Would my new lights have started algae growth?

I just upgraded from the stock lighting (old bulbs) to 48" AquaticLife HO T5's on Saturday. Now my rocks are starting to get covered in red brownish algae; it has definetly just showed up since I installed the lights 4 days ago and its happened fast. All parameters are good. Any opinions on the algae is something to be concerned about or not?? :-/

 

Also...I stuck my hand in the tank to see if it was like a power and its not...I had to scrape it with my fingernail to get it off the rock.....

 

Have you tested for phosfates? What are your params and how often do you feed? You may have had conditions for algea to grow in before the lights and they just kicked off the problem.

 

It is very very common for an increase in light to start an algae bloom. The nutrients in your tank where balanced to the algae growth you had. When you increased the light you gave the algae a kick start.

Now you need to get it under control so it does not take over the tank. Dropping your phosphates might help a lot as Mike says. Get some good GFO and put it in your system. I would not worry much about testing for phosphates since unless you get a good test kit, it can say you have no problem when you really do have one. Phosphat should be down around .03 ppm, and most test kits do not work well under .5 ppm.

Kim

 

what is GFO???

 

Granular ferric oxide. It is a phosphate removing media. Bellaphos, Rowaphos, phosban etc.