Aquarium lighting could that be the culprit behind our algae growth?

Something I've noticed with lighting and African Cichlids and this has nothing to do with algae but may help someone. I have the fluval aqua sky lights on many of my aquariums and what I've noticed with the red turned up it promotes aggression. The only thing I can figure is it reflects or makes them think the other fish are going into the aggressive color. I've tested this multiple times on many different tanks and aggression always increased when I turn the red up so I run my lights with the red almost all the way off. I have tanks with both the regular fluval sky and planted lights that turn on at 7 a.m. and turn off at 7 p.m. and none of them grow Algae. These are the only lights other than the ones that came with aquarium starter kits I've ever used. 15 tanks all heavily stocked African Cichlid tanks none grow Algae. Not even the ones that get direct sunlight parts of the day.

Interesting points Doc!

Green algae is the best thing that can happen in an aquarium. It's your friend not an enemy

Thanks for showing us the long string algae. It can be on the slimy side. Yes I do have an occasional appearance of those. I do not use high end lighting. Just simple 4ft led tubes [ like fluorescence tube ]. In my experience I note that my nitrates crept up slowly over time due to very heavy feedings. I do not have phosphates test kit. Cutting back on feeds and fish population and a simple water change can give me back control. I have put my bcb to maximum limits I think lol Edit addition : My lighting is constant 7hrs. My last led tube change was about 2 years ago.

I have been trying to grow hair algae for my goldfish for over a year but usually am ending up with brown diatom algae. At some point I've had 3 led bars running 12h a day and still had no luck. The tank location doesn't have much, if any natural sunlight. I'm running aquaponic tray above the tank, where i have few anoxic baskets with plants growing out of it. I'm unsure what to do! The led bars have 3 modes - white, red+blue or white with red and blue.

AGREED, IT'S THE DIFFERENCE IN LIGHTING.I HAD AN AQUARIUM IN A DARKER AREA OF MY HOUSE AND NEVER HAD ISSUES WITH ALGAE, THEN MOVED IT IN FRONT OF THE WINDOW AND IT'S A CONTINUOUS BATTLE. NOTHING CHANGED, SIMPLY RELOCATED THE AQUARIUM, ALL CONTENTS REMAINED IDENTICAL.

I think you're on to something there. I almost bought a fluval that died on me and this was when you found those asta lights. I was always getting algae with Fluval. Even though the Astas have alot of blue in them, I have no algae problems like i use to. I am watching my Nitrates and Phosphates. Like you said that the Fluval don't put out a lot of lumens so maybe this is a contributing factor. Anyways Dr Kevin, Hope your weekend goes well and Thanks again.

My new tank using a plenum is getting at least 2-3 hours of direct sunlight and it is not growing any algae just yet, I haven't put any lights yet but I want to try led grow lights (for growing indoor plants) 😆 I don't know how that's going to go but I really want to give it a try.

I have the Fluval light... All lights to 100% seven hours everyday, except blue spectrum (10%)... Every time i've tried to increase blue spectrum algae has appeared, I didn't think it would be possible, but the fact blue spectrum increase algae growth, in my case, is real. Regards

I'm using generic 6500K 9W LED tubes (800 lumen) for my tanks, and a lot of them have string algae taking over. Some more than others, and some are 'clean'. I've been trying to find out where the issues are. I really doubt that the amount of light is too high, since the plants are not growing too well, as of yet, and I'm looking to upgrade to encourage more growth.

If course the light intensity, spectrum,and run time wi be the main cause of algae but im surprised you were saying y'all both had the tanks set almost identically but one HUGE issue with that comparison is the water! Unless y'all both used rodi water and exactly same amount of thesame brand of buffer them the water is an enormous factor, possibly even more than lighting. For instance i live an hour and half or so south west of Houston Texas. Or water is notoriously hard water AKA liquid rock. The ph is usually 8+ out the tap. But if you live in Washington theyare known for having extremely acidic, low ph water. So some plants may do great in one persons water and die instantly in others. The same as some people's water has more calcium , phosphate and minerals, even minute amounts of"heavy metals". Long story short yes the lighting for sure effects algae growth but the water is another very important factor in the production of algae so always get a general idea what your water is made of and use this knowledge too in fixing the problem of your algae. GOOD LUCK Y'ALL!!!!

Higher phosphates especially as foods with higher phosphates as well.

I got a question on hair algae. Is it supposed to be only green or black colour? I have a Marina 360° 2.65 gallon tank with the default filter and lighting. I noticed there was some kind of growth at the filter outlet (water comes out like a waterfall), looks like a beard but it's brown. It was there for at least 2 months and it became longer and longer until a part of it broke off a few days ago. The filter outlet is the closest part to the lighting so I suspect that is hair algae but it's nothing close like what I tried to find online. Also another question here on the combination of nitrates/phosphates. I have increasingly noticeable stains on the tank, looks like algae to me. I've added 6 neon tetras to that tank a month ago. It had 3/4 ramshorn snails along with two large leaf plants (sorry I don't recall the name of that plant) and since adding the tetras I noticed a few more snails. One of those plants have stems starting to rot and the snails have a free buffet while that same plant sprouted a new leaf. Before this change, I only had snails and plants and I only did water top offs and kept nitrates around 25-50ppm. I did a major water change before adding the tetras and now keep it below 10ppm with weekly or even bi-weekly 20% water changes. Prior to all of that happening, I left the tank alone with only hornwort and a couple of snails that came with it. Didn't keep track of water parameters but that tank looked quite clean. The hornwort almost occupied the whole tank even though I didn't turn on the lights the whole time. I have removed the hornwort since restarting the tank. I can't control the output of the lighting (it's 8 led lights), but I might reduce the water level and add some water lettuce to try to compete with the algae first

Hi, in my case I setup a 20 gallon high with the slow movement plenum with a 4/5" thick substrate (layer of oil dri, them play sand (from my children sand box with some dead leaves), coarse sand, top fin small rocks, them small pebbles and about 1/3 with a layer of Eco complete). I started using the aquarium light (those small led) that came with the lid. After 2 months I bought the Hygger HG-957, using standard mode for about 12h hours (the standard mode apply full spectrum) with the moon light (using its factory settings, the blue light spectrum). After a few weeks starting having brown and hair algae, and algae in the glass. The aquarium is overstocked and I overfeed. The Amano shrimp and honey gourami took care of the brow algae, as a Nerite snail with 2 hillstream cleaned my glass. But the hair algae still persist. I reduced the hours of day light and changed the moon light to a orange spectrum,a few days ago. Let's see what happens. The tank is 4 months old and there are a few plants on it.

Love the look of that 🥰

Notarize problem spring and fall, from water company adjustments of their parameters even here in Hawaii, nation wide.Cut back on feeding especially higher f

I been amused when i first saw this video i wonder how u grew the fleece carpet? I order a product "TEMU" name. Algae Sporin to grow fleece algea. Ì hope one day u can review this product

Can I grow that green carpet algae with just normal led lights? I have Power led but it's not either a grow light or sfull spectrum

I've had something similar. I thought I was getting hair algae from too much light. So I dimmed my lights for a couple of months. However still didn't work, so I added another hang on the back filter and my algae began to die. I have no idea why that is. Maybe the algae was on the way out before I put on the new filter, but I had to deal with it for months before hand.

I use the Fluval with 100% on all color spectrum. I want and get hair algae. I use a paint sponge to remove it where I don’t want it and the Goldfish eat that, only getting pellets once a day, two days in a row and no pellets the third day. Goldfish are thriving! Also using a plenum and bcb bags in HOB filters.