How much par for algae to grow

[bkwonnn]

I’m cycling my new tank and have been doing this with dry rock and live sand for 3 weeks with no lights, just ambient light form the room. Just received my ai blades and with just 1% white light they produce about 1 or 2 par just underneath the surface. So nearly nothing. Does nuisance algae just need super little light or is it safe to run the lights on 1 % for a little while before ramping up?

 

[Dan_P]

I’m cycling my new tank and have been doing this with dry rock and live sand for 3 weeks with no lights, just ambient light form the room. Just received my ai blades and with just 1% white light they produce about 1 or 2 par just underneath the surface. So nearly nothing. Does nuisance algae just need super little light or is it safe to run the lights on 1 % for a little while before ramping up?

You won’t grow much with 2 par but it won’t nothing. It will just grow very slowly.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Might as well ramp them up, you are just delaying the inevitable, unless you have been adding something to taper the growth like phyto or copepods

 

[bkwonnn]

At the moment it’s just fish and life rock. So the lights would be to see the fish.

 

[BristleWormHater]

At the moment it’s just fish and life rock. So the lights would be to see the fish.

I would go ahead and turn them on. Make a plan for cuc and slowly add them as the amount of algae ramps up. Don't start with some like a trochus or turbo snail, they get pushed as the "best" snails a lot, but they are voracious eaters and will starve without enough algae that's how I lost my first two trochus.