problems w/ coralline

[fishfanatic2]

Apparently, my tanks take FOREVER to mature, since after almost 3 years I have JUST started to get coralline on the glass. It has begun to grow alot now, but in the center of large patches, and even some of the smaller dots, white/brown/yellow patches begin to form. This has slowly happened to the largest patch on my rocks. These spots come off very easily, and it's as if the coralline is dying from the inside out while reproducing throughout the tank. Some similar patches, albeit much smaller, are on my toadstool leather, which otherwise seems to be doing great. There is a decent amount of hair algae on the rocks. Water params-

pH-8.4
Calcium-330
SG-1.022 (I'm raising it currently)
Nitrite-0

Any ideas what this could be? I'm venturing a guess towards calcium deficiency, but I'm not sure.

 

[Nanogasm]

Well, I'm not experienced enough to know if it is a calcium deficiency problem, but by comparison... my tank after 7 months has the live rock pretty much solid purple. My calcium is around 420.

 

[Anonymous]

What do you have for lights again?

I had a set of lights once that killed all the coralline I had on the glass....

 

[fishfanatic2]

2 65 watt PCs, 1 actinic the other a 10k bulb.

I use IO salt, could that be the reason my calcium is a bit low?

 

[Anonymous]

well, we have the same lights and I am not growing any to speak of since I put them in so, that could be it.

I am not really sure though, hopefully one of the coralline gods will speak up soon...

 

[LA-Lawman]

Do you have any rocks that are just encrusted with coraline.. if so try and place it in a spot where a powerhead just beats on it so you force the algae to migrate... this will help tons...

My new tank has been up since april and my coraline is taking off. I learned that trick from a buddy and it works everytime...

 

[fishfanatic2]

Most of my rocks are encrusted with hair algae, so not much luck there.

It's growing pretty well, but seems to be 'souring' after a while.

 

[Anonymous]

IME - if the hair algae is growing that means phosphate is present and coraline does not do well with PO4 present.
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[fishfanatic2]

This is still pretty confusing-whatever is wrong has caused my once-biggest patch to go completely white.

I haven't tested for PO4, I should get a test kit or bring to LFS.

 

[Anonymous]

Another thing that will cause it to go white is draining the tank down so its exposed to air.

My water changes always killed the top bit of Coralline....

 

[moses13]

I had very good luck with tons of coralline using Sunpaq combo pc bulbs with the following: 2 x 10000K/6700k Dual daylight + 2x 7100 Blue / Actinic 03 Dual. I recently replaced them with 2x 8800K and 2 x Actinic 03 and most of my coralline in well lit areas ended up bleaching out. Those 8800K bulbs were on clearance at marinedepot and I think are the culprit. So much for trying to save a few bucks!

 

[Anonymous]

Low/moderate light + Calcium + ALK = Coralline.

Just find which of the above you are lacking and fix the equation.

 

[ReefTiger]

From the first post you said your calcium is 330. If you already have coralline laying down then it is using your calcium. I'd recommend dosing with B-ionic to make up for daily tank usage of calcium. This way plenty of Ca is available and alk will stay stable.

Also, phosphates will inhibit just as stated in an earlier post.

Hope this helps!

 

[Anonymous]

You know what?

I was dosing with Bi-onic when I had coralline all over the tank...

I quit because I ran out of money for it.

After the new year I am going to start that back up...

 

[Anonymous]

fishfanatic2, not sure if this will help but what I did for my 90 to get it growing was to scrape my rocks to get that coralline spreading in the water. I had it everywhere.

 

[sawyerc]

I would also reccomend a two part calcium supplement to get your Ca and Alk up. In addition, you might take a very small piece of corraline encrusted live rock either from your tank or the LFS and crush it with pliers. Then sprinkle the "seeds" all over your tank. Works like a charm!

 

[shalegac]

If you have a good LFS then you can ask them to scrape some of their coraline off one of their tanks. Then crush it up and spread it all over your LR.

 

[fishfanatic2]

I will try upping the calcium as well as seeding some coralline.

Thanks all!

 

[pwj1286]

get some blue light in there.

I had a 175 watt MH @ 20K and it grew all over. I got a lot of the PINK or purple strans.

Pink and purple coralline tend to like brighter light, where as orange, green, and various uncommon colors (not typically found in most reeftanks) like little or no light.

Try kalkwasser. Bring that Ca ppm up. I have used other products like Purple UP and Fiji Gold, but none are as cheap as kalkwasser.
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[DK]

Yup, Ca should be in the 450 range and Mg should be at natural levels....>1300. If you add dKH >9, you will have more corraline than you could hope for. Also, whern the corraline takes off, it will out compete the other algae. With ca at 330, I am surprised you are getting any growth. You can also try Kent turbo calcium or use a ca based ice melter (same stuff as the Kent). I use ESV Mg for supplemental additions.

My brand new 220 is less than 2 months old and the corraline is taking off, it is connected to all my other tanks which have solid growth.