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What's up everyone? Moderators, I posted this in the general section because I need help ASAP with this problem. Anyways, my newest 55 gallon is my first experience with lace rock. It's beautfiful, or at least it was! The 55 gallon currently houses 5 eels with Carib-Sea White Sand for a substrate. There are four pieces of driftwood and one Java Fern I have been testing with to see what kind of scenery I can make. The tank has been going for about 4-5 weeks now with no problems whatsoever. But, when I checked it out about 2-3 days ago, I see red algae forming a nasty layer on my lace rock. Only half of the tank is lit right now because I had broken the other power compact bulb when first testing the hood and light fixture...yes, I am an idiot. I was very excited about my new 55 gallon at the time and was in a hurry before work. The thing is, is that only the side with the working power compact bulb has the red algae bloom. My concerns are this: Does Actinic lighting promote red algae growth (I have 50/50 lighting)? And, how do I stop this massacre from happening?

Any help would be appreciated. This is turning my once beautiful 55 gallon into the ugliness of a backyard retention pond ...

Actinic does seem to promote algae, at least IME its been a bit of a pain

how long has the tank been up? I assume you have checked the parameters already?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Here's the low down on my 55 gallon. I'm currently using the Current USA Satellite 48" power compact fixture which can be found on BigAlsOnline.com here: http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=29605;category_id=3797;pcid1=1843;pcid2=. Like I said, only one of the power compact bulbs is working, and the lace rock located under it is the pieces covered in red algae. I use a Pro Clear Aquatics Model 75 wet/dry filter with a Quiet One 3000 (rated at approx. 780 gph) return pump and a Rena 300 watt for heating. Temperature stays right around 78-80 degrees. I just tested the water tonight as well and everything was fine until I got to the nitrites. pH was around 7.6, ammonia was below .025 ppm, and then nitrites were skyrocketed to almost 1.0 ppm! That's enough to be lethal from what I've read! And this confuses me because I thought that there was a relation between nitrite and ammonia levels? How can ammonia be so low and nitrite be so high? The test kit I have is made by Marine Interprises International and uses the chemical reagents for testing, not test strips. I'm so confused right now with the nitrites. I am by far no professional when it comes to this stuff so any help is appreciated.

I also have a set of the Current USA Dual Daylight (6700K & 10,000K) bulbs coming in as well as a set of the straight dual 10,000K bulbs. I wanted to test these lights versus my 50/50 with the 460nm Actinic to see if I got rid of the Actinic light would it reduce algae growth...especially this horrid red algae?