T5 Bulbs

[MikeyAl]

Hi all- I have T5 Quad HO. Had for about 6 months. Recently i have been getting a lot of algae growth. My water parameters are:
Nitrate - <1
Nitrite - 0
Phosphates - 0
Ammonia - 0
SG - 1.025
Temp - 78
Calcium - 420
Alkalinity - 11

My LFS owner told me if my T5 bulbs are old, they may be causing the algae growth. Not sure if this makes sense.
Anybody know if this is accurate?

 

[-Logzor]

Do you have the "stock" bulbs in this fixture? If so, you may want to consider replacing them with ATI or another high-quality brand of bulb. Most likely scenario is that you're feeding too much and the algae is consuming your N and P.

 

[MikeyAl]

They are stock - i ordered some Coralife bulbs to replace.
My Nitrates and Phosphates are at zero.
I also use an Ecoxotic Panorama LED. My light settings

-LED (blue moon)on at 8:00 a.m. off at 10 p.m
-Blue Actinic on at 9:30 a.m - off at 7:30pm
-Ecoxotic LEDs on at noon - off at 7:30 pm
-White T5s on at noon - off at 6:00 pm.

 

[Fathead]

Run ati bulbs, you wont be sorry

 

[Reefing Madness]

T5 bulbs get old and need changing evey 6-9 months, so you may be wanting to replace em if you are running into issues already.

 

[EW_Fish]

Go with good quality bulbs when you replace. Whats a few extra dollars?

 

[mike007]

Just ordered me some Geisman bulbs myself.

 

[fishroomlady]

quality t5 bulbs are so worth it! I usually wait about 7 months and then replace - older bulbs can definitely cause increased algae growth because the spectrum shifts and that may happen sooner in lower quality bulbs