Hair Algea and T5

[mling]

I have 6 T5s, 54 watts each, lighting my 156Gal. I first put them in during the New Year holidays so they are 9 months old.

My tank is about 1 year old and in the last month or so I have been having hair algae problems. Had this long ago when the tank was new, which was expected, then it went ago as the tank matured. Phosphate is less than 0.2, NO3 is 0. Light is on 12 hrs a day.

Am I getting this Hair Algea due to the T5 needing to be changed ?

What is the expected life span of T5 ? When I switched to T5, one of the reasons was the understanding that they last 12 to 18 months. True ?

Is the wattage for a tank less for T5 versus compact PCs ? I am wondering if I should use lower wattage T5 when I change them. Is 324 watt of T5 too much for a 156 G ? I don’t have any corals that require high intensity lighting.

Does the Brand of T5 matter ? Pricing is all over the place, depending on the brand, Is it worth the extra bucks to get the Brand names like Giesemann ?

Is there a “less Algea” wave length ?

 

[Len]

T5s should last longer than 9 months. I'd swap them out annually. I doubt it's the reason for hair algae: I'd look more so at nutrients. The problem with PO4 and NO3 tests is that they can test quite low, but a lot of the phosphates and nitrates are assimilated into algae already. Remove as much hair algae as possible and do a water change. This should help reduce nutrients and curb growth.

You definitely don't have too much light. I wouldn't change your lighting setup. And brand names may matter some what, but I would suspect most bulbs sold to hobbyists are good. Unfortunately, there are no fluorescent bulb tests like halides, so there's no way to validate this info.

 

[Ben1]

T5s should last longer than 9 months. I'd swap them out annually. I doubt it's the reason for hair algae: I'd look more so at nutrients. The problem with PO4 and NO3 tests is that they can test quite low, but a lot of the phosphates and nitrates are assimilated into algae already. Remove as much hair algae as possible and do a water change. This should help reduce nutrients and curb growth.

+1 to all that, so often people say I test 0 for this and that but have algae, if you see it you have some build up feeding it. Turbo snails always seem to help for HA IME. Be sure it isnt byropsis which can look like HA untill you look very close, byropsis is more feathery.

 

[Anonymous]

Also, do you have a phosphate reactor on your tank, and do you use RODI water?

B

 

[bfessler]

I had a recent bloom of algae after 6 months. I think the cause was a dieing colony of clove polyps. My Monticap had grown to the point that it was blocking the light which shined through and arch to the clove polyps. I removed the colony, fragged off the still living parts and added a few more snails. Within a week the tank was back to normal. During the entire ordeal the nitrates were undetectable and phosphates were below .5ppm.

Look for anything out of the ordinary inside the tank and sump. I didn't notice the polyps dieing because of new growth on the edges of the colony that blocked my view of the center. I observed the problem at night with a flash light where I saw the dead skeletons when the other polyps were retracted.

 

[Nemo2007]

I agree. Its not the bulbs. I'm starting to think the test kits are pretty much useless unless the numbers are way out of whack. When I take too long to change the media in my phosphate reactor, the algae starts to grow and the levels on the test kit are always in the desirable range. -Even when I took it to the LFS and they used a spectrometer on the sample. -Well, actually one attempt was zero and the other was low. The point is the algae was just sucking it up as quick as it was released.

 

[mling]

My Instant Ocean PH4 kit is not good enough to detect less then 0.1. What is a good brand to get ?

I have and Kent Phosban reactor, what is the correct rate of flow for the power head connected to it , or does it matter ?

From what I've read, I have alot of manual cleaning to do.