..

Experiments conducted in the current research showed
that, the growth rate of
Chlorella vulgaris
increased by 5.31%,
3.72%, and 6.31% respectively in presence of LED’s (Red, Blue
and White). Also the study proved that the productivity of algae
increased especially in red, blue and white LED light when
compared with normal tube lights.

https://juniperpublishers.com/aibm/pdf/AIBM.MS.ID.555682.pdf

not sure about what I can say about this:
https://orphek.com/10-tips-stop-nuisance-algae-growth/

Lighting. The type of lighting you are using can greatly affect the growth of nuisance algae in a system. Lighting that has a high amount of green and yellow can increase nuisance algae growth. Orphek LED systems do not use LEDs that promote nuisance algae growth.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Yes, but mostly just frags and there’s plenty of room for algae to grow....if the conditions were right....you know, more red light. I honestly don’t know what you’re getting at?

Well, seeing your last tank (more than just frags) and the success you achieved through using the T247's without their red and green diodes was enough for me to sign up.

@FarmerTy is another good "case study" on the same before he moved back to T5s

I think the point is, we get enough of the green and red spectrum as part of the 5600-10k white diodes.. adding the additional diodes seems to be little more than marketing.

 

[sawdonkey]

not sure about what I can say about this:
https://orphek.com/10-tips-stop-nuisance-algae-growth/

It’s funny you quote this because I’m lighting my new build with the Orphek V4s (and loving them).

The V4s actually have quite a bit of red and green. In fact, there are two “white” channels, and on is really green looking and one is really red looking. It gets blended out when the blues are on.

In my previous build, I used Ocean Revives with the red/green removed, mostly because of spotlighting. I kept this system with super low nutrients and had no nuisance algae growth at all, sump or DT.

So I guess my point is that over two builds, the only place I’ve grown nuisance algae is under very red light. Now, one thing you said struck me. You mentioned that red doesn’t penetrate very deep. My sump is only about 12 inches of water while my DT is 30 inches deep.

 

[jda]

There are slightly differing measurements on this, but red from sunlight will penetrate 3-10 meters in the ocean, depending on the study/post. This is not far compared to blue, but still plenty deep for all of us with fake oceans in our homes.

 

[oreo54]

There are slightly differing measurements on this, but red from sunlight will penetrate 3-10 meters in the ocean, depending on the study/post. This is not far compared to blue, but still plenty deep for all of us with fake oceans in our homes.

Keep in mind you are working w/ percentages..
sunlight vs diode as to GROSS photons..

50% PAR loss of say 200PAR vs 20% PAR loss of say 20PAR.. is a big difference..


The thing to keep in mind that Red PAR in MOST Reef lights is sig. LOW to begin with..
any percent loss at any depth can be significant..
The below 18% loss at 12 " is mostly red...so you can go from say 31% to 16% red in 12"
Or 8.3"PAR" of red to 4.3"PAR"
(guesstimates)
Addendum: OLD(1950) paper but interesting:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2147193/