Algae Creeping up on Me

[kube]

OK to the point tank is 6 months old have had no problems at all, tell now, there is 3 small damsels, and 2 clown fish in the tank and 20 hermit crabs and a blood shrimp. For water flow i have the HOB @400 g/h, skimmer @ 200 g/h, and two power heads on each end, each adding another 200 g/h each, 0 ammonia, 0 trites, 5 trates, 8.2 ph, and between 0 and .25 phosphates leaning towards the zero side. I have cheato growing in my HOB filter with a light running on it opposite of my day lighting, here is where my question comes in, 2 weeks ago i upgraded to a t5 fixture with 4 bulbs (4 x 54w=216w total indivdual reflectors)and moon lights, i run the 2 10k lights for 7 hours a day, and the 460 actinic for about 9 hours a day with the 10k lights coming on an hour after the Actinic go on and goes off an hour before they turn off. What i see in the tank is a light brown film on the glass and on the glass, with two dark green spots about the size of a dime.
Should I, since I have nothing that is light sensitive in the tank just turn the lights off till i kill off the algae? and then slowly start the lights again and start with an hour a day and work up slowly from there?
And should i add a phosphate lock in the tank since it also will take out silicates (i think that's what they are) since they also contribute to algae growth, correct me if i am wrong about any of that though?
Any other suggestions or input? and anything i missed?
Thanks for the help
Kube

 

[kellenr]

Sometimes algae blooms occur simply after upgrading your lighting, mine did. Are you sure those green dots aren't Coralline algae?
You could leave the lights off for a day or two or just cut them back to like 3-4hrs(actinic & 10k's) a day. Sounds like your 7-9hrs is pretty good though. It may just be from the upgrade, in which it will die back on its own. You could adjust the lighting schedule to speed it up though.
Silicates aren't what you're seeing, what you're thinking of are diatoms, they feed off of silicates in the water (and phosphates). You could drop a Phosphate remover into your filter if you'd like, it won't hurt.
Are you using RO water or tap water?

 

[ajroc31]

One thing that I could think of, is that perhaps with changes in seasons, you might be getting some direct sunlight. Nothing you said would sugges that you are doing something wrong, and I don't think that lights are a problem, unless your bulbs are old, and lost some of the spectrum, but thats probably not the case.

 

[metweezer]

RO/DI water?

 

[kube]

I knew i forgot something, all the water in the tank is RO/DI water, to fill the tank initially and for all water changes and top offs to the date
The green spots easily scrape off, is is almost neon green, so don't think its chloraline
Just frustrating its the same signs on the tank that i had before i had a complete crash during a move across the state, was doing so good and the darn stuff is back

 

[vinnyraptor]

i always base my solutions on nature rather than mechanical... changing light cycles, adding chems etc.. if it were me id add some turbo and cerith snails. an urchin or two, a lawnmower blenny and maybe a tang. a starfish couldnt hurt as well as shrimp. you want a reef? add creatures that help maintain it. clean, do a water change ( RO) and then add a cleaning crew. eliminate any outside light source then see were your algae is in a month or two.

 

[kube]

Natural Light - Hmmmm.... looking at the tank i can notice that the brownish spot in the center of the tank is where there is some light from a window that faces to the west so every night when the sun goes down i can see where it hits the tank. The brownish tint make a almost perfect square on the tank, to convient to be natural. But I never thought about it because the mini blind is always shut. Any one have any experience with a situation like this ?
I tin foiled all the windows that even have a chance of putting light on the tank. Any other thoughts?

 

[tdog7879]

samething happen to me when i upgraded my light... I think the neon green stuff you see is the good alage...i just remove it on all the viewing sides of the tank.

 

[kellenr]

Originally Posted by tdog7879
http:///forum/post/2687249
samething happen to me when i upgraded my light... I think the neon green stuff you see is the good alage...i just remove it on all the viewing sides of the tank.
+1 on that.
I'm telling you when you upgrade lighting all of a sudden algae has way more 'fuel' to grow, it takes a little bit of time for your tank to balance out again.
Green coralline starts out with a neon green color then darkens as it thickens and ages. If its on the front or sides you can clean it. Some people prefer it on the back panel, some even like it on the side panels too, of course you don't want it on the front though. You'll notice it growing in your sandbed too between the sand and the glass pane. This stuff is ok to have.
Clean up crews are overrated, stuffing your tank with tons of crabs & snails are just gonna knock stuff over. I don't like turbo snails, they're notorious for knocking over corals and rocks as they move. I prefer an astrea or the like. Of course you should have a few CUC but its not like they're gonna take all the work off your hands.
It's from your lighting upgrade. Cut them back a tad if you'd like and in about a week or two the algae will subside on its own anyway.