I was told to keep my light on for only 6 hours help minimize the hair algae.
"Too much light!" was a phrase aquarium people were spouting for at least the last 50 years or so when it came to nuisance algaes. Too many LFS stores still give this same advice, and today they should know better.
When a lot of areas about aquariums were not well understood, this sort of made some sense. No light meant no algae. You could have nitrates and phosphates off the scale, but without light you wouldn't have an algae problem. This is why you often see fish only displays dimly lit by reef system standards. If you look at how aquariums, both SW and FW, were decorated in those pre-reef days, with the exception of FW live plants, there was nothing that needed light.
Today we know better. Also, we need a lot of light for a long period of time because we want to keep livestock that requires it. Algae need nutrients, and gets them primarily from nitrate and phosphate. If you control them, you can run very bright light and not have an algae problem, because there is nothing for it to feed on.
This is why algae control today is centered upon control of nitrates and phosphates, and to a lessor extent adding livestock that will eat algae we don't want.
DaveK have you read any posts regarding decreasing the photoperiod in tanks running bare bottom. I was reading posts regarding sps tanks and photoperiod and some reefers that run bare bottom and maintain very low nutrients only run their halide lamps about 5-6 hours maybe less and if they run them any longer would have bleaching. Sounds interesting as big hydro bills suck and you would have less temperature issues as well. I know that the nitrates for example have an inhibitory affect on calcification but can be overcome by keeping an elevated KH. How would nutrients and lighting tie together?
Alex, most of those people that are running halide lamps for 5-6 hours are still running supplementary lighting for 10-14 hours a day. Alot of these people are using so much light that the corals can only take it for a few hours a day. I understand what these people are trying to accomplish and it can have great results, but I still prefer to run less intense lighting for longer periods.
In a reef tank you can't really light starve algae because it will starve your corals too. So the only real option is to starve algae of the nutrients it needs, which is mainly nitrogenous compounds and phospates.
You need to check your phosphate and nitrate levels. The ideal range is as close to 0 ppm. You also need to test the replacement water you're using for phosphates. Make sure it's RO or RO/DI water and not tap.
Get a protein skimmer to remove unwanted DOCs. If you have high levels of phosphate and nitrate do weekly small water changes and buy a product called Polyfilter and install this in your filters. That should remove some.
It also doesn't hurt to make sure your calcium levels are ideal 410 to 450. The higher the calcium, the lower the phosphates which will 'starve' the hair algae you have.
I heard of extreme measures where people remove all their LR and scrub with a toothbrush. This seems a bit daunting to me and comparable to breaking down the entire system and starting from scratch. Regardless, you'll still need to perform the weekly water changes and manually remove the hair algae daily.
You might try reef safe hermit crabs, a lawn mower blenny, and some tangs will eat the stuff. There are also some sea slugs and snails that will eat it.
If you go the chemical route, I've heard good things about Kent's Clean Equation, but this might affect your inverts.
Bottom line is getting your phosphate levels down.
DaveK have you read any posts regarding decreasing the photoperiod in tanks running bare bottom. I was reading posts regarding sps tanks and photoperiod and some reefers that run bare bottom and maintain very low nutrients only run their halide lamps about 5-6 hours maybe less and if they run them any longer would have bleaching. Sounds interesting as big hydro bills suck and you would have less temperature issues as well. I know that the nitrates for example have an inhibitory affect on calcification but can be overcome by keeping an elevated KH. How would nutrients and lighting tie together?
I have not seen any specific information on using MHs only 5-6 hours. If you have some links I'd like to see them. Thanks. I have some thoughs on this, but I'd like to read what they have to say first.
I have not seen any specific information on using MHs only 5-6 hours. If you have some links I'd like to see them. Thanks. I have some thoughs on this, but I'd like to read what they have to say first.
Go to RC and look in the SPS forum and you will find a thread or two on it. If you are real lucky the search function will work.
Lyndon.
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