whats the cause : coraline die off

is coraline algae photosynthetic?

I am asking because I had a ton of coraline algae die off slowly over the last 4-5 months...I was having problems with using my new LED fixtures...my corals were bleaching and my nems.

would the light have something to do with the coraline algae dieing off? It has turned kinda white looking and i have bare glass in spots where it once was a solid wall of purple???

I realize like corals it uses calcium, i dont have a deficiency in calcium. would something else in my water chemistry cause coraline die off??

When i went to my LFS to explain that I didn't like the LED fixture he sold me cause everything was bleaching his response was that he thinks it was something with my water chemistry that was causing it.....is that possible?

i took to be a load of BS and went elsewhere !

 

IIRC coralline likes lower lights, I would attribute the die off to your new lights (from your other post). Now that you have switched back to T-5's you may see it bounce back. I'm not saying it won't grow under the LEDs just that the shock of new lights would have caused the die off. With the brighter lights it is still possible for it to grow, it just may do so slower.

 

my tank cover causes a shadow from my MH lights, and there is an almost perfect line at the shadow where coralline stops growing.

IME, if all your prams are where their posta be, its 100% a lighting issue.

i have to scrape my front and sides once a month just to see inside the tank. i cant get my coraline to slow down.

 

+1 on lights but throwing out an alternative.

Yes, Coralline is photosynthetic.

I have read that phosphate buildup in the rocks can stunt or deplete coralline over time.

 

thanks, i was 99% sure it was the lights. I use to have to scrape the glasss weekly or i would have nothing but a purple box

...one other observation i have made that others may be interested...

although my purple coraline died off, it appears that i have some new coraline that is orange and some that is green. At first i didn't think anything of it but i believe it was able to grow where the purple could not.

 

Yeah the orange and green coraline comes from a different area in nature then the purple does. I wish i could remember exactly where they came from (FIJI?) but the orange is super cool, esp under actenic

 

yeah that is how i noticed it actually.. it looks sweet under the actenic. at first it was just a small spot or two on one piece of LR. now its big enough i can see it with my day lights on....I hope it continues to grow

 

Have you considered a Blue Tuxedo Urchin for control of the Coraline. It worked wonders for me in my 150.

 

i have but never seen them at our LFS yet.... last time i ordered something online the entire lot showed up dead so i don't want to do that again even if i dont get charged for it..

 

I'll take the bait. Could be phosphate related ;p And even if your coralline dies off, it will regrow under those new leds just the same. Taken that its a good led system.