normal to have algae growth when switching to leds?

Just installed some leds (not sure if im gonna keep them) and the night before i cleaned my sand.. today after having them on for about 4 hours (switched from t5s and these dont have dimmers) i noticed i had a light coating of brown/rusty algae growing on my sand already..

 

sounds like a diatom bloom! did you do a water change or anything else lately?

 

a what?? lol and no havent done a water change due in about a week.. i did just install a new sump and had to add about 4 gallons of ro water..

 

Prob diatoms from the silicates in the new sump. Should go away on its own in a few days/weeks.

 

Sounds good I'll keep an eye on it.

 

Why would you want to ditch the LEDs?

 

Not necessarily LEDs in general but not to sure about this brand

 

What brand you got? You can PM me if you would like.

 

yeah, I got a good bloom of dust algae. Could scrap the tank every hour. Levels are zero. Bought a uv sterilizer. Keep you posted on that. I've heard that any switch in lights will cause a bloom. The benefits of led's far outweigh a small bloom.

 

Your LED lights more likely have a different light spectrum then your T-5's. This can bring out colors of algae that you couldn't grow with your T-5 lights. There are so many different genera of diatom that can be found in the ocean and in your tank. Some react to different lighting. Another interesting fact is Diatom isnt just found in the oceans, it can be found on moist soil and damp surfaces