coraline algea (semi long post)

[weazil]

Coraline agea, I know its the purple algea that was on most of my lr, but my question is do I have a problem if it doesnt seem to spread?
I was reading many posts about people letting it grow across the sides and back of tank.
well on some of my lr the coraline has died off and just light green algea has grown in its place.
all readings seem normal, temp 80, nitrite 0, ph 8.3, nitrate 0, amonia <sp> 0.
ive got 2 24" atenics on tank about 20 hrs a day til i can get lights upgraded. dunno watts on the atenics, was told all 24" had the same watts as far as that goes, maybe someone can tell me.. im thinkin 20 watts per bulb and its a twin tube setup.
fish seem to be happy, 2 anomes are doing great.... growing fast, mushrooms( hairy and regular) seem to be spreading, green starburst polyps arent very happy but i think a few of my crabs are nipping them they seemed to have died at first but now im seeing more and more little guys over the one rock, and it looks like a feather duster but clear white and fairly small well there was just one of them but i found 2 more small ones near the rock from the polyps.
just curious about the coraline algea, was reading and that seems to be the kind of algea you wanna see in the tank, and mine just doesnt seem to be doing much of anything.
I have a large clean up crew from swf, and they seem to keep the walls and most of the rocks from getting too dirty, I also have a sterilizer on the tank, I need to check the size.
but so far so good no problems with anything but was just very curious on the algea issue... :-/

 

[jacrmill]

coralline algae needs good water quality, good water movement and moderate lighting. but the thing is if you have an anemone then all of that would have to be good for the anemone to be doing good. the last thing coralline alge needs is a lot of calcium, like in the 400-450 range. might check that. also how long have you had the rock in there? when i first put my rock in there it got worse before it got better.

 

[dugan]

Try testing for and adding calcium til you hit 450. I noted a huge bloom (?) of coraline in my FOWLR tank after I started putting calcium in.
Katie

 

[jimi]

Yes, what is your calcium and alk levels? I have found lots of water movement to be one of the major factors in its spread. The sterilizer could be stopping it too.

 

[weazil]

ok... was told by a guy at the lfs here that what ever brand of test kits they have suck.
what do you all recomend and where can i find it online? since my lfs here doesnt have the good stuff.
I'm going later to buy alk and cal. test kits and just see how alful the results seem.
just because I don't exactly trust the guy that told me their kits suck... because he was telling me some setting for lights and according to him i should have somewhere between 5-8 watts per gal. so..... im gonna say hell with him and atleast try the kits.
I will post my info and hopefully someone can tell me if the results sound way off. I will also tell what brand kits they are.

 

[reefkeeper1]

For a true reef tank you really do need 3 to five watts per gallon. Now there is the exeption to the rule as with mushrooms and depending on what anenome you have. The guy at the store was jsut informing you of where you need to be to keep a wide range of corals.

 

[weazil]

ok the test kits are fastest and seatest.
cal. around 420... might be a little higher was unsure about the color and i think i miss counted on one drop, I'm gonna re test later tonight when i return.
alk. 150 ppm CaCO, 10.5 carbonate hardness, 8.76 grains per callon CaCO
?? those readings sound ok??
lr has been in tank about a month... or just under a month.