Coralline algae and lighting

Ursula · Apr 20, 2007

My tank is less than two weeks old. It's 180 gallon, and I have 100# of cured LR and added 25# of uncured to start the cycle.

Question: I have heard that putting the lights on will only encourage the "bad" algae to grow. The coralline needs some, though, to proliferate, right?

How long should I leave my lights (basic set-up for FOWLR, not halide) on during the day? Or should I just leave them off? The room gets light during the day, but no direct sunlight hits the tank.

Germanman · Apr 20, 2007

a few hours a day should be fine for the coralline until the tank is cycled and established...calcium concentration is also very important for coralline algae. what is ur calcium level at and ur ph at?

fsn77 · Apr 20, 2007

You think you want coralline now... wait until you can't stop it from growing!!!
Keeping your calcium and alkalinity in the right range will help the coralline grow.

I cycled our tank with the lights on and didn't have any serious algae problems. Of course, I knew I'd have snails / crabs soon enough to clean-up any algae, which may or may not be the case with your FOWLR, depending on the fish you plan to keep.

Dustin83 · Apr 21, 2007

Also think about how you can keep the "bad" algaes from blooming...

Use good water, keep the nitrate low, have adequate clean up crew..

Good luck!

Germanman · Apr 22, 2007

update?

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Coralline algae and lighting

Ursula

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Germanman

My fish are my babies

fsn77

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Dustin83

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Germanman

My fish are my babies