New light, new problem

[OlPainless]

I upgraded from the simple led tube light I had prior to a Fluval Marine LED 3.0 light. I have been dealing with higher nitrates so I have been doing more frequent water changes and I rehomed a damsel this week to my LFS. Since I put the new light on I have had a lot more GHA popping up on my rocks and just this week had some red cyano pop up in a few small spots on the rock and on the sand which I vacuumed out. I think I am dealing with 2 problems at once with the new light helping grow more GHA and possibly overfeeding promoting the red cyano. Question is on the lights, what settings should I have the light power at? I have lowered the light intensity a few time over the past couple weeks so I am just trying to find that sweet spot. I also added a frag of zoa's and an acan frag 2 weeks ago. Right now at mid day I have my blue lights set to 75% and my white at 20%, my red, light blue and purple are set to 30%.

 

[blaxsun]

I'd try dialing your reds back to zero for a while if you can.

 

[cocoReefer]

Id turn off the red completely, and get the nutrients in check.

 

[cocoReefer]

Also, i add more flow when i add more light. Increase in photosynthesis will increase the need for gas exchange. That may be driving the cyano....?

 

[OlPainless]

I'd try dialing your reds back to zero for a while if you can.

I'll give it a shot! So I am still learning about lighting and tanks. What do the different colors do for the tank? Apparently red is dealing with the algae growth?

 

[cocoReefer]

There have been studies that red light is damaging to most coral. Only really benefits algae in our tanks.
At the depth that most coral live, the red light is filtered out. From what i understand and have read

 

[cocoReefer]

There have been studies that red light is damaging to most coral. Only really benefits algae in our tanks.
At the depth that most coral live, the red light is filtered out. From what i understand and have read

And white led carry enough of the red spectrum already.

 

[blaxsun]

I'll give it a shot! So I am still learning about lighting and tanks. What do the different colors do for the tank? Apparently red is dealing with the algae growth?

Reds can potentially accelerate algae growth, which is why you'll see mostly red LEDs on refugium lights. I run a bit of red for fluorescence - but I also don't have any algae issues.

 

[dedragon]

I upgraded from the simple led tube light I had prior to a Fluval Marine LED 3.0 light. I have been dealing with higher nitrates so I have been doing more frequent water changes and I rehomed a damsel this week to my LFS. Since I put the new light on I have had a lot more GHA popping up on my rocks and just this week had some red cyano pop up in a few small spots on the rock and on the sand which I vacuumed out. I think I am dealing with 2 problems at once with the new light helping grow more GHA and possibly overfeeding promoting the red cyano. Question is on the lights, what settings should I have the light power at? I have lowered the light intensity a few time over the past couple weeks so I am just trying to find that sweet spot. I also added a frag of zoa's and an acan frag 2 weeks ago. Right now at mid day I have my blue lights set to 75% and my white at 20%, my red, light blue and purple are set to 30%.

what size tank and what do you mean by simple led tube? If it was a 2 or 3 t5 bulbs it probably puts out close to the same amount of par a fluval marine 3.0. In most cases I would say return the fluval 3.0 for an orphek or reefbrite strip with the t5. orphek should be the same price or cheaper and will put out a lot more light
If you have to stay with the fluval marine look on the forum for lighting schedules, but i do stress this light is for very shallow coral tanks or fowlr

 

[OlPainless]

what size tank and what do you mean by simple led tube? If it was a 2 or 3 t5 bulbs it probably puts out close to the same amount of par a fluval marine 3.0. In most cases I would say return the fluval 3.0 for an orphek or reefbrite strip with the t5. orphek should be the same price or cheaper and will put out a lot more light
If you have to stay with the fluval marine look on the forum for lighting schedules, but i do stress this light is for very shallow coral tanks or fowlr

The tube had about 14 white LED bulbs on it and about 8 blue blubs with a simple on/off night/day switch. Nothing fancy. I got the tank used and I think it was a kit for a freshwater tank. It didn't put out a ton of light which is why I upgraded and wanted to add some simple corals. Tank is a 36g bow front, about 30" wide and about 24" tall.

 

[OlPainless]

Reds can potentially accelerate algae growth, which is why you'll see mostly red LEDs on refugium lights. I run a bit of red for fluorescence - but I also don't have any algae issues.

that makes perfect sense

 

[OlPainless]

Also, i add more flow when i add more light. Increase in photosynthesis will increase the need for gas exchange. That may be driving the cyano....?

I did add a 2nd powerhead this week as well. I now have the flow going in a circular direction around the tank with the powerheads on opposite sides. Should I have the powerheads on the same side blowing the same direction or is the circular flow ok?

 

[dedragon]

I did add a 2nd powerhead this week as well. I now have the flow going in a circular direction around the tank with the powerheads on opposite sides. Should I have the powerheads on the same side blowing the same direction or is the circular flow ok?

you should usually have a current that pushes the water back and forth, usually with powerheads on opposite sides faced at eachother, on anti sync with eachother (one goes on one goes off). If not you can use linear flow like you are doing, just usually pushes detritus to one corner over time, works fine though

 

[Fishyj]

I had these lights on my Fluval flex. I would not run the reds at all. I also would suggest not going more than 15% for the whites. I ended up replacing mine after a while with 2 AI Primes.

 

[OlPainless]

I had these lights on my Fluval flex. I would not run the reds at all. I also would suggest not going more than 15% for the whites. I ended up replacing mine after a while with 2 AI Primes.

Got it, yeah I'm just not ready to drop $500 on lights.

 

[OlPainless]

Rest my lights to this, will see how that runs for awhile. Any suggested changes to this?

 

[cocoReefer]

I did add a 2nd powerhead this week as well. I now have the flow going in a circular direction around the tank with the powerheads on opposite sides. Should I have the powerheads on the same side blowing the same direction or is the circular flow ok?

If they arent wave maker type pumps, id move them to differ flow every week or so, just to change things up

 

[blaxsun]

Rest my lights to this, will see how that runs for awhile. Any suggested changes to this?

It looks good. Try it for a few weeks and see if things change in the direction you want.