Did I buy the right lights? Hair Algae problem

[jpucci1]

Hi all,
I have just recently purchased some new lights for my FOWLR tank.
I bought Hagen's life glo and marine glo
Life- Glo:

40watt
465LUX
620 Candles
6700 Kelvin
Marine- Glo

40watt
95 Lux
My problem is i have terrible hair algae growth. Covering almost all my LR and back glass. I do about 10 hours a day of lighting.
Levels:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
Temp: 80-81
I have 'cleaned'(taken out and cleaned off in saltwater)my lr and t looked great. but one week later i am back with algae everywhere. i have emeralds, shirmp, hermits, snails but they either dont like it or cant keep up.
I have morning sun hitting the back of the tank but i put a towel over it in the am to stop some of it.
Any help? are my lights right? what about the algae?
edit:
I have cut feeding my fish to every other day for about a month so far. Is that ok for my clowns? they sure love to eat and my chromis goes nuts when i feed her/him.

 

[sebae0]

how long has the tank been running? do you use ro/di water?
hair algae is usaully a result of phospahate in the water and a young tank. the morning sun if on the tank for to long could be contributing to this problem also. get a phosphate test kit and lets find out what the root problem is, i don't beleive its your lights. i have had fowlr wit hno bulbs with no hair algae problems b4.

 

[jpucci1]

i have run a phosphate sponge. didnt help any. tank is about 6 months old.

 

[armageddon]

I had the same problem. I had phosphate sponges running and the hair algae still kept coming back. I resorted to cutting down the light cycle substantially and doing frequent water changes. The algae has started grow back slightly, but it is not respawing like it used to. All i can suggest is altering your light, and lots of water changes.

 

[jpucci1]

i am using RO water, i dont see how doing a lot of water changes is going to do anything but get my carpet wet.
I have a DSB and am hoping my nitrates will be at zero soon and that will starve them some what too right?

 

[armageddon]

Yes nitrates are a food source for hair algae. The food sources needs to be identified and eliminated. Mine was phosphates so i used water changes and a phosphate sponge to get rid of them. Seems to be working. Good luck.

 

[dreeves]

Hair Algea thrives on a variety of things...phosphates and nitrates are up there on the list as well as silicates, and lighting...
You should consider completely eliminating any sunlight on the tank...regardless of amounts it will always contribute to an algea problem...
Lighting for the hobby is manufactured in a manner which virtually eliminates the yellows up in the ole rainbow of things...these hues contribute to algea growth.
Use RO/DI water...snails...water changes with the RO/DI water to eliminate the prime food source and the snails will devour what is living, thus preventing it from dying and becoming a food source.

 

[fshhub]

test the water, as reccomended
cut back on lighting, esp sunlight
and was it LR or rock which you are making live? if not lr, that could also be a major contributor.
last, if it is lr, then what is our calcium and alk?making sure these are right, will help with macro algae and calupera growth which, over time will start to starve out nuance algaes.

 

[jagermeister]

I had a huge hair algae problem. In your case you might try beefing up your cleanup crew. That's what I did and I haven't had a problem since. Also check for sources of phosphates. Adding a refugium would help also.

 

[jpucci1]

bought a phosphate tester
Phostphate: 0.25
Lowest detectable amount on my tester.
I have a pretty good clean up crew for the little i have in my tank(fish wise). I do need more snails though.

 

[buzz]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but if I'm not mistaken (and I might be), I believe Lifeglo bulbs are designed for plant growth. Marineglo are basically actinic, but the Lifeglo are used for planted tanks, or even Terrarium's.
IMO, get rid of the Lifeglo bulb. I would bet that was the cause of your algae explosions.

 

[jpucci1]

my algae was there before the life glo as well. if i replace what do you recommend to go with my marine glo? 40 watts?

 

[buzz]

It isn't so much the wattage, but the intensity. Personally, I would go with some 10,000 K or 20,000 K bulbs. I use Coralife bulbs.

 

[jpucci1]

what kind of corallife?

 

[buzz]

Coralife is just a brand that I like to use. Their bulb is listed as a 10,000 K or 20,000 K bulb. Ultra or Super Daylight or something like that...

 

[jpucci1]

ok so go with my marine glo and get a Coralife Marine Aquarium 20,000K Super Daylight Lamp.
or should i get two of these or one super daylight and actinic blub or no actinic. i am confused

 

[buzz]

The 20,000K is more of a deep water simulation bulb, and is more blue. If you don't want the blue, go with the 10,000K bulb.
I run one 6,500K standard flourescent, one 20,000K Coralife, one 50/50 Coralife, and one Actinic 03 Coralife.
Don't worry too much about it though. I would keep at least one Actinic (I believe the MarineGlo lights are actinic, aren't they? Not sure...)

 

[jpucci1]

ya the marine glo is,
I really appreciate your help!
I bought a 20K bulb and will keep my marine glo. hopefully that will blast the tar out of my hair algae.
thanks

 

[shels]

When I first got my tank, I has hair algae like you would'nt beleive. I did a number of things, replaced bulbs ( I bought my tank used, so I did not know how old they were), water changes, phisically removed the hair algae from the rocks, cut the time of the MH, cut the feeding and I purchased a UV sterlizer. The tank has not had any problem with algae since. It has been a year and half, the MH lights are back to the normal running time, and I feed twice aday. Hope this helps some.
Good luck,
Shel

 

[scotts]

J,
I believe that I got rid of my hair algae problem by cutting back on the feeding and getting a clean up crew of hermit crabs. Only feed them as much as they can eat quickly. You say that you have 20 hermit crabs. Do you know how many you have right now? I have noticed the tell tale claws of dead hermit crabs in my tank. I know that I have less than the amount that I bought from swf.com. I plan to buy some more in the near future.
Also removing any hair algae that you can is helpful. I scrubbed some of the rock and pulled out what I could. I scrubbed the rocks in the tank. I knew that this would not eleminate the problem, just slow it down.
Scott