Reduce Nitrates through better lighting

Their are a few key variables that need to be looked at before reaching any type of agreement with your results pointing to light being the end result of your excess nitrate dilemma.
Your tank is still fairly new and with it comes the chances that your tank and its water parameters will alter somewhat.
When did you last add livestock to your tank?
What were your other water parameter levels?
Chaeto would have a more profound impact on the pH level coinciding with your level of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. The battle between macro-and micro-algae will prove to be a popular and significant issue in terms to what form of algae growth will reign superior. The more macro-algae you have the better this plant growth will be apt help control nitrates, phosphates and silicates.
What are your feeding habits? How often and how much?
Are you performing regular water changes?
Using carbon?
what type of skimmer and is it the one you used since your tanks inception?
have you changed anything like stopped using liquid trace elements or vitamins?
Nitrates maintain a direct correlation with nitrobacter bacteria and the waste it produces. With the increase of a refugium and live sand, you are ultimately adding fule to the fire initially by increasing nutrients.
The lighting will help to offer symbiotic corals and plant life the needed LUX, PAR and PUR to maintain symbiotic zooxanthellae within coral and invertebrate tissue.

 

I added a very small Tomato Clown on 11/2.
Other tank parameters have remained stable. pH 8.1, Alkalinity 2.5, calcium 420, temp 79F, SG 1.024. I have an open brain coral that refuses to open, so on 11/20 I tried lowering the temp to 77F to see if this had any impact. I have since brought the temp back. This was well after the big nitrate drop that occurred simultaneously with adding the additional lighting.
I feed once per day and this hasn't changed for months. I alternate between Rod's food, Mysis and frozen Formula One. I feed about 1/2 cube. Every few days I feed my BTA half a 1/4 cube and my cleaner shrimp a 1/4 cube to keep it away from the anemone. I've actually started to increase the amount of food I'm feeding since the nitrate level has dropped.
Water changes every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. About 20%. Haven't changed this since late summer. For a while I performing water changes every 2 days trying to get nitrate levels down.
Used carbon for the first time last week to see if it helped the open brain coral.
Using an Aqua-C Remora skimmer since tank inception.
Stopped adding Kent Tech-I because I ran out within a few weeks of adding the lights. I never started dosing again because my Xenia has never pulsed or propogated faster. I was dosing one cap twice a week. I may purchase some and begin dosing again to see if the nitrate level goes back up.

 

I suspect the addition of those lights increased the potential to grow algae. This algae will consume nitrates


J

 

Indeed, that's my theory exactly. Since adding of the 6500K bulbs I can see very fine thin strands of algae growing on the live rock along with the coraline. It is not smothering it at all. Very fine and only about 1 mm tall and actually somewhat dificult to see. I was afraid that the low spectrum bulbs would encourage the growth of hair algae. However, it is not like hair algae. It is not taking over at all.

 

I would have to do a little experment on this. Try taking the lighting down and see if nitrates come back. I think that the fuge just kicked in but couldn't say 100% unless trying to back up with other info.

 

I'm reluctant to change anything at this point. Everything is loving the extra light. Plus now, after more than a month, the fuge may have kicked in by now so who know if things will go back to where they were. Plus, the algae that started growing because of the lighting would die and reintroduce the nitrate back into the tank.

I would like to see if anyone else with nitrates > 20 mg/L can get their levels down by adding these cheap lights. If other people can duplicate my results that would confirm the lighting has an impact.

 

what is the exact light and where did you get it. Was it just a shop light cause I never herd of a spiral twist unless you are talking about the new screw in type.

 

The lights are used are Bright Effects 26W 6500K color temperature. They have the following markings: BE26T/3D and 170197. I purchased them from Lowe's. The highest color temp bulbs Home Depot has were 5500K.



The fixtures look like this. They are are meant for shop use and have a base that I used to clip on the side of my tank.


Here is one clipped to the front of the tank so you can see how it clips.


Here is how the tank looks with the four fixtures clipped on the back.


Do I like the way these look on my display tank? No. But right now this is all I can work into the budget and they seem to be making the tank happy.

 

cool setup and great pics I will have to try on side of tank with no lights.