Percentage of blue led

[Rodolfo Garcia]

How's it going guys? I was wondering at what percentage do you run your blue and white led lights at. Currently since i got my tank i have done my blues at 30% and whites at 0%. Yes i only have been using my blue lights and at 30%, my corals are growing just fine. My tank is only 20 gallons and i have a Galaxy Hydro led light rated at 55x3 watts, blue leds at 460 nm and purple at 410 nm. My issue is everytime my lights turn on my sand goes from crispy clean to covered in a brown like mess and i also have hair algae growing on my live rock. Is this an effect of only having my blue leds on?

 

[THolden]

I run my blues at 100% and whites at 50%. 75 gallon with SPS

 

[THolden]

and LPS.

 

[tdileo]

How's it going guys? I was wondering at what percentage do you run your blue and white led lights at. Currently since i got my tank i have done my blues at 30% and whites at 0%. Yes i only have been using my blue lights and at 30%, my corals are growing just fine. My tank is only 20 gallons and i have a Galaxy Hydro led light rated at 55x3 watts, blue leds at 460 nm and purple at 410 nm. My issue is everytime my lights turn on my sand goes from crispy clean to covered in a brown like mess and i also have hair algae growing on my live rock. Is this an effect of only having my blue leds on?

The hair algae is an effect of excess nitrates and phosphates, have you made any changes recently? Using new food? Added more fish? And RODI water is pretty important for beating that.
Same goes for the brown. Could be diatoms or dino, but I really hope it's just diatoms. Usually happens with new tanks, and will go away from siphoning it, having sand stirrers like nassarius snails, and of course proper water parameters.
I have the same lights, use mine at 10-15% white and 55% blue. They've only been up for like 2 days so I won't comment on growth but I like the look of it and my corals seem to have some much better colors

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

The hair algae is an effect of excess nitrates and phosphates, have you made any changes recently? Using new food? Added more fish? And RODI water is pretty important for beating that.
Same goes for the brown. Could be diatoms or dino, but I really hope it's just diatoms. Usually happens with new tanks, and will go away from siphoning it, having sand stirrers like nassarius snails, and of course proper water parameters.
I have the same lights, use mine at 10-15% white and 55% blue. They've only been up for like 2 days so I won't comment on growth but I like the look of it and my corals seem to have some much better colors

I use distilled water , i dont have a RO/DI unit yet. I only have 2 clownfish since i started my tank. I never have tried siphoning it out but i will give it a try today. My tank is 3 months old. So is this common for a tank of this age?

 

[tdileo]

I use distilled water , i dont have a RO/DI unit yet. I only have 2 clownfish since i started my tank. I never have tried siphoning it out but i will give it a try today. My tank is 3 months old. So is this common for a tank of this age?

Oh yeah. My 46 is a bit older than that and still has some diatoms. Usually you stop having blooms after a few months. They grow from silicates which are often found in water, which is why lots of reefers use RODI. If you can, see if your LFS has RODI water for sale and see if the diatoms go down a bit after a water change.
It's just a coating, right? Not coming up like really short brown hair algae and producing lots of bubbles? If it has bubbles then it is usually dinoflagellates which is a lot harder to get rid of.

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Oh yeah. My 46 is a bit older than that and still has some diatoms. Usually you stop having blooms after a few months. They grow from silicates which are often found in water, which is why lots of reefers use RODI. If you can, see if your LFS has RODI water for sale and see if the diatoms go down a bit after a water change.
It's just a coating, right? Not coming up like really short brown hair algae and producing lots of bubbles? If it has bubbles then it is usually dinoflagellates which is a lot harder to get rid of.

That's a good idea, i'll go to get some RODI water from LFS and see if the algae dies down after a water change. And no , its just a coating here and there, no bunnle production or none of that.

 

[tdileo]

That's a good idea, i'll go to get some RODI water from LFS and see if the algae dies down after a water change. And no , its just a coating here and there, no bunnle production or none of that.

That's good then