To Much Light

[blueribbon]

I have a RS Max 130 with four T5 55 want lamps.  Is there such a thing as too much light?  (In the tank I have clowns and royal grammas and just soft coral. - No plans on going to hard coral.)  Live rocks and about a 1 1/2" sand bed.  Temperature constant 79 degrees, sodium chloride = 1.026 and pH about 8.0

 

I'm running the lights and continue to have a problem with green algae on the glass.  Not a little bit, but a serious annoyance.  I have a lawn mower blenny and (I'm told) algae eating snails, but it is still a lot of work to keep it clean.

 

Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[Rob A]

You probably won't ever have too much light using fluorescent bulbs unless you have a super shallow tank, but it could be too bright at the very top of the tank for some things. 

There is such a thing as too much light for corals, and they can reach a state of "photoinhibition" in which photosynthesis slows or stops and the corals bleach. This varies by type of coral. 

The source of algae growth can be tough sometimes. Certain things can increase its growth. It can be from older bulbs whose color spectrum has shifted to a color the algae prefer or higher levels of nitrates and or phosphates. I think every new tank has issues with algae in the beginning (or until nutrients are in check), and sometimes you end up with the dreaded hair algae.

 

When you get a chance post some more info, like age of tank, age and colors of bulbs, light schedule, nitrate and phosphate levels and if you use a skimmer and how often you do water changes. With this extra info someone on here can offer more suggestions.

[dave w]

Your extra light and extra algae growth aren't the problems, they are the solutions.  Your problem is high nutrients.  When you have high nutrients and add more light, then the nutrients combined with light give you more algae growth.  You may not like algae growth and see it as a messy problem, but it is a better problem to have than dissolved nutrients in your water.  

 

Cutting back on your light would also cut back on your algae, but this is going the wrong direction if you want to make your tank healthy.  Solve the nutrient problem first.  

 

I'm not trying to be preachy, I'm just trying to point out how things work.  Keep cleaning algae off the glass to export nutrients until your nitrate levels come down.  Try more skimming.  Put another reservoir of water in your system and transfer some light to that so you can grow algae on screens and remove it easily.  Then the algae on your glass will slow down when it becomes starved of nutrients.

[Sharkey18]

Is this a new tank?  Tanks go through a lot of stages in the beginning, including a burst of algal growth.  

 

What are you test results? 

[sen5241b]

1+ There most certainly is a such thing as too much light for corals and have learned this the hard way. When you buy a coral, typically they tell you if its a high, medium or low light coral. This is useless information. They really need a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 = shade and 5 is like anemones and clams. Some will argue just measure PAR. Accilimate corals slowly and examine them daily with a magnifying glass for the slightest trace of stress or bleaching.

[Laurie]

I solved most of my excess algae problems by installing a refugium. The macro algae and extra lighting helps to eliminate algae growth in my display tank.

[Grav]

We have had great success with several of these tanks in customer locations without any modification at all.  the small water volume means more strict testing / maintenance routines / stocking limitations and no refugium means more water changes than other tanks.  A little in-tank macro can help.  Too much light was never a problem, and we he been able to keep all kinds of corals. 

[gwweber]

How long are you running the lights for

[sen5241b]

I do 8 hours a day.

[gmerek2]

I solved most of my excess algae problems by installing a refugium. The macro algae and extra lighting helps to eliminate algae growth in my display tank.

Plus one. There is such a thing such as too much lighting but the corals suffer and I didnt have algae problem when lights were turned up too high. I have 3 tanks all looped together. One tank has a minor algae problem. Guess which tank has the strongest lights?! Guess which tank gets the best coral growth?! Yup the one with the strongest. The minor algae problem goes away when I run GFO.  I also did have a green hair algae problem in display tank before adding the fuge and frag tank and larger sump due to the extra bio load. The changes I made to get rid of it: upgraded skimmer, decreased bio load by selling fish too large for tank, GFO, adding fuge.

[YHSublime]

I run 2x 5' HO T5 bulbs, and x2 Radion G3 Pros on 90% for at least 8 hours a day.