New Bulb Selection

this is a great site.

 

Well in mh terms they are good for about 6 months before needing replacement. if its a year old that may be part of the problem. algae needs two things to live and stive and that is nutrients and light. I have a bad algae issue at one point if you look back through some of my posts you can see the battle I dlet with. It took a bit but it passed but the things I needed to do were get good lighting mine was under powered. I then needed to stop over feeding. Then I had to get a better skimmer because mine was not pulling out enough waster which added to my nitrates and no4. I think if you turn your lights off for day this will be a start. my readings were also 0 on my tests but the algae was using the nutrients to strive. My red sea max is having an algae bloom right now but from the battle I had with my 220 I am hoping that this will pass too.

 

Problem

Do you use a UV filter? If not i would get one IMO

 

I think I'll use one when I add the sump in a few months.

 

Uv

Just use for outbreaks. dont run that killer all the time.

 

The UV usage seems like a band aid... I would say get the lighting in order, watch your feeding, and do regular water changes... Spectrum is key and an old bulb can be an algae promoter... Stability will come with the age of the tank...

Best of Luck

 

I am now pretty sure the bulb is the culprit. I am going to get a new higher quality 20k bulb. I like the bluer color and from what I have found out so far through reasearch my corals are deeper water any way so the bluer spectrum should do them some good. Thanks all for the help. Any suddestions on brands of bulbs. I am considering Pheonix but they are a bit pricey.