Hi i set my tank up in December and noticed last week a few random small dots that appears to be coraline algae starting to.grow.on the dry rock i seeded in my tank.. is that normal for it to.show up that soon in a sw tank? Does that mean i.have great water quality or what does it mean? I hope it keeps growing and.turn my dry rock purple. Right now it is white with green and other random color algae growth on them from my lights.. any other facts about coraline algae? Im surprised i have it because i do not dose anything into my tank
coraline algae
- Thread starter aprime11b
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theplantman
Active Member
It means your calcium levels are holding well and you are getting plenty of light. The little spots start showing up after a month or two and are fairly slow to spread, be patient, but also be thankful because once you get good coraline algae coverage it will start wanting to take over the glass as well which means cleaning the glass every other day at a minimum. Oh and then the pumps, those are a pull out, vinegar soak and toothbrush scrub. let the fun begin.
Also in a lot of case coraline starts out green anfd then turns purple after a few months. half the live rock in my tank is currently at this stage but i got mine fully cured so may be ahead of the game here. I have two spots on the glass where purple coraline is starting to show up that i have to scrape this weekend.
Also in a lot of case coraline starts out green anfd then turns purple after a few months. half the live rock in my tank is currently at this stage but i got mine fully cured so may be ahead of the game here. I have two spots on the glass where purple coraline is starting to show up that i have to scrape this weekend.
It means your calcium levels are holding well and you are getting plenty of light. The little spots start showing up after a month or two and are fairly slow to spread, be patient, but also be thankful because once you get good coraline algae coverage it will start wanting to take over the glass as well which means cleaning the glass every other day at a minimum. Oh and then the pumps, those are a pull out, vinegar soak and
toothbrush scrub. let the fun begin.
Also in a lot of case coraline starts out green anfd then turnsthan purple after a few months. half the live rockmy tank is currently at this stage but i got mine fully cured so may be ahead of the game here. I have two spots on the glass where purple coraline is starting to show up that i have to scrape this weekend.
Thanks for the reply..how are my calcium levels good when i do not dose? Does my parameters effect the coraline or no. I tested and i have. 25 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate and 8.0 pH
I want the purple on my rocks. When it starts spreading maybe in a few months how do i control it besides scraping glass. Or can i?
Your salt mix has calcium in it so that's where it is coming from. What corals are in your tank? If there isn't a lot then they are not depleting you CA levels very fast......and when you do water changes your putting more calcium in.
What kind of salt do you use?
What kind of salt do you use?
theplantman
Active Member
+1
Also, your ammonia seems very high for a tank that has already cycled. I would also like to hear your full stocking list and some tank specs, lbs of live rock and the amount of livestock compared to filtration methods. After 3 months ammonia should be almost non existent in tests unless there is a problem because your biological filtration should be keeping up with it without issues. I would have expected 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and a small amount of nitrates 0-20ppm depending on when your next water change is due.
If you are using a decent salt mix and doing weekly water changes, you most likely will not have to dose calcium in your tank unless you stock heavily in sps or have multiple large clams. Just keep control of your alk as it effects ph, and available calcium in the system.
Let me guess, you're using the API test kit for the ammonia right? If so, your ammonia is probably 0......the kit is hard to read and some of them show that .25 reading. As plantman said, if you're at .25 after 3 months something is up.
I recommend Salifert, especially for ammonia......no mistaken that for a false reading.
I recommend Salifert, especially for ammonia......no mistaken that for a false reading.
I know its high thats why I been doing weekly water changes instead of bi-weekly. its a 220g, 72''x24''x31'', 120 lbs LR in DT, 50 lbs LR in sump and 50 lbs LR/rubble in refuge. Sump is 40g with LR, filter sock and foam blocks that get cleaned every week, protein skimmer, phosban reactor and GFO reactor. fuge has 4'' DSB, 3 pepermint shrimp, a few snails and blue leg crabs and one emerald crab, with chaeto algae in.. It has a powerhead and light as well.. DT has 2'' sand about 120-150 lbs, and rock was already stated above, 3 koralia 1400 power heads, light is a ATI T5 HO, 10x80w bulb fixture. I have fans that run in the hood and a fan that blows on surface of sump.. recently got RO/DI set up and now use that with a 20g bucket for holding tank with an ATO into the sump (fresh RO/DI water)
CUC is about 40 snails of various types and 5 blue leg crabs.
Stock is: 1 5'' dog face, 1 5'' Pinktail trigger, 1 10'' bamboo, 2 clowns, 5 damsels, 1 foxface and 2 benggai cardinals, total of 13 fish..
CUC is about 40 snails of various types and 5 blue leg crabs.
Stock is: 1 5'' dog face, 1 5'' Pinktail trigger, 1 10'' bamboo, 2 clowns, 5 damsels, 1 foxface and 2 benggai cardinals, total of 13 fish..
yes I use the API master test kit (liquids) in test tubes... I agree they are sometimes hard to read but I feel like its closer to the .25... Dang, maybe it is 0!
theplantman
Active Member
Try a different test kit, your system sounds awesome, i cannot fathom you getting an ammonia reading unless you bought uncured rock and dead stuff is still decomposing which is not the case here. have you posted any pics of the system yet? would love to see it.
Its a brand new test kit. And thanks, glad you think so! It it slowly coming together but as we all know it takes time.. I think I posted some photos in my into post.. I will try to post some more soon.. I was mainly curious about the coraline algae. I just hope it does not take over my class. I am still working on my back glass as it is so hard to reach even with tools inside my hood because of the depth and light fixture hanging.. 3 sides clean and even a few areas towards the bottom I cant reach to clean the harder green algae.
theplantman
Active Member
unless the back glass is also a viewable side, i would not worry about the coraline on it, let it do its thing there, makes for a nice backdrop IMO. Plus it will hide any wires, tubing that may be visible.
Well the abck of the tank is paint blue and looks very nice when it is clean. It already had some coraline and other hard stuff formed on the back and overflows when I bought the tank... Since then, it did its cycle and there is hard brown algae, not sure what it is, maybe old diatoms or something but its very hard to scrub off even with a razor... I agree coraline is nice and I wouldnt mind the back being purple, or purple and blue but right now its a gross dark brown and other colors that I am trying to remove.. the CUC does not seem to really eat it, not sure why! again, I am not worried about coraline on the back, but issue is the coraline will not grow over the backdrop infested with other algae until I remove it.
theplantman
Active Member
I am guessing the paint is on the outside of the glass, try using a glass scraper, they make them with long handles for hard to reach areas. The only way I know of other than elbow grease to get rid of old coraline is a vinegar soak. Does not help you though now that the tank is up. Coraline will grow over most anything if it is a dead material so eventually if the brown stuff dies, you will be in good shape.
201_zpsdc954dde.jpg Photo by Brian_Shleifer | Photobucket
171_zps1133dee6.jpg Photo by Brian_Shleifer | Photobucket
not sure why they didnt work, I posted URL.
171_zps1133dee6.jpg Photo by Brian_Shleifer | Photobucket
not sure why they didnt work, I posted URL.
theplantman
Active Member
When you post picks, click on insert image icon and paste url or html address there and image will show up.
