Actinic Lighting and Hair Algae

[Jaws]

Can too much actinic lighting be attributed to hair algae growth. I'm concerned that my actinics, because I turn them on in the morning berfore I go to work at 9:00am and then don't turn them off sometimes until almost midnight, might be contributing to hair algae growth. I wouldn't think the intensity would be enough to do it though except I do have 4 96W actinics.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Why do you have them on while you are at work? Personally, I only have the actinics on when I'm actually there to enjoy the extra color enhancement that comes from using the actinics. If I'm not home, the actinics are off.

[Aquattro]

Jason, mine are on from 8am to 11:30pm. No algae whatsoever.

[GMGQ]

I think any light will promote algae growth over time if you have nitrate issues as well. Obviously MH more than Actinics. But if you have actinics on for almost 12hrs/day, I would definitely consider it a factor in HA.

You should get a timer and limit how long you have them on for. No worries.

[TheReefGeek]

Sure any light can grow algae, but you also need the nutrients in your system to feed that growth.

LOTS of setups run actinics 12 hours a day with no hair algae growth problems.

Heck im not running actinics and I have hair algae, and when I did run actinics I had zero hair algae, so what does that tell ya? That nutrients are the problem, not the actinics.

And the actinics don't contribute much light compred to main lights usually, so cutting back on main lighting from say 10 down to 8 hours would probably have a much bigger impact that limiting actinics.

Although actinics main function is usually visual appeal, they also greatly impact coralline algae growth IME, when running actinics my coralline was probably 5 times more prolific than it is now, so they do have use other than visual appeal.

I would put your actinics on a timer though, for ease of use.

[GMGQ]

That doesnt tell me actinics are not the problem. You're still running another source of light. The equation is:

Nutrients + Light = Algae

Whether it's actinics or another source, any light still plays a role in the growth of algae. Now if you had NO LIGHTS yet still had hair algae, then you can say 'lights' are not the problem. It's like when people cook their LR. No light = No algae.

With any source of algae, yes, you want to tackle the root source of the problem -- which are Nutrients.

But in the short term, if he cuts back on the lighting period, the hair algae should slow down as well.


Heck im not running actinics and I have hair algae, and when I did run actinics I had zero hair algae, so what does that tell ya? That nutrients are the problem, not the actinics.

[TheReefGeek]

I wouldn't want the hair algae to slow down because of a reduction in light, because then I wouldn't know if I am taking care of the nutrient problem or not.

In your above equation, you will always have light, so if you want no algae, you have to reduce nutrients.

[GMGQ]

His question was:
I'm concerned that my actinics ... might be contributing to hair algae growth.

Short answer: Yes.

In my example of cooking LR, there is no light therefore no algae. That's why HA infested LR turn bone white. Obviously you cant do that for your display tank. But theoretically you can have nutrients and no algae.

I wouldn't want the hair algae to slow down because of a reduction in light, because then I wouldn't know if I am taking care of the nutrient problem or not.

In your above equation, you will always have light, so if you want no algae, you have to reduce nutrients.

[TheReefGeek]

His question was actually:

Can too much actinic lighting be attributed to hair algae growth.
And my answer is no, not any more than lighting in general.
Nutrients are the problem, not the actinics. If you want to solve hair algae with lighting reduction, you will have to kill all your corals to do it.

[Samw]

Curious, does photosynthesis equate to growth in algae? If so, would you expect oxygen to be produced by algae when the lights are on? Because in my tank which contains all sorts of algaes, turning on only Actinics light in a dark unsaturated low oxygen tank produced 0% additional oxygen (when measured by my dissolved oxygen meter). To me, that means photosynthesis is not occuring anywhere in my tank when only the Actinics are on and thus the Actinics can't cause algae to grow significantly (at least not with 96W of it).

[GMGQ]

Well you're getting into semantics now. Obviously you dont want to reduce your lighting to say 1hr/day. But light does "attribute" to HA, in a system that has nutrients.

I stick by my equation of: Nutrients + Light = Algae.

Reduce either Nutrients or Light and the Algae will not grow as profusely.

But I totally agree that the ultimate goal is Nutrients = 0. No question. (BTW, feel free to include Phosphates as part of the problem as well).
------------

It just sounds like Jaws is a busy guy, sometimes leaving his actinics on from 9am-12am over his nutrient filled tank. In the short term, he definitely doesnt need to leave the actinics on for 15hrs/day. So by getting a timer to automate and reduce the lighting period, he should see some immediate results. The reduction of nitrates is usually a long term process.



His question was actually:

And my answer is no, not any more than lighting in general.
Nutrients are the problem, not the actinics. If you want to solve hair algae with lighting reduction, you will have to kill all your corals to do it.

[Jaws]

The problem is that I'm struggling to find the source of the hair algae growth. I feed twice a day but not very much. The MH's are on for about 10 hours and the actinics for about 14. I switched to RODI water about a month and a half ago but didn't notice a change. I know other people in my area that don't bother with RO water at all and they don't have algae problems to my extent. I use a Euroreef CS8-3+ that pulls a ton of thick black gunk out. I'm not sure how much it should be pulling out on a regular basis though since I have nothing to compare it to. I'm running a Phosban reactor with Rowaphos, a 200mg ozonizer and not to mention manually picking the algae off the rocks. I've even got cyano on top of the hair algae that doesn't help the situation either. I'm performing 20% (40G) water changes weekly too and still no end in sight. Not to mention my polyps have terrible extension unless the MH's have turned off. Even my millis barely have any polyp extension which is not a good sign. I'm not losing any corals yet and the colors still look great on all but a few. Temperature stays at 78 unless it's really hot out then it might jump to 80. I feel like I'm doing everything right. It's not a matter of neglect. I'm working on it for a half hour to an hour a night and then probably 2 to 3 hours each day on the weekend. It's just kind of frustrating is all. I'm not worried. I'm just waiting for the reef gods to say "Ok, I think he's had enough. Now let's show him what a real reef tank looks like".

[mr_alberta]

What are you using for substrate? How are you maintaining the substrate? How old is the substrate? I'm not saying that it IS the substrate, but it's most likely a factor. Also, how old are your bulbs? Could they have shifted to a more yellow spectrum now which is causing the algae growth?

[GMGQ]

How old is the tank?

[StirCrazy]

nothing to do with actinic, while they will cause growth in algae as SAM noted it is a very slow growth as a rapid growth will raise O2 levels. your MH would contribute more in 2 hours than actinic would in 14.

you have a good skimmer and it sounds like it is working so the only thing left is that big nutrient sink we call a sand bed, HA, then Cyno, ect.. sounds like the problems I had due to my sand bed, and a familiar story among people who have removed there bed because of algae issues.

my theory is that they trap nutrients, and the algae gains a foot hold by utilizing the nutrients in the sand bed, then as the algae spreads it itself traps junk and causes more available nutrients and so on and so on.

Steve

[Jaws]

The tank's not even a year old yet. The sandbed is about an inch to two inches deep of sugar sand and was half new sand and half established sand from the local fish store. The bulbs are all about three months old so almost brand new.

[Bartman]

How much flow have you got? I can't use sugar sand because it would blow around. You may have some dead spots where gunk accumulates. Consider siphoning out some of the sand and changing your flow patterns.

[WaterLogged]

I am fighting the same thing you are. My tank has only been up for 6 months though. Everything is brand new in mine. I contribute my problem to my crappy skimmer, but thats a whole diff. story. You might wanna try purchasing or even a DIY project and make a H.O.B fuge for your tank. Throw some mud, or sand, or whatever floats your boat in there along with your choice of macroalgae. Put a little light on top and watch the nutrient struggle begin. Although I have yet to do this I have done alot of research on it, and am getting a sump with fuge next month.

[WaterLogged]

Last night I also sucked the layer of cyano with a 1/2 plastic hose. The gravel cleaner thign that I had was to wide and wouldn't suck the cyano up only the finer sand. But the smaller dia. hose worked well. I figure if you keep sucking it out it may come back but will eventually use up all the nutrients in the tank, and slowly go away. Thats if your not putting excess nutrients in the tank ofcourse.

[Ruth]

Sometimes that stuff gets a foothold in your tank and it seems you battle it forever. A couple of things that I might try if you can is to turkey baste the bejeezus out of your rock - even every couple of days and see what your skimmer can pull out. I would also be tempted to do a 50% water change after basting. If you can pull out the rocks that are the worst and take a scrub brush to them in a bucket of change water. I would also cut back on lighting to say 5-6 hours/day on MH. I know I have cut mine back for the summer because of heat and also because of the amount of ambient light there is in the house. Also try cutting out one feeding a day if you can - not sure what critters you have so don't know if this is possible.