Fuge light causing algae outbreak?

[350gt]

Just curious if its possible for my fuge light that sits under my tank could be causing a small cyano issue that has just recently started...

I did recently reduce my water changes but I know that's not it.. Trimmed my lights a hour, doubt that was it either.... I cut back my feedings, I have been feeding the same for over a year with no issues... Eitherway, I cut back some, my fish hate it and I hate the way they have been looking at me as I walk by.... Lol


So yesterday I am tinkering with my tank and I look under my tank for a goby that is MIA, and I noticed on the side my fuge is at, above the light the sand on the bottom of the tank is all red, green and brown... On the other side of the tank the sand is white, well normal looking...

could it be the reflection from my fuge causing some sorta algae bloom?

I had some black vinyl laying around, so went ahead and lined the complete underside of my tank.....

[BBQHILLBILLY]

what fuge light are you using? old bulbs can for sure grow cyano and other . . .

[350gt]

A few other things I did before the cyano started appearing, add sand, add led fuge light, and change spectrum of T5 bulbs.... I stopped adding sand, I was rinsing it well before adding but stopped to be sure...


i did mess with flow, by moving my MP40s, but I doubt that's it.... I got more than enough flow.

[350gt]

what fuge light are you using? old bulbs can for sure grow cyano and other . . .


LED! I have no cyano in my fuge.... Just above it..

could it be the LEDs, that are on reverse cycle with my tank lights, causing the outbreak above because of reflection?

[BBQHILLBILLY]

dont know. I had old vho bulbs that had appeared to be growing cyano. I went to the LEDs and cyano has allmost disappeared

[BBQHILLBILLY]

my bad. you have a set of AIs.:bigsmile:

[BBQHILLBILLY]

hows the water flow in that area?

[350gt]

MP 40 sits maybe 8" above at 70%..

[350gt]

I added a reactor but would like to know the cause of the problem, instead of covering it up....

[BBQHILLBILLY]

My guess T5 bulbs.

[350gt]

I haven't had them but a few months...


guess it couldn't hurt to swap them out to see...

[BBQHILLBILLY]

turn them off or reduce the time to test. If you have AIs why have T5s?

[350gt]

They are only on 6 hours.. I have some other bulbs, might just swap them out..

[Sherita]

I've always found that any time I make changes to my tanks, I get a small cyano bloom. Normally it clears up on its' own in a few days to a couple of weeks.

It is possible that your reverse lighting could be causing it, I get the same thing occasionally in my tanks. I forgot to turn off my sump work lighting under one of my tanks a while back, and it triggered an outbreak. But, it cleared back up with no action on my part. Cyano normally only shows up if there is something for it to feed on, what are your water params?

[Fishstix@JewelsOfTheSea]

Yeah the bulbs or water flow are usually the issue, if all other perimeters are good. The refuge with macro shouldn't cause cyno to grow because the macro and cyno are fighting for the same nutrients. I would venture to say that if you have lots of fish, perhaps overfeeding could also be an issue and the food and waste depositing in that area. A small powerhead with flow directing in that area should do the trick. Without looking at the tank hard to say but keep us posted.

[FireWater]

New sand or old Tony? You said you were rinsing it then stopped. My experience has been anytime that I have tried to add sand it has caused a small outbreak. Maybe the bacteria is colonizing that area? Don't know really. Kind of like a new restaurant is always busier than the old ones for a while.

I started getting some breakouts on my sand bed and what I have started to do again is stir and siphon the sand bed to help clean it while doing water changes. Seems to be keeping the cyano out breaks I was having down to a minimum. Only thing I would worry about is if you have a deeper sand bed in the display. I purposely kept my sand bed at 2" or less.

[Big_Pun]

everything I've read on cyano is that it's nothing like controlling hair algae and or diatoms. so it's controlled diff, it's more than likely caused by the change in your system from gfo. the additives to battle cyano or redslime neutralize certain acids or are some sort of oxidizer. like sherita said its from a change in your system, so leave everything the way it is and ride it out. stir the sand and manually remove it. vacuuming the sand has helped me might want to try that.