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I purchased this light and hood for my 20L tank earlier this year: http://www.current-usa.com/products/novax.html

While it is a great fixture and produces gorgeous lighting, I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly. There are 2 seperate bulbs (one white and one blue) and I tend to use the former throughout the day and the latter in the evening before I turn it off and the lunar lights come on. With the way I'm using it now, my tank is being overrun with algae. Should I be doing something else, like using both lights all day? Does anyone have any experience with the Nova Extreme?

Not farmiliar with that particular light fixture, but the actinic (blue) light will make algae grow rampant, and is not essential for a healthy freshwater fish tank. It's mainly used in saltwater tanks to propogate photosynthetic corals. You can replace the actinic bulb with a full daylight or a 50/50 bulb if the full daylight is too bright for you

piscean.dream,

I agree with Fallout on the actinic light part.

In addition, are you sure you have a 20L (as in Liter) tank or is it a 20G?
What dimensions does your tank have (in particular length)?
How long do you leave your lights on per day?

I assume you have real plants, right? If so, what do you have?

The link you provide leads to a page that has fixtures with at least 4 bulbs. You have only 2 or 2 of each?
What is their wattage?

Thanks,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

[font color="#BF791F"]Sorry I wasn't clearer in my initial post. First, my tank is a 20-gallon long, which I hope to upgrade to a 29-gallon by the end of the year. Second, I gave the wrong link. I don't have an Extreme Nova, I have a Satellite Dual: http://www.current-usa.com/products/satellite.html
Currently it has two bulbs: a 65-watt Dual Daylight and a 65-watt Dual Actinic. I used to have the daylight bulb on from about 7-9 a.m. until 5-7 p.m. then I'd switch on the actinic bulb for a few hours before bed (10 p.m.-midnight), but since reading both posts here, I haven't used the actinic bulb at all.

I do have real plants, but I'm horrible at remembering the names of aquatic plants. I have tons of Corkscrew Val, but the other plants' names escape me at the moment.

So, the general concensus seems to ditch the actinic bulbs? I'm surprised that the owner of the petstore where I shop didn't say anything about that, as he's a friend of mine and would never sell me something merely to make some $$. Or, should I have both bulbs on at the same time? Thanks for all your advice.[/font]

Last edited by piscean.dream at 20-Sep-2005 08:10

Last edited by piscean.dream at 20-Sep-2005 08:11

piscean.dream,

Well I think it is time for you to create a new post in the Planted Forum as your algae problem most likely will continue.

But first, let me give you some info on your current condition:

a) You have a whopping 3.25WPG of light in your tank which is only 12” high. I make the assumption that you do not use fertilizers for your plants. If so, then your algae will win every time over your plants as soon as anything becomes available for them to eat. Your actinic light doesn’t help there either.

b) You have your lights (even without the actinic) on for up to 12 hours which is rather long given your light intensity. BTW, these types of lights are called Power Compact, or Compact Fluorescent.

c) I suggest you go through the trouble of identifying your plants so you can ask the appropriate questions in the planted forum.

d) I am wondering about your friend at the LFS? Why did he sell you this light? Did you tell him that you anticipate to upgrade to a larger (29 is even small given the potential of 130W = 4.5WPG) tank? This light level brings you into a realm of plant growing that goes a little beyond the beginner (no offense) stage.

For the time being, I would suggest you shorten your light period to a max of 10 hours per day, if not even less. And don’t use the actinic at all. And do a lot of reading about lights, nutrients, plants, and their relationship to each other.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

[font color="#BF791F"]This certainly does help, Ingo. Thank you for all of your insight. Looks like I've got a lot of research to do.

I'm going to start by decreasing the amount of time I have the light on each day. Also, I'm going to begin using the Flourish plant supplement by Seachem in this tank. (I also have a 55 gallon tank in which I use this plant supplement.)[/font]

Last edited by piscean.dream at 21-Sep-2005 10:17