Coraline algae turned white?

I am battling an algae problem in my tank. I just did a water change and got new bulbs for my fixture to combat it. I currently have only LR, turbo snails, and blue hermits in my tank. Prior to the water change the coraline algae was very colorful on the LR and back wall. Now many of the spots on the back wall are turning white. Any idea why this is happening?

 

Ok, not a pro, so you may want for someone to back me up, but Im pretty sure calcium is what feeds coraline algae. Maybe you should test for it.

I know when I take my powerheads out to be cleaned, all the coraline turns white, like bleach white, thats after about 20 minutes of cleaning. But after about a week back in the tank they get their purple color back.

Like I said Im not a pro like the rest of the 3reefers, but that my opinion.

 

Calcium and carbonates and strontium is what it loves to feed on as well as Magnesium . Maybe you allowed some trace element to fall off to low ? or the new bulbs are not the correct spectrum ? Corallines require 03 actinic more so then 10K . Check the parameters and salinity and see what what there.. The algae problem tells me the DKH and Cal. are way low get the ca to 400 to 500 and the Dkh to 13 to 15 and that should burn off the algae and kick the corallines back into over drive

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Your coraline is adapting to the brighter/different light. Some of the coraline doesn't like the new lighting conditions and is dying. Don't worry, a different species of coraline that likes those lighting conditions will eventually grow in its place.

You may want to cut back the number of hours of illumination in your tank and gradually increase it to allow things to acclimate over a longer period of time. This is especially true if you have corals. You can bleach or kill them by changing the lighting too quickly.

 

Thanks for the insight I'll get back to you guys with some more specs

 

+1 on light adaption. Light shock. It'll come back a more vivid purple in a month.

 

Could this refer to a hair alage problem as well? I was having a high calcium issue (there's a post about it here http://www.3reef.com/forums/asap/high-calcium-low-ph-54006.html ) and it's still high, reads about 600 or so (it's off the chart). I am still battling hair algae after only running actinics for a month now. I got an RO/DI and have a refugium. I am curious now that if raising dkh & ca can help with hair algae, why isn't the unintentional elevated levels helping with mine? Or does this not apply to hair algae?

 

It could also have turned white by being expossed to air. During my last big water change all the coraline algea that was in conmtact with air has turned white whereas the coraline that remained under water stayed purple and is multipling at an enraging rate. I scrape it off and a week later it is back. Man I hate this stuff.

 

You should scrape it and sell it on ebay or donate it to fellow 3reefers that have a problem growing coralline.

 

+1 i also experience this, every water change...