coralline algea

anubix00

anubix00

Member
im not sure why, but my coraline algea wont really grow. i have a 100 gallon tank and ive got 2 big pieces of live rock in there and when i got them they were covered in coralline algea, but since i put it in my tank most of it is now lost. i have been adding seachem calcium and reef carbonate for about a month now, and ive got 2 VHOS on my tank. (i think its like around 300 watts total, i forgot) are there any other supplements i should be adding or what? im not sure what im doing wrong.
 
gregvabch

gregvabch

Active Member
well, i'd say you need to remember how many watts your lights are. some people claim that coraline algae will grow regardless of how much light you supply it with, but until i upgraded my lighting the coraline algae on my live rock never really spread. my guess is that it's not growing because you don't have enough light. if you're doing water changes your calcium shouldn't be too low, but supplementing with more doesn't hurt either. do you have any corals in the tank? if so how are they doing? what spectrum, (type) of lights to you have? what type of ballast are you using to run your 2 VHO's? a wattage rating for your bulbs and ballast as well as what type of bulbs you have would really help.
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
Low lighting is best for coraline.
Anyway, post your calcium, alk and ph levels.
Doing water changes will prolly keep your calcium levels LOW. The only salt that has the proper calcium that I know of is Oceanic. And that is a fairly new salt.
I think your calcium is low.
Dan
 
anubix00

anubix00

Member
ive got an ice cap 430 ballast. thats really all i know off hand but i can find out tomorrow when i go to my lfs
 
anubix00

anubix00

Member
i dont do water changes yet anyways. my tank is still fairly new, ive only got 2 clowns and a shrimp in there. i test the water and its still for good parameters. ive got 3 pieces of xenia i got for free from my lfs and one just died but the other 2 look great
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
Low light is the best for coraline algea??? I think that my algea has grown well, andI have terrible lighting. I have 3 florescents. One blue two white. I don't have many reds, but I have alot of purple. I never knew that. hmm.. the things you can learn from reading these posts.
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
I'm not talking kelvin. I general.
I have MH lighting, my tank walls are covered. But, it's more concentrated under rocks and over hangs, under my spray bar, on the far side walls, ect...
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
my tank is still fairly new,

i test the water and its still for good parameters.
But, what are they? calcium in specific.
 
anubix00

anubix00

Member
i brought it to my (trusted) lfs and he told me it was right about 400. he told me to go look on the power head cause he said that algea likes to grow on plastic. and he was right. i have some specs on both of my power heads.
so i guess my tank is alright afterall
 
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