Coralline Algae on Live Rock Dissapearing. Help Please

[prostock442]

When I first put the live rock in my tank, it had a nice covering of Coralline Algae on it, nice purples & pinks. Now, 2 months later, the purples & pinks are slowly turning Green. Not hair algae as far as I can tell because it's not fuzzy, just looks green. Any idea's how I can reverse this? I have 4 Turbo Snails, 12 Nassarius Snails & 7 Emerald Green Crabs as clean up crew. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

NOTE: I dose Purple up & Calcium often. 4-5 times a week. Does not seem to help.

 

[frank180reef]

do u dose alk?

 

[P-Nut]

Do you measure parameters before adding stuff? All that purple stuff and coraline additives are calcium, mainly.
Is the green soft or hard? If it is hard, it is coraline, there are different colors of coraline.

One more thing: what kind of lighting do you have and where is the algae dissapearing; top, middle, bottom, all over?
Coraline can bleach with too much or too little light.

 

[prostock442]

Ok - Frank, I don't dose Alk.

P-Nut - I don't have a kit for testing Calcium but took a water sample to my LFS yesterday & Calcium is at 400. The green algae (I'm assuming it's algae) is hard & it's all over, top, middle & bottom of LR.

Lighting is T-5 2 10K 54w bulbs & 2 420nm Actinic. I only run lights about 6 hours & at night time, usually 6pm to 11pm.

So your saying this green algae could very well be "Green" Coralline Algae? Well if it is, I'd prefer it be purple or pink, greens not my color. Let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[mnavick]

Pics??

 

[CoralJunkie]

Your calcium its a little low I would suggest picking up a good test kit red sea pro test kit for reef foundation it comes with a test kit for calcium magnesium and alk, I bet your mag is very low, if I were you I wouldn't dose anything until you get a test kit for it then start slow

 

[Matt W]

Calcium and Alk, Mg need to be in balance for optimal coralline and for that matter coral growth. Full tank conditions and parameters, including water volume could assist with diagnosing the lack of growth.

 

[prostock442]

I will pick up a test kit as soon as I can. I'm assuming the chart below is correct as for my Calcium, Mag & Alk numbers should be for optimal growth & healthiness of my Live Rock & Coralline Algae? As for Full Tank conditions & parameters, what is it exactly you need to know? I'll provide what I know to this point. I will also provide pictures. Just another note. I've noticed that allot of the purple area's have turned a gray color. Is my Live Rock dying?

TANK PARAMETERS:
75G
Water Changes 10g weekly RO water or Premix
GH 180-200
KH 240-260
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 20ppm
Nitrites 0
PH 8.2
Temp 78.0
Salinity 1.024
Alk (don't know)
Mg (don't know)
Cal 400

CHART FROM LIVEAQUARIA.COM

Parameter: Reef Aquarium: FOWLR Aquarium: Average levels for Coral Reefs:
Specific Gravity 1.023 - 1.025 1.020 - 1.025 1.025
Temperature 72 - 78°F 72 - 78°F 82°F
pH 8.1 - 8.4 8.1 - 8.4 8.0 - 8.5
Alkalinity 8 - 12 dKH 8 - 12 dKH 6 - 8 dKH
Ammonia (NH3) Undetectable Undetectable Near Zero
Nitrite (NO2) Undetectable Undetectable Near Zero
Nitrate (NO3) < 1.0 ppm < 30 ppm 0.25 ppm
Phosphate < 0.2 ppm < 1.0 ppm 0.13 ppm
Calcium 350 - 450 ppm 350 - 450 ppm 380 - 420 ppm
Magnesium 1250 - 1350 ppm 1150 - 1350 ppm 1300 ppm
Iodine 0.06 - 0.10 ppm 0.04 - 0.10 ppm 0.06 ppm
Strontium 8 - 14 ppm 4 - 10 ppm 8 - 10 ppm

I have been dosing a small amount of Strontium but without a test kit, I've basically been dosing blindly. Like I stated, I will pick up a kit & start testing.
Here are pictures of my tank. Allot of the green color used to be purple. Not sure what's going on. Thanks for the help.

 

[P-Nut]

.....

Sorry, I posted before seeing the pics. Also, I dont know why my post has a thumbs down.

 

[prostock442]

Pictures are posted above - Corals, I only have a couple softies. Trying my luck with them & so far, they are doing very well. I have:

1 small colony - Green Star Polyp
1 small colony - Pink Eagle Eye Polyp
5 - Kenya Tree's
10- Brown Polyps (not sure technical name).

That's it.

NOTE: Forgot to mention I have 75 Pounds of LR & 80 Pounds of Live Sand. Might be Important.

 

[P-Nut]

Pictures are posted above - Corals, I only have a couple softies. Trying my luck with them & so far, they are doing very well. I have:

1 small colony - Green Star Polyp
1 small colony - Pink Eagle Eye Polyp
5 - Kenya Tree's
10- Brown Polyps (not sure technical name).

That's it.

If you change your water weekly your calcium should be higher. I had 120lbs of completly covered in purple rock sitting in a tub for 2 months. I did water changes weekly. CAL was never under 480 and I never measured alk. By the end if the two months one third of the tub had coraline on.

 

[stingythingy45]

GH 180-200
KH 240-260

What are these parameters?
I'm no chemist,but,never seen KH 240-260

Also,I think you already know why the coralline is bleaching.Dosing blindly is a really bad idea.

 

[stingythingy45]

If you change your water weekly your calcium should be higher. I had 120lbs of completly covered in purple rock sitting in a tub for 2 months. I did water changes weekly. CAL was never under 480 and I never measured alk. By the end if the two months one third of the tub had coraline on.

Agree,with the colonies of coral you have and the small amount of coralline covered LR you should be good for now dosing nothing.
And just doing water changes with good quality reef salt.

 

[prostock442]

Yeah, I'm just starting out so it's all new to me. I'll look into picking up a test kit soon. What is the best test kit to test those three, Mag, Alk & Calcium?

NOTE: I do my water changes using Premixed from my LFS - They use Red Sea Coral Pro Reef Mix. They say it's the best.

 

[P-Nut]

Yeah, I'm just starting out so it's all new to me. I'll look into picking up a test kit soon. What is the best test kit to test those three, Mag, Alk & Calcium?

There really isnt a best kit, but there are some good ones. Salifert and Elos are good. I like salifert, I am used to them and have done over 200 alk tests with them.
The red sea pro (not the lab pro crap) alk test is also good. It usually measures the same as the Salifert test.

Stay away from Hanna. Their Alk test is supposed to be good, but I measured 3 times in a row and got three numbers. I did this several times with the same result. Maybe I got a defective unit.
Basicaly, you want a test that even if it is a little high or low will always show the same number, consistency is what is important here.

 

[prostock442]

GH 180-200
KH 240-260

What are these parameters?
I'm no chemist,but,never seen KH 240-260

Also,I think you already know why the coralline is bleaching.Dosing blindly is a really bad idea.

The GH is General Hardness.

The KH is Carbonate Hardness.

I use API 5 in 1 Test Strips. If you look on the bottle they come in, these are the first 2 tests.

And Yes, I know I should be using Liquid Test Kit, not sticks. I'm going to invest in a good test kit as soon as I can.

And what's your point Bob about the GH & KH?

 

[stingythingy45]

Yeah, I'm just starting out so it's all new to me. I'll look into picking up a test kit soon. What is the best test kit to test those three, Mag, Alk & Calcium?

NOTE: I do my water changes using Premixed from my LFS - They use Red Sea Coral Pro Reef Mix. They say it's the best.

Mg,is the tough one,I would go with Elos or Salifert for that.
Alk can be as simple as an API or elos there as well.
Calcium the same as the alk kits,API or Elos.

I've been testing for years now and find that the API works just fine and is often close to the other more expensive kits.
The only way I trust water parameters and how good they are is if I mix them myself.

 

[stingythingy45]

The GH is General Hardness.

The KH is Carbonate Hardness.

I use API 5 in 1 Test Strips. If you look on the bottle they come in, these are the first 2 tests.




And what's your point Bob?

I was just wondering how you got those numbers without a test kit.I must have missed where you mentioned using the strips.
I've never used them so didn't know they had those parameters for alk on there.
You find that the test kits for dkh are quite easy to use.It's just a matter of counting drops to see when the water color changes.
That # will equally the dkh.I've never really tested anything in meq/l either.

 

[P-Nut]

240x0.056 = 13.6 dkh (I believe it is multiplied by 0.056 for dkh and 0.02 for meg/l)

 

[stingythingy45]

240x0.056 = 13.6 dkh (I believe it is multiplied by 0.056 for dkh and 0.02 for meg/l)

Good find,never seen this before.KH>dkh
13.6 dkh would be pretty high.