Sunpaq vs. Current
- Thread starter nicodemus
- Start date
nicodemus
Member
I have zoos, mushrooms, and some carnation. I have ridiculous green hair algae growth and have been doing everything to diminish it, hoping new lights will help. I bought the tank used, so I have no idea how old the bulbs are...they have to be alteast a year+ old. Can my bulb choice help with macroalgae control?
coachklm
Active Member
well you may ave a high level of phosphates in the system.. but yes nmew bulbs will decrease the rate at wich it grows,, if you have a 2x96w fixture your best bet is the the 10k and the other actinic.
another thing to keep in mind is you dont change both bulbs at the same time.. wait a couple days.. stagger your installation. i always stagger mine by a few weeks.
another thing to keep in mind is you dont change both bulbs at the same time.. wait a couple days.. stagger your installation. i always stagger mine by a few weeks.
stanlalee
Active Member
brand of bulb really doesn't matter except in the case of current USA's daylight bulbs. There smartpaq daylight bulb has one tube of it 10K and the other one 6700K. The 6700K really isn't going to be good for algae control (although I dont think it would be a problem unless you already have a problem). I would suggest coralife or any other brand that uses a straight 10K bulb for daylight. The current usa actinic bulb which is a combo of 420nm (true actinic and 460nm is awsome. The human eye can barely see 420nm and the tank looks dark with just the actinics on but the current usa 420/460 bulb gives true night time lighting. Hair algae is not macro BTW but your best bet to start is to remove it manually and then get something that eats it. What are your nitrates and what exactly are your phospate readings? once these get down hair algae usually doesn't grow. My daylight bulb is probably 2yrs old and I never had an algae break out so I dont think thats it.
Phospates are very hard to get down to zero. you could try a phospate sponge. Water changes work but it takes a while or large water changes. My phospate is always 0.5ppm no matter what but so far it hasn't effected anything as far as I can tell. Mine was nearly off the chart the first time I tested (10ppm). I brought it down with water changes but I did a 50% water change to start. replace any filter media and change/clean it often. Food, waste, nearly everything has phospate so its tuff to get rid of completely.
Phospates are very hard to get down to zero. you could try a phospate sponge. Water changes work but it takes a while or large water changes. My phospate is always 0.5ppm no matter what but so far it hasn't effected anything as far as I can tell. Mine was nearly off the chart the first time I tested (10ppm). I brought it down with water changes but I did a 50% water change to start. replace any filter media and change/clean it often. Food, waste, nearly everything has phospate so its tuff to get rid of completely.
nicodemus
Member
My Nitrates are at zero and my phosphates are at .5ppm. I have tried urchins, blennies, hermit crabs, snails...nothing seems to eat the hair algae..what do you think will eat the algae? I have seemingly spent forever trying to lower my phosphates to no avail. Also, I use bio balls for filtration and I heard that too many can cause algae blooms...should I remove some?