current usa led striplight

[MYSTIC78]

anybody have or heard about the current usa led strip lights. i have been having green hair algea problems and was wondering if maybe it was the lights. ive gone through everything else. i got four sets of the marine fusion lights. they run from 9 am to 8 pm. ive been experimenting with only running one set half the day then all four the rest of day.

 

[RockStacker]

What are your nitrate readings?

 

[SarahSmile]

Hi Mystic. We need a bit more info to help you out here. How long has your tank been set up? Do you use tap water? What livestock do you have in the tank? What do you have as your clean up crew?

 

[MYSTIC78]

i was wondering if anybody else had the same lights.
but to answer your questions i set it up in march
nitrates are usually around 20ppm or less
i use ro/di water and change about 30% every 2-3 weeks
i have about 5 turbos
10 nassarius
15 fuzzy chitons
2 skunk cleaner shrimp
2 pepperment shrimp
50 hermit crabs
1 snowflake eel
1 goldheaded sleeper goby
4 firefish
1 yellow tang
1 fairy wrasse

 

[SarahSmile]

I understand what you were asking. On this forum, anytime you have a question or an issue everyone is going to want to know if you use tap water, what you're feeding your tank with, what your stock list is and all of your parameters, amm, nitrates, nitrites, PH, salinity, temp and pictures really really help, especially in cases of algae. It's hard to give a specific answer if we just have a vague tank description. Do you have green algae on your glass? On your rocks? On your sand?
Your tank is relatively new and you have 8 fish, new tanks go thru algae stages and we're just trying to pinpoint if your algae is plentiful because you need more clean up crew, your lights or light schedule need updating, you are using tap water, or you have a stocking issue. I'm surprised in a tank of your size that you only have a few snails. Check out the clean up crew at reefcleaners.org. You should have lots of a variety of snails to clean your rocks. You only have a few nass which is for the sand bed and some turbos. And I wouldn't run the lights for 11 hours a day personally. So, I'd say try adding a decent clean up crew and run the lights for 7 hours a day, full strength.
But, yeah, pictures and lots of information is what we need to help you out :)

 

[SarahSmile]

Oh and your equipment, you have a skimmer? A canister filter? What powerheads do you have?

 

[MYSTIC78]

i had more snails. some have dissapered.
i got an eshops protien skimmer
fluval 406 canister filter
wet dry filter
coralife 18 watt uv sterilizer
two circulation pumps inside tank a
koralia 1650 and a aqueon 2400

 

[MYSTIC78]

i use red sea test kit and i got
ph is 8.2
nitrite 0
nitrate close to 0
phosphates 0
water temp 78 -80

 

[MYSTIC78]

oh and i feed about a half a cube of frozen food a day. i mix it up between mysis,brine,and or brine with spirulina made by hikari.

 

[SarahSmile]

Your numbers all seem great. R/o water great, and you're not feeding flake, also great. As to your flow, do you have a lot of dead spots, you just have the two powerheads right? I'd pick up more snails for sure, check out reefcleaners.org Maybe a quick crew for a 50 gallon, you'll get tons and tons of different snails. Nerite, dwarf cerith, astera (sp), and try cutting the lights back.
All new tanks go thru algae stages though, I wouldn't blame the leds in this case. Do you plan on adding a tang or a dwarf angel, something to pick at the rocks? I have a flame angel and trust me, nothing has a chance to grow on my rocks with that guy around.

 

[MYSTIC78]

yea i bought 40 margarita snails and added to tank. ill keep the flame angel in mind,thanks.ill probably add even more snails in a few weeks.

 

[Bifferwine]

Don't be surprised if you see the margarita snails start to die off. They are a coldwater species (often collected off the Pacific coast), not a reef species. They tend to boil to death in reef tanks because they are not used to the warm water temperatures. They usually live a couple weeks to a couple months.