Old MH's causing green algae??
- Thread starter 9supratt4
- Start date
stanlalee
Active Member
all the shifting in the world is not going to cause algae problems without other contributing factors. wether its 6500k, 20k or shifts anywhere inbetween there's already plenty of light for excessive algae. that comes with reef lighting so the other limiting factors have to be kepted in check. I have yet to see changing to new bulbs help or improve an algae problem. if you switch from a 20k to a 10k lamp and notice a drastic increase in algae you dont blame the lamp, you blame contributing factors. same difference with an older bulb that has color shifted only much less drastic and without the additional intensity to worsen algae even more.
I would blame this more than anything else:
Originally Posted by 9supratt4
http:///forum/post/3165182
I got my 180 back up and running.
I would blame this more than anything else:
Originally Posted by 9supratt4
http:///forum/post/3165182
I got my 180 back up and running.
9supratt4
Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3165191
Bulbs do experience some spectrum shift over time. How old are the bulbs? And by old we mean how not just ditting in a box somewhere, actual running time.
About 1 year.
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/3165199
all the shifting in the world is not going to cause algae problems without other contributing factors. wether its 6500k, 20k or shifts anywhere inbetween there's already plenty of light for excessive algae. that comes with reef lighting so the other limiting factors have to be kepted in check. I have yet to see changing to new bulbs help or improve an algae problem. if you switch from a 20k to a 10k lamp and notice a drastic increase in algae you dont blame the lamp, you blame contributing factors. same difference with an older bulb that has color shifted only much less drastic and without the additional intensity to worsen algae even more.
I would blame this more than anything else:
What is this supposed to mean??
http:///forum/post/3165191
Bulbs do experience some spectrum shift over time. How old are the bulbs? And by old we mean how not just ditting in a box somewhere, actual running time.
About 1 year.
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/3165199
all the shifting in the world is not going to cause algae problems without other contributing factors. wether its 6500k, 20k or shifts anywhere inbetween there's already plenty of light for excessive algae. that comes with reef lighting so the other limiting factors have to be kepted in check. I have yet to see changing to new bulbs help or improve an algae problem. if you switch from a 20k to a 10k lamp and notice a drastic increase in algae you dont blame the lamp, you blame contributing factors. same difference with an older bulb that has color shifted only much less drastic and without the additional intensity to worsen algae even more.
I would blame this more than anything else:
What is this supposed to mean??
stanlalee
Active Member
Originally Posted by 9supratt4
http:///forum/post/3165210
What is this supposed to mean??
the part I quoted and put in bold was because you said "just back up and running" (which I was just contributing the algae production to not uncommon trials and tribulations of restarting. that usually works itself out all other things being sound). is it just up and running or about 1yr?
the other part simply means its either nitrates, phosphates or dissolved nutrients causing the problem not the lighting (regardless of test results). the lighting is a factor that cant be eliminated. the same light that grows the algae is the same light that allows the corals to thrive. there is no spectrum or intensity that corals will thrive in that algae wont.
http:///forum/post/3165210
What is this supposed to mean??
the part I quoted and put in bold was because you said "just back up and running" (which I was just contributing the algae production to not uncommon trials and tribulations of restarting. that usually works itself out all other things being sound). is it just up and running or about 1yr?
the other part simply means its either nitrates, phosphates or dissolved nutrients causing the problem not the lighting (regardless of test results). the lighting is a factor that cant be eliminated. the same light that grows the algae is the same light that allows the corals to thrive. there is no spectrum or intensity that corals will thrive in that algae wont.
9supratt4
Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/3165224
the part I quoted and put in bold was because you said "just back up and running" (which I was just contributing the algae production to not uncommon trials and tribulations of restarting. that usually works itself out all other things being sound). is it just up and running or about 1yr?
the other part simply means its either nitrates, phosphates or dissolved nutrients causing the problem not the lighting (regardless of test results). the lighting is a factor that cant be eliminated. the same light that grows the algae is the same light that allows the corals to thrive. there is no spectrum or intensity that corals will thrive in that algae wont.
The tank itself physically is brand new after my old tank having a broken trim. The rock is over ayear old and was kept alive. The sand is new.
http:///forum/post/3165224
the part I quoted and put in bold was because you said "just back up and running" (which I was just contributing the algae production to not uncommon trials and tribulations of restarting. that usually works itself out all other things being sound). is it just up and running or about 1yr?
the other part simply means its either nitrates, phosphates or dissolved nutrients causing the problem not the lighting (regardless of test results). the lighting is a factor that cant be eliminated. the same light that grows the algae is the same light that allows the corals to thrive. there is no spectrum or intensity that corals will thrive in that algae wont.
The tank itself physically is brand new after my old tank having a broken trim. The rock is over ayear old and was kept alive. The sand is new.
spanko
Active Member
Stanlalee, the spectrum shift as bubls age are more towards the reds I have read. And I believe that algae are shown to use this read spectrum for increased growth rates. However with coral growth I have read the following analysis;
"The idea that the wavelength (color) of the light under which a coral has grown can influence some characteristic of the coral is not new. Kinzie and later Schlacher both have probed specific hypotheses is this general area of coral research. Seminal studies by Kinzie assessed coral skeletal growth rates under the influence of blue, red, green, and white growth lights for both Montipora verrucosa and Pocillopora damicornis (Kinzie, 1984). They concluded that these corals grew fastest under blue light, followed closely by white light, then green light, and finally the slowest growth was observed under red light. They followed up this study by measuring photosynthesis rates of Montipora verrucosa under these same lighting conditions (Kinzie, 1987). Once again, the highest photosynthesis rates were achieved under blue light; slightly lower but similar rates were observed for corals grown under both white light and green light, followed distantly by photosynthesis rates under red light. More recently, Schlacher et al. examined growth rates of Acropora solitaryensis under 150W metal halide bulbs rated at 5.5K, 10K, 14K, and 20K color temperatures (Schlacher, 2007). After 3 months of grow-out, the overall growth rates under the different bulbs were quite distinct: 6.2 mg/day at 5.5K, 4.9 mg/day at 10K, 8.5 mg/day at 14K, and 10.9 mg/day at 20K. Thus, the bulbs delivering the highest proportion of blue light (20K and 14K) promoted the highest growth rates."
Is it a wrong conclusion that older bulbs that do in fact shift to more of the red specturm as they age would be more apt to encourage growth in algae?
Not saying here that the other factors including nitrates phosphate etc. are also needed for the growth but dosen't the red spectrum of older bulbs encourage algae growth more than the blues of a newer bulb?
"The idea that the wavelength (color) of the light under which a coral has grown can influence some characteristic of the coral is not new. Kinzie and later Schlacher both have probed specific hypotheses is this general area of coral research. Seminal studies by Kinzie assessed coral skeletal growth rates under the influence of blue, red, green, and white growth lights for both Montipora verrucosa and Pocillopora damicornis (Kinzie, 1984). They concluded that these corals grew fastest under blue light, followed closely by white light, then green light, and finally the slowest growth was observed under red light. They followed up this study by measuring photosynthesis rates of Montipora verrucosa under these same lighting conditions (Kinzie, 1987). Once again, the highest photosynthesis rates were achieved under blue light; slightly lower but similar rates were observed for corals grown under both white light and green light, followed distantly by photosynthesis rates under red light. More recently, Schlacher et al. examined growth rates of Acropora solitaryensis under 150W metal halide bulbs rated at 5.5K, 10K, 14K, and 20K color temperatures (Schlacher, 2007). After 3 months of grow-out, the overall growth rates under the different bulbs were quite distinct: 6.2 mg/day at 5.5K, 4.9 mg/day at 10K, 8.5 mg/day at 14K, and 10.9 mg/day at 20K. Thus, the bulbs delivering the highest proportion of blue light (20K and 14K) promoted the highest growth rates."
Is it a wrong conclusion that older bulbs that do in fact shift to more of the red specturm as they age would be more apt to encourage growth in algae?
Not saying here that the other factors including nitrates phosphate etc. are also needed for the growth but dosen't the red spectrum of older bulbs encourage algae growth more than the blues of a newer bulb?
stanlalee
Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3165260
Stanlalee, the spectrum shift as bubls age are more towards the reds I have read. And I believe that algae are shown to use this read spectrum for increased growth rates. However with coral growth I have read the following analysis
and I agree. Most 10k bulbs have much larger spikes than 20k bulbs in the red range (I belive the 540-560nm range). I agree lower kelvin OR old bulbs that shift towards red have a higher propensity to growing nuisance algae.
Because you make lighting conditions more ideal for nuisance algae to grow doesn't mean you SHOULD have a noticeable outbreak in nuisance algae. that is mearly one variable required for nuisance algae. its not like new bulbs provide terrible conditions for nuisance algae to grow in.
the point is people aways point to changing old bulbs for algae problems as if this will cure and fix the problem. old bulbs and color shifting arent the problem even if they do make conditios more ideal. the focus should be the other variables. you can put 3yr old halides over my tank and I wont get or expect a nuisance algae outbreak. if color shift from old bulbs is the difference between excessive nuisance algae and acceptable then you are walking a fine line of either nitrate, phosphate or nutrients too close and need to focus there instead of light shift.