Coraline Algae

[cushen123]

I just purchased 11 pds of lr and it had some good coraline growth on it, but now after 3 days it seems like one of the lr coraline is dying off. I started adding this chemical B-Ionic to help with pH, calcium and alkalinity, but not sure how long it will take for this stuff to work. Anyone have some pointers or answers for a newbie???

 

[hedonic]

How long has your tank been setup? Did you start adding the B-Ionic before or after you introduced the LR? What kind of lights do you have?
IF the tank has been setup for a while (5/6 months plus) coraline algae should be growing, providing needed calcium/akalinity levels, but often it takes that long for coraline algae to really take off. If you started adding the B-Ionic just before, or right after you put the LR in, there might just not be a high enough calcium level to sustain what was already on the rock. No worries however because that will soon be fixed after a few weeks with the B-ionic. Often (There are many other factors that can affect coraline algae growth or lack there of), normal flourescent lights are only enough to sustain coraline algae with limted slow growth. My tank did not explode with coraline until I switched to MH. All in all, coraline will come... hang in there.

 

[jjlittle]

This is common that you will have some die off. Make sure your testing when adding chemicals. For ALK , PH , Cal all effect each other so effecting one will effect teh others. Be cafeful and do reseach prior to adding chemicals

 

[cushen123]

I've got pc 4x65 so i think my lighting is sufficient. my tank is fairly new, and i added both the same day(b-ionic and lr). The lfs said that the coraline was like grass, plant one spot and it'll take over, but I don't want to kill what I have before it starts to grow. should I be concerned with this????

 

[hedonic]

Originally Posted by cushen123
should I be concerned with this????
I wouldn't be. Its like the movie field of dreams, if you build it (reeftank) they will come (coraline). Sorry for the bad metaphor, its been rough morning. The PC is plenty for good corline growth and I think in the next week or two you will see the corlaine on the rock stop receeding and potentially expand. Just remember that any calcified algae is typically going to be slow growing, so when I said mine 'exploded' that was a 3 or 4 week explosion.

 

[hurt]

I've got pc 4x65 so i think my lighting is sufficient.
Yep, more than sufficient-perfect. Moderate lighting, aka pc and vho is better than MH to see the best results for coraline growth. So don't worry about your lighting.
Do you test for phosphates? Even moderate levels of phosphate will retard coraline growth.
What is you Ca, Alk, Mg and pH? If you have little to no phosphates, Ca in the 400-450 range and dKH in the 10-11 range, and Mg in the 1200-1300, and pH around 8.2 you will see excellent coraline growth.

 

[cushen123]

I'm going this afternoon to get those test kits. As of now i've have a problem with low pH, and added an entire bottle of ph buffer over teh period of 2 weeks, but still no increase in pH(8.0-8.1) so now that I've started adding b-ionic i hope to see an increase in ph, to atleast 8.3. So I need to test for calcium, phosphates, and.......

 

[hedonic]

If your ph is kept above 8.4, and nitrates kept low, PO4 (the most common organic phosphate) should remain in an insoluable form and not affect coraline algae growth. So I deffinitly agree with Hurt, heep that ph up!

 

[hurt]

Do you drip kalk? After I began dripping kalk, I can't scrap my tank enough to get rid of coraline algae. It has a very high pH-I believe around 11-12, so it should help to raise your pH slightly-that is why it is dripped. Also, when dripped directly into your skimmer it helps to remove phosphates. But, don't drip it unless you have the proper testing kits-Ca, Alk, and pH. As for adding a whole bottle of buffer-just use common baking soda(sodium bicarbonate).

 

[jdragunas]

Mind you, a ph buffer is deisgned to keep your ph maintained at a certain level, not to increase it, so if you keep adding it, and no result, don't add more. You could see build-up from adding too much buffer.
I'd also be careful about baking soda... it can contain some chemicals and/or preservatives that can be harmful to your tank. If PH is a problem, which it looks like it's not anymore, you can purchase an additive called "ph up", which can be found at your LFS. you add so many drops per so many gallons to increase the PH. You must test while doing this, because unlike a buffer, it will continue to raise your ph if you continue to add it.
Jenn

 

[cushen123]

Originally Posted by Hurt
Yep, more than sufficient-perfect. Moderate lighting, aka pc and vho is better than MH to see the best results for coraline growth. So don't worry about your lighting.
Do you test for phosphates? Even moderate levels of phosphate will retard coraline growth.
What is you Ca, Alk, Mg and pH? If you have little to no phosphates, Ca in the 400-450 range and dKH in the 10-11 range, and Mg in the 1200-1300, and pH around 8.2 you will see excellent coraline growth.

Ok, I get the Ca is the calcium, but what is MG?
I've seen test kits that say ph & Alk, what is the difference between ph and alkalinity?
and do I need a KH test?

 

[hurt]

I'd also be careful about baking soda... it can contain some chemicals and/or preservatives that can be harmful to your tank.
Exactly what in baking soda is harmful to a fish tank? I use it on occasion and my tank has shown no ill effects. The reason I began using baking soda instead of a "buffer" was after reading a post of "Bang Guy" who suggested it. He is a very knowledgeable member as I'm sure you know. Here are a couple of links to some of his various threads on the subject.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ht=Baking+Soda
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ht=Baking+Soda

 

[hedonic]

MG is magnesium. pH is simply a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. A pH of 7 is considered to be "neutral", neither acid or alkaline. pH levels above 7 are considered to be alkaline or "base". pH levels below 7 are considered to be acidic. The degree to which a solution maintains its pH when acid is added is termed the "alkalinity" of the solution. The amount of "buffers" in sea water determines the alkalinity.

 

[jdragunas]

Originally Posted by Hurt
Exactly what in baking soda is harmful to a fish tank? I use it on occasion and my tank has shown no ill effects. The reason I began using baking soda instead of a "buffer" was after reading a post of "Bang Guy" who suggested it. He is very knowledgable member as I'm sure you know. Here are a couple of links to some of his various threads on the subject.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ht=Baking+Soda
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ht=Baking+Soda

I didn't say it IS harmful, i just said to be careful. I didn't mean to come off rude, but it just is kind of scary for me to add something like that to a tank. I'd prefer to use the "ph up", which is designed for that specific purpose. Just giving more options, that's all.

jenn

 

[hurt]

pH is a term used to describe the relative concentrations of hydrogen ions present in a sample of H2O. Acids (<7) are substances that are able to ionize in solutions thereby increasing the concentration of H+ ions. They are proton donors. Bases (>7) will accept H+ ions readily. Thus they are proton acceptors; they increase the concentration of OH- in solutions. Hydroxide ions, OH- are basic because they will react with H+ ions to form H2O. (H+) + (OH-)=H2O. Thus if a solution has more H+ than OH- it is considered acidic. If a solution has more OH- than H+ it is considered basic.
So pH is simply a measure of the relative H+ ions present in H2O. Alkalinity is a relative measure of the amount of "buffers" present in H2O.
Mg stands for Magnesium. pH, Ca, Alk, and Mg are probably the most important measurements you can test for in your tank. When they are all in line, good things will happen for your coral, fish, inverts, and overall health of your tank.

 

[hurt]

I didn't say it IS harmful, i just said to be careful. I didn't mean to come off rude, but it just is kind of scary for me to add something like that to a tank. I'd prefer to use the "ph up", which is designed for that specific purpose. Just giving more options, that's all.
No offense taken, I am sorry if I come across as being rude :notsure: I was just curious as to why you felt it was harmful?

 

[jdragunas]

lol, well i didn't mean to "hurt" your feelings... HAHAHAHA... i just crack myself up.
About the baking soda, i've never heard anything bad about it, it just seems weird to me to add something like that to my tank, I'd be scared putting anything in my tank, if it isn't designed specifically for saltwater... Just my paranoia... lol.
Jenn

 

[hurt]

lol, well i didn't mean to "hurt" your feelings... HAHAHAHA... i just crack myself up.
Wow that's a good one, but nope-I assure you, you did not "hurt" my feelings.

I use "Hurt" as my screen name because my nickname is "BigHurt", but unfortunately it was already taken when I registered

 

[jdragunas]

weird it was already taken, doesn't seem like a common nickname...
Jenn

 

[hedonic]

Man this is a quality discussion of ph and alkalinity... we rock