Does older LED reef lights cause algae or degrade

[gimphadn]

I have a Gen 2 XR30W light in a mixed tank. The light has a born on date of 2013. 10 years old now.. The soft Corrals are doing good and always have. I get a brown algae on the sand bed that comes back within a few days after sucking it up during the water changes. I have a refugium, HOB filter to grab extra food and particles floating around, protein skimmer , UV light, plenty of water movement. This has been going on for over a year and ive just dealt with it. I was wondering if this 10 year old light could be contributing to the algae growth?
Main question is, are there a shelf life on LED bulbs like T5 and MHs? I remember i would get algae growth when my old T5 bulbs would get old. Thoughts?

 

[Saltyreef]

Likely not your lights though LEDs do degrade in a non linear fashion (not like t5's, incandecent or halide)

my guess is too much silicon in your top off water or a build up of nutrients in your sand that diatoms are feeding off of.

Might be time to remove the rock and siphon the sandbed or pull it out and rinse it (usually my preference)

 

[FUNGI]

^...
and to answer the question, LED should last anywhere from 50K to 100K hours, HOWEVER, the driver will fail first, usually 20K hours

 

[Suohhen]

Agreed as long as the led is in overall good condition which can be verified by looking to see that most diodes are still working. Battling algae in sand is not uncommon. Diatoms are very typical in sand or cyano. If it is cyano the problem is often associated with over filtering/underfeeding.

 

[jda]

Even old mercury lights were never a problem with growing algae. If algae can grow, it will grow under almost any light at all.

More common with LED is that they get weaker over time. Little problem since most don't run them at 100% and can just turn them up a bit.