LEDs Causing Algae on Sandbed

[Madreefer]

Here's my story. I was running two 250W MHs with 4 54W T5s with no problems. I switched over to 4 of the Sol Super Blues. I started out at lower powers and coral looks good. The highest settings I'm run at during the peak of the day is 46-w 75-b 85-ry. I've been getting a copperish color algae on the top of my sandbed. Why and how do I stop it from happening? Too much light? Not enough white? Before all the comments on overfeeding and bad water parameters start. All water parameters are good, using RO water, I have a good skimmer and running phosphate and carbon reactors. I know this is strictly a lighting problem. Just not sure which way I should go with the lighting intensity or time. Dont want to bleach or burn corals.

[RedCoralEdmonton]

I have the Sol blues on my 230 and I run at about the same intensity, but the lights are 12 inches off the water and its another 30 inches to the sand, but I havent noticed anything yet..... although its only been a couple weeks.... corals love the light, and no bad reactions yet.... ill let you know if anything changes

Steve

[Coralgurl]

I have the same looking algae on my sand as well. I have 2 54w T5's and Vertex Illuminex LED's running. I've been moving my lights different heights off the tank, right now they are lower, but generally sit 6" from top of tank. My tank had been fallow for just over a month, fish added back in last week and over the weekend. I was ghost feeding tank for the shrimp/corals, every few days. I'm just going to tag along on this thread for others input.

[Madreefer]

Thanks Steve. Mine are 10" off of the top of the water and a total of 35" to the sandbed. I was running the blues at 75% and the royal blues at 85% until yesterday. I've had the lights since Sept 17.

[Madreefer]

So Coralgurl do you think it's a lighting issue in your situation as well?

[Coralgurl]

I'm not sure. I picked up a new T5 light last week (white 10k) as mine are now 8 months old, read that as lights age, spectrum changes and this may cause algae issues. I have not changed out the light yet however. The LED's were added in August once I started corals. I set up a HOB fuge, its been running for a week with chaeto. The algae did really get going once the tank was fallow, was fairly clean with fish. I also had issues with my canister filter (well not the filter, improper maintenance), so I have a lot of stuff going on at the moment that I am keeping an eye on and trying to correct.

The copper algae almost looks like cyano, but does not have the bubbles. I just wanted to tag along with this thread to see how lighting may be affecting yours and if I can see any similarities with what I see in my tank.

[Cal_stir]

i have some too, it's really sticky and doesn't vac up good, i have been running led for a year now but the algae started a few months ago after i switched to H2Ocean salt, my salt mix pail has the same colour residue in it

[Madreefer]

Nobody with LEDs having this issue or have any suggestions?

[wingedfish]

The fact that you are sure your problem is only do to lighting is probably keeping most from replying. Lighting plays a part, but only a part. You need to identify the problem. Pictures would help. Are there bubbles in it? Does it go away every night and build during the day? Copper in color sounds like dinoflagellates or cyano. Either way, manual removal and reduced nutrients is the proven method for either.

[Blom]

I found the same thing with my super blue... but that was when I was running power up to about 80%. I now peak at 70% with out any ill effects on coral, I may even try bringing it back to 65%. Algae growth has calmed right down.

[Gripenfelter]

Get a Sand Sifting goby to turn the sand for you.

[lastlight]

Get a Sand Sifting goby to turn the sand for you.

amen to that. changed everything for me.

[Madreefer]

[QUOTE=Blom;648607]I found the same thing with my super blue... but that was when I was running power up to about 80%. I now peak at 70% with out any ill effects on coral, I may even try bringing it back to 65%. Algae growth has calmed right down.[/QUOTE
It's calmed down a bit since I backed the lights down. There's no bubbles at all in the algae and it forms during the day when the lights are on. I thought for sure it was due to not enough white light. Just didn't want to crank up the white and fry my corals. As for pics I did try to take some but they turned out cartoonish looking. I'll pass on the sandsifter. They always seem to bury peoples favorite corals. What are others with these lights have your settings at?

[Bblinks]

I got a question for all you guys running the ai units. I have seem how nice the ai sol units look and now I am contemplating on switching over to 6 units for my 300dd marine land tank. I will be going mostly sps, small amunt of lps and some clams, so my question is about the coverage of these units. Would 6 units be enough to cover that deep demension tank or do I need to go with 9 units? I have followed some ai users on rc and it seems that most of them if running a sps tank, they are using 9 to even 12 units for a sizable tank like mine. If this is the case then it might not be worth it for me even at 399 plus tax a unit.

sorry for derailing the thread.

[Blom]

I got a question for all you guys running the ai units. I have seem how nice the ai sol units look and now I am contemplating on switching over to 6 units for my 300dd marine land tank. I will be going mostly sps, small amunt of lps and some clams, so my question is about the coverage of these units. Would 6 units be enough to cover that deep demension tank or do I need to go with 9 units? I have followed some ai users on rc and it seems that most of them if running a sps tank, they are using 9 to even 12 units for a sizable tank like mine. If this is the case then it might not be worth it for me even at 399 plus tax a unit.

sorry for derailing the thread.

Im not to sure, but I know you can change out the optics. Standard is 4 outside pods with 70 degree optics and the 4 inner pods are 40 degree optics. I know from my single ai sol unit that there is a lot more light directly under it which I could see leading to a "spotlight" effect if multiple units were used. When you order you can specify that you would like 70 degree optics all around and no additional cost. (pretty sure its no additional cost)

[Bblinks]

Im not to sure, but I know you can change out the optics. Standard is 4 outside pods with 70 degree optics and the 4 inner pods are 40 degree optics. I know from my single ai sol unit that there is a lot more light directly under it which I could see leading to a "spotlight" effect if multiple units were used. When you order you can specify that you would like 70 degree optics all around and no additional cost. (pretty sure its no additional cost)

Thanks for the reply Blom. I might just use my 3x250 halide inconjunction with 3 ai sol units and see how that goes first.

[Madreefer]

You should be good with 6. My tanks 57" long, rounds out at the front 29" and is 25" deep. There's SPS, LPS, zoas, a clam anemone and all doing great. You'd be better off supplementing with purple or pink T5s to bring out your reds. I like mine but this algae thing is my only complaint and i'm positive it's due to a setting that I have yet to figure out.

[RedCoralEdmonton]

my 230 has them mounted 12 inches off the water, and is an additional 30 inches to the bottom, with 24 inches wide.... I have 5 units with a fully stocked SPS tank, and no spot light effect at all....

Steve

[Bblinks]

Thanks guys for your reply.