Coral line algea

How do I get that beutiful purpel color in in my tank(on the glass and rocks).



gabe

 

If you have live rock with corraline algae it will spread in time if your calcium levels are high enough and you have adequate light

 

Yup! Proper alkalinity levels and proper calcium levels.

 

Cool, thanks



gabe

 

Yo. Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth here. It is apparently a bit more complicated than just alk and calc. Tell ya why. I have two tanks, a 90 and a 75 going. Both have the same water in them because I transfer it every wkend. Reason - because I set up the 90 and could not get the nitrates down no how (~50ish) cause the tank is pretty well loaded. The 75 is lightly loaded and was to hold caulerpa and later mangroves. Worked well cause my nitrates are ~10 in both tanks after intermixing every wkend. Anyway, to make a short story long, the 90 has 440 watt vho's over it (bluish tint)but very little coralline in it. I figured since the 75 was for plants I'd go cheap so I DIYed 4 four foot standard flourescents in the hood, total = 160 watts of ~5500K (reddish tint) light. Even better, I keep the lights on over the 75 for ~ 4 hrs less than the 90. Pink coralline is covering everything the light can reach in the 75. Everything and at a fairly fast clip - shells, glass, live rock, snails and hermits! ;D I have to add that I add a good bit of iron to my water (Mrs. Stewarts)regularly for the mangroves, but both tanks get it eventually as I mentioned. Both tanks have been seeded with the same LR.

ca = 425+
alk = 12+
all else pretty standard
Good luck!

 

Hi Big Wally B! Welcome to 3 Reef!

Those are very intersting observations! Thanks for sharing them!

Coralline algae is a plant, so thinking about this, it makes sense. It is also a plant that does not need very intense lighting, that is true. In face, in some spots, right under my MH, the coverage is indeed less.

Most of us have our display tank lighting set ups specifically for the animals we want to keep, eg...LPS, or SPS, which have very different lighting requirements. So that is a factor that is usually not adjustable....so rarely mentioned in reference to getting coralline to grow. HOWEVER, lots of times, people are cycling their tanks when they ask this question, and light can indeed be adjusted during that period....additionally, I for instance, have a combo lighting setup. I run 1 - 175 MH, plus 2 96W VHO's, so I could swap out a VHO (actinics) for a daylight spectrum bulb and theoretically, that would help. ;D

Thanks for adding to this thread, and you made me think at 8 AM

This is also true of many corals. You get better growth rates under the yellow lighting, but many will turn to plain brown....colors stay a bit better under the blue lighting....it' s a trade off there...

Have a great holiday weekend!!! ;D ;D

 

OK Here's one for you.

I had stacks of coraline algae growing in my tank for the last year. I started using RO water (buffering as reccommended and adding trace elements) but the coraline algae on the glass of the tank has bleached. There is green coralline algae, but no pink. All gone. It has only died off halfway down the glass though. Behind the rocks at the back it is still there, and is still all over the rocks and gravel. The Water hardness and alkalinity and OG is the same as it has always been.

Weird.

The only things I am doing different is the addition of the RO water and the new 12v blue moon lights. Is it the light? Could be.

What a dilemma

 

For what it is worth, I have pink coraline in my tank..and I also have moon lights.

 

And I also use RO/DI water.

 

I doubt it is the moonlights....

Perhaps the water clarity has increased such that it was light shocked??? I don't know!!! RO/DI water can be very poor in alkalinity. I have trouble keeping my alk/ca balanced....also, check your magnesium...perhaps that is being removed by the ro/di and not replenished enough by your salt mix?