Observation: I have noticed ZERO algae growth in my tank. This is after two months of running 27 watts of (glorious) LED lighting over 2.5gallons. Well i take that back, spots of coralline have been popping up on the rocks. Am i jumping the gun in assuming that wavelengths generated by the LEDs inhibit nuisance algae growth? I know theres been some talk about red LEDs increasing algae propagation, but nothing about how the RB/CW combo effects algae growth. I do have two snails in there but they've never been THIS efficient. Any one else experiencing this with thier LEDs?

I concur… +1

Any algae (I had very little) soon disappeared after my introduction of 20 LED’s…

My coralline receded a lot, but now has adjusted and is spreading again…

here's hoping that LEDs are the panacea for nuisance algae

I would say my algae growth has slowed but I definitely still have GHA in my tank in a few spots. I leave it for my snails and hermits though they seem to enjoy it. Definitely less diatoms though.

I've got this devil pink stuff that i'm hoping gets killed by my new 20k LED bulb.

Devil pink stuff that kinda grows/flows like redslime?

Do you have a picture/post of this Pink stuff from hell?

It's definitely a combination of the new LED's and the replacement of my 10 month old PCs that are responsible for my algae troubles having gone the way of... well, death. But I agree, I havent had any new growth since I did the build!

It's because of the very tight and selective wavelength output of the LEDs. The amount of red emmited by the white LEDs is limited, and very narrow. It's peak is also at a lower wavelength than the peak response for photosynthesis for the algaes.

Awesome. Just another LED victory.

Oh, and devil pink stuff:



It's at the end of John's nuisance thread. He says nerites and hermits eat it.

It's interesting because I have pretty much zero algae in my led-lit aquarium but in my sump (which has a warm white CF light) I have a decent amount of red algae.

I have seen a foxface eat the devil pink stuff before BTW

Ok, but what about macros? I gotta have my ornamental algae!

Evil?

would having leds inhibit macro(nice stuff) algae growth as it does the micro (hairalgae)algaes? thoughts?

It could. If it were for a fuge, you could use neutral white LEDs to up the red quotient. You could use the same LEDs in the display too, but mix them in with cool whites so the color temp doesn't drop too much. Macros (chaeto, halimeada, caulerpa, etc...) seem to be affected differently to micros (GHA, bryopsis, etc...) from my experience. I have grown chaeto with cool white LEDs before without issue.

Alright, sounds good, thanks Evil!

YIKES!

Cotton Candy Algae!

Too bad you can't isolate it, it's wicked looking stuff.