After some rough months, I finally managed to get algae growth under control. Problem is that by now, it's time to change half of my lights (I have 4x 38w and should change two of them) but I am afraid that changing the lamps will cause the algae problems again. Is this fear justified or not ?
What should I do to prevent any new algae growth (I already added extra plants) ? Would it be a problem if I keep the bulbs for another 6 months (they're now about 1 year old) ? Any brands/types that you would recommend (I am using fluorescent tubes).
Thanks in advance !
I have seen Tom Barr(our resident plant guru) state quite a few times that he changes his tubes when they burn out.
On another forum when a person was talking about replacing theirs at one year he replied (and I'm paraphrasing).....send me your used tubes.
Although some of this, I'm sure is tongue-in-cheek, the idea that fluorescents HAVE to be changed at 6 months to a year is greatly over rated, IMO.
Len
Pink Pat
08-18-2003, 1:49 PM
kvr,
If you're going to change them, just do it. IME lights don't cause algae to grow. Algae growth is a result of an imbalance in your aquarium between the lighting, C02 (or useable carbon) and nutrients.
Mixing bulbs of different spectrums is something often suggested, but rather than have a bunch of bulbs that may or may not provide an appealing look, simply go with bulbs that provide a high CRI (color rendering index). The CRI number for the particular bulb will be posted with the manufacturers information, but typically you want a bulb with a number closest to 100. Bulbs in the mid to low 80's will have a yellowish tint, bulbs that have a CRI in the 90's will look somewhat whiter.
Algae growth, when it first appears, can easily be brought into check with partial water changes. Unless you want to keep on doing accelerated changes, you'll have to find out the cause to the imbalance and correct it.
I've read several places where Tom Barr has talked about not replacing his bulbs until they burn out, but to the best of my recollection he was referring to CF lighting and not the typical NO lighting you seem to refer to. NO light bulbs, IMO, should be replaced regularly. How often is something you have to determine, but the bulbs do have a tendency to depreciate their lighting value and shift spectrums, becoming less intense. The value of your bulbs to the plants is always going to be in the power (intensity) they provide.
You can experiment to see if the new bulbs will help your present situation. Simply keep the old bulbs, install the new ones and monitor things closely for the next several weeks. Any problems with the new bulbs will become apparent in quick order.
HTH
PP