T5s Q&A

A few Zoos, RBTA, Frogspawn, Green Star Polups and a large feather duster...nothing really light dependant. 2 true percs, coral angel, foxface, 2 chromis, diamond gobie and multi colored blenny.

I ask because I am still fighting Diatoms ( I say diatoms because it looks and acts like them...light brown dusting on glass and equip wipes off easy but covers everything ). I have done everything I have been told and researched to rid myself of this problem.

Tank is 8 months old....all parameters are within good / perfect ranges. 7-10 days after a 25% water change and total wipe down of all diatoms on glass and equip...it just comes back? Originally I determined it was silicates.....it tested higher then the chart would allow, then purchased a 5 stage RO/DI system and have done 3 water changes since. Silicates are undetectable...and TDS is 000. Phosphates are maybe .02. So, my next thought was the lights ?

Ammonia / Nitrate = 0
Nitrate = 5.0 maybe lower
PH = 8.3
Alk = 9.8
Cal= 460
Mag= 1300
Iodine/Iodide = .06
Silicates = undedectable
TDS = 000
Copper= 000
PO4 = .02

Coralife 125 skimmer / PO4 reactor no fuge

Since I started the RO/DI I have had to dose Calcium to maintain levels....and I dose iodine weekly to maintain .006.... I use Crystal Sea Marine Mix for Salt. And just started adding a cube of Sea Labs No28 to maintain the levels. a small cube takes over a week to disolve, I have very few snails and about 10 crabs. I will be adding more snails soon, but in the past, they haven't been able to keep up with the diatom growth.

Hope this is not off topic ?? I have read that the light as they near the end of there expectancy will cause algae issues ?? but before I spend a TON on new ones, want to see if I am looking down the right road??

 

Slightly off topic but we're gonna answer it anyway!
Quick side note... I used and recommended Crystal Sea for a long time, but switched once the Ca and Mg levels consistenly tested low... What do you get when you mix a fresh batch? To keep this thread clean you can PM or send me a visitor message thanks

Ok back on being off track.
What test kits are you using for PO4 and silicates? I ask as many hobbyist kits are just not very accurate when testing these.
I would say your diatoms are fluorishing for a couple reasons... A. YOUR TANK IS YOUNG!! It is inevitable that your system or others system for that matter will have diatoms for quite sometime... many times it takes a year to work its way out.
Silicates in source water are issue and according to a few in the industry even the Si02 in the new glass of an aquarium can be issue... B. The source water you were using, now that you have RO/DI water it will still take a while to get many of the undesirable contaminents out of the tank. This will tank quite a few water changes.
C. SOMETIMES WATERCHANGES ACTUALLY PROLONG DIATOM BLOOMS.... Yes, you read it right, according to many, sometimes one of your best defenses is to just let the diatoms ride as the waterchange will distrupt the system and diatoms fluorish on instability.

All your paramaters are pretty good, so I would say it would be MAINLY immaturity of the tank. Like you mentioned though, sometimes degraded lights will have a negative affect on algae, diatoms being one of said algaes that can flourish with degraded spectrum.

Look at it this way, your lamps are getting close to the end of their usefulness, you will need to replace them in, at most a few months anyhow. Your best bet will be to start saving for the new ones now.

What is the flow like in your tank?
I suppose if you would like to discuss the diatoms in more length we sould move this to the algae forum...

 

Thanks for answering ...........

Sounds like there are many other conditions that could outway the lights at this time. I like the idea of buying a few at a time now that I can rule out the lights being totally used up. I will give them a few more months...then replace with all new...higher-end bulbs.

I have been doing the W/C's mostly to " clean "the water up from the silicates which now test clean. I will let this ride out for awhile before the next change.

Flow is good in comparasion to what others have posted, and the Cal level in a fresh batch was about 360.

I use Red Sea and Instant Ocean for PO4......and API and Seachems for Calcium. Can't afford the nicer kits at this time. But they test very close to the same.

I will send a PM if I still can't get rid of the Diatoms ....thanks for the offer.

I think I can gather the type / brands of lights from previous posts in this thread.

 

Dr Frag, are the suggested bulbs also applicable for use with overdriven ballasts, eg IceCap 660?

i'm setting up a standard 90g tank, and looking to get AquaIllumination (ala ReefGeek) 6-bulb retro w/ dual 660's.

after reading thru this thread, it seems i should get some combo of:
Blue/Actinic+, Aquablue+, and GMann 6000k bulbs

what will i have in my tank? no clue, but i prefer not being limited by my lighting choices.

your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Any lamp really is fine on IC ballasts... Some people just don't always like the way they look when overdriven. The spectrum tends to shift down in kelvin. I know many people do not like the look of true actinics on IC ballasts.

I only recommend the Aquablue, Blue/actinic+s and 6000k lamps because they all put out a good amount of PAR and mix pretty well, at least in my eyes.
Aquablue+ by either ATI or Giesemann is a pretty universal lamp that really cranks out PAR. Also the Blue+ or actinic+ depending on brand is a great blue lamp that actually puts out good PAR as well as compared to other blueish lamps. As for 6000k you don't need to go with Giesemann or ATI, many people save some money and get a Starcoat by GE or similar 6000k lamp.
With six lamps I would only grab one 6000k lamp especially being OD. Maybe 3 blue two Aquablues and a 6000k. Unless you would like a more blue look, tossing in a Fiji Purple instead of the 6000k could work or Heck, even going 3:3 Blue/white wouldn't be all that bad.

As long as you have good lamps, having 6 OD lamps, I highly doubt you will really be limited to what you can keep, unless its something that doesn't like that much light.

Unfortunately I am not all that great at recommending lamp placement as I have switched mine to a combo I would've never recommended and it looks nicer now than when it was configured in a combo I WOULD recommend!

Those SLRs are2.5" wide if I remember correctly right?

 

Yes, the AquaIllumination reflectors are 2.5" wide, as are the IceCap's. Sunlight's are 3.0".

If I went with non-overdriven ballasts, how limiting would that be (6 bulbs over a 90g)?

I would prefer not overdriving to save on electricity, having to add the required cooling fans, and shortened bulb lifespan if I could get away with just running standard ballasts.

Do the 660's only operate in overdrive mode? Can they be ran "normally"?

Again, thanks for your advice.

 

Yeah, was pretty confident that they were 2.5"... Its a shame only Aquactinics makes 2"ers, wouldn't mind if they made them 60" long!

Would you be limited on a 90 with 6 ND lamps? No...I have 8 ND lamps on my 180 and if you have read my posts you would have read that they are working great for me. Glad I didn't waste the money on the IC ballasts and on the added electricity consumption.

I have PAR numbers that in my eyes are perfectly fine for growing SPS pretty much ANYWHERE in the tank, and I am using only 640watts, well slightly more due to the wasted energy but you get my point. I have seen tanks with 3 250w MHs and supplementals that numbers weren't much higher than mine.

SO, I could tell you with pretty good confidence that you would not be limited with ND ballasts and you can save big time money esp upfront on ballast costs.
I would recommend fans even with ND ballasts though, at least to get the most out of your lamps PAR wise and life wise.

To my knowledge IC ballast ONLY run lamps OVERDRIVEN.
Also I believe Coralvues VHO ballast will run the same as IC but I don't believe its any cheaper and IC has a GREAT rep for customer service so I would if wanting an OD ballast just go with the IC...

 

Got confirmation from IceCap that their 430/660 ballasts will only run overdriven with T5HO's.

Would you have any recs for ND ballasts?

You mentioned the Aquactinics reflectors. Any thoughts on those vs AquaIllumination or IceCap? I've read the study comparing the latter two, but haven't really found anything on the former.

And thanks for the rec on having fans irrespective.

 

On ND ballasts Workhorse is probably the most commonly used... Many people still say that since they are Instant start ballasts it will burn out lamps faster but really, if you are only having one on/off cycle a day and are only using the lamps for say 4500 of the 20,000 some hours a lamp can run, I doubt you lose any usable life...
Advance/Univesal has a program start which is easier on the lamps but I have heard from manufactors of fixtures that use them, they have a higher failure rate then the WH does.
I have also seen people use Triads without issue but most people I know that have used them said they blew quickly and would never use them again nor recommend them.
I use Workhorse 7's on my retro.

Aquactinics makes some nice SLRs and for sometime made IC's for them. Recently IC has found another maker so they could save on shipping costs. Aquactinics are a better quality than the ICs and are only 2" wide. AquaIllumination aka Reef Geek SLRs did very well in Grim Reefers PAR tests, I think he ranked them number one of all the ones he tested. I would use them but do not want 2.5" SLRs... The 60" is a benefit for me but if I used them that would cut my accessability to the tank considerable, and I like to access my tank!

I think you are not seeing much info on the Aquactinics SLRs because not many places sell them, its weird as many of them carry Aquactinics fixtures?!
If you don't mind the width go with the AquaIllumination. I would like to see more tests on them other than Steves but I do trust what he says.

No, problem... fans are good!

 

well I got my new lights, I ended up getting what you recomended.

2 giesemann attinic +
2 giesemann aquablue +

I really like the look, good call Dr.Frag. I try to post some picks later.