Coraline Not Growing...

[Chris3859]

I so know about the API phosphate kit. It sucks!! OK, try this. The color of the test water should be lighter than any of the color tabs on the chart. If it is even close to the lightest color tab...too much phosphate. Try a dedicated phosphate reactor. They are cheap...I have a Kent reactor that I tumble charcoal in. I paid $50 for the reactor and power head. Run phos ban until phosphates read 0. Keep up your water changes. What salt are you using? I use Red Sea reef salt. Give it a try. Some cheaper salts have phosphate in them. Strange huh? Anyway if you try Red Sea, don't get the regular mix, make sure it's the "reef" mix. I contains more trace than the regular mix. I don't remember reading if you did this or not, but change the filter in your RO/DI unit. If none of this helps your algae problem, go outside, scream real loud, kick something, then go back in an try to figure out your next move. This step always works for me. This is why I love this hobby. It keeps me challenged.

 

[CMG]

hahaha. The ro/di unit is pretty much brand new, and the TDS meter reads 0 on the water it is producing. The reactor I am working on should be done by sunday so I hope that will help. I plan on running phosguard in it.

I originaly started out with Reef Crystals and have since moved to Instant Ocean, I do not know if these are considered to be crappy salts.

 

[Origami2547]

I am using seachem test kits for the alk and they read in meq/L so it is high. Like is said before, all the research I have done on alk only shows how to raise it not lower it, so I am confused on how to do that.

5.5 meq/l = 15.4 dKH. A little high, but not completely out of whack for Ca of 440. Read this link. If you want to bring your high alk down, use waterchanges to do it.

Chemistry and the Aquarium

 

[surplusrifleguy]

I am using seachem test kits for the alk and they read in meq/L so it is high. Like is said before, all the research I have done on alk only shows how to raise it not lower it, so I am confused on how to do that. I think I may hace a phosphate problem since I have hair algae and the phosphate test is hard to understand so I dont even know what it is. I will have to get a different brand next time.

I use API test kits for amonia, phosphate, and calcium. Then I use seachem test kits for nitrite, nitrate, ph, and alk.

I put some phosphate filter pad in my sump just now and also scrapped some red and purple coraline off one of my rocks into the water column and onto some other rocks. We will see what happens.

I don't like the API test kits. I use Salifert for all my tests except for ALK and PH. For those I use Tropic Marin. I found these to be the most accurate for the money. I have tried a API calcium test kit and found it to almost always be 40ppm low. I confirmed this with a Salifert and a Digital Calcium probe at my local fish store. So if your using API calcium and your calcium is 450ppm, there's a very good chance it's really 490ppm which is to high and may be helping negative algae growth. For phosphate, my Salifert test always comes in the same as the digital, only the digital is better in the lower range.

 

[CMG]

I just wanted thank everyone for all their help, I usually dont get so much feedback. So all this info is great.

While my readings seem to be consistent from week to week my tank stil isnt a year old. So maybe after a while longer things will continue to change. I do water changes every week so that should help.