thinking about starting an aggresive tank?

[kev.1979]

I have a couple of ?'s I have a nova 216 watt light now, it produces alot of algae. i also have the cheep light that came with the tank that produces hardly no algae. I know triggers, lions, and puffers don't play well with inverts. should i go with the cheep light so i don't need a clean up crew? what do you guys do? i also have a marineland 360 canister filter but i don't like the fact that it spits out burst of bubbles every few minutes. should i go with a wet/dry or refugium or just deal with the bubbles? thanks in advance!

 

[kev.1979]

anyone? do i really need the strong light with no corals?

 

[drex]

how old are your bulbs in your light? how long do you leave it on for? you shouldnt leave it on for days straight or even all day if you do. i run 265 watt power compacts on my aggressive tank and have had no problems with algae outbreaks, only if i leave them on to long which was the same with my reef. you will get better color out of your fish with your good light"with actinics" compared to your standard flourescent that came with. hope this helps

 

[crimzy]

I wouldn't go with cheap lighting if I were you. As much as it is a pain in the butt to clean algae, the better lighting displays your fish much better. Cleaning algae is just a necessary part of the hobby but the better lighting you have, the better the tank will look. JMO.

 

[kev.1979]

the light and bulbs are only 2 weeks old, my lfs told me that snails and crabs are a must with a good light? is this not true?

 

[kev.1979]

i leave it on for about14 hrs a day then lunars at night, is that too long? do you have a refugium on your tank? do i need one to keep algae in check with no janitor crew?

 

[crashbandicoot]

A refugem has no real outcome on the amount of algea your going to fight . It will keep nitrate nitrites down but won't have much effect on the algea . You should shorten your lighting period if you start to develope algea problems . 14 hours is a bit long in my opinion . I keep mine to about 10 hours . If you have rouble regulating it daily pick up a timer they are between 5 -10 dollars and make it as simple as can be .

 

[drex]

i agree with crashbandicoot, i run my actinics for on hour, then both bulbs for 8, then the actinics for an hour , then off. and i had to have it down alot less then that when i first started, i was running them as a total of 6-7 hours at first and still had some algae coming. give it time and up it weekly or something if you can. worked for me anyways.

 

[kev.1979]

thanks guys