Help! koralina algea bleaching?

dalo78

dalo78

Member
My tank has been looking great and the koralina algea was starting to spread to the glass and the power heads but two weeks ago I noticed it was looking light pinkish in spots and last week it started to be yellowish and now its almost completely white in areas. I took my water to the LFS and had it tested. They said every thing is perfect.
specific gravity- 1.024
temp- 81
Ammonia-0
nitrate-0
nitrite-0
pH~8.1
Calcium-400ppm
phosphate-0
They told me my tank is evolving and not to worry. As someone who knows that evolution doesn't generally occur in a matter of weeks...I'm not buying it. The first pic below is before the bleaching started. The rest were taken today. Any thoughts?



 
M

markeo99

Guest
as it grows it eats up alk as well so test your alk I'm guessin its low
if you use good salt a large waterchange should about take care of it
 
calaxa

calaxa

Member
Did you do any lighting change? How old are bulbs? At what time of day/night are you doing water changes? Might be another trace chemical might be low (strontium? magnesium? iodine?) Can try an additive such as Purple Up but let's hear answers to questions first.
 
dalo78

dalo78

Member
Tank has been running for about 4 months. Most of the rock was gotten from here (SWF) and the couple really purple pieces were gotten from my LFS. Everything has been doing WONDERFULLY till about two weeks ago. And everything else in the tank is doing great....pulsing Xenia, star polyps, clown, royal gramma, shrimp, snails. I do my water changes on Fridays after works so... between 6 and 8 or so. And the only thing I every really add is the calcium and buffer supplements that I got from my LFS. I follow dosing instructions on the bottles. Seems to work b/c all the water tests come out to the correct parameters. My lights haven't changed since I got them 4 months ago. They are T4's 3 atinic and 3 10k. The atinic come on at 9:30am the 10k come on at 11am. The 10k go off at 8pm and the atinic go off at 9:30. I think that answers everything. Really need help :(
 
calaxa

calaxa

Member
Well judging by the pictures, I am going to say you don't have enough lighting. All the rocks are at bottom of tank. Are these seed pieces? I don't see much corraline on any other rocks. Try moving these up to mid level and see if they improve. You said T4s....I'm assuming you meant T5s. How deep is this tank? 24"? The bulbs are 4 months old or you got them used?
 
gatorwpb

gatorwpb

Active Member
it looks like new rock that is adjusting after being out of the water or new rock adjusting to new lights
Take a clean toothbrush and brush it under water to seed the other rocks and maybe youll start seeing growth on the others.
you also have some ball anemones on that first rock too. just watch out for them they can be a pest, but dont grow that quickly.
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Temp, lighting, and lack of water (the latter doesn't apply here), are the biggest causes of coraline algae to bleach.... with calcium and alk coming in after that. Look at those possible causes, and just be patient. If nothing else is adversely affect, the coraline should come back.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Sudden Alkalinity depletion will cause a bleaching of Coralline (by the way that is the correct spelling) algae. You did not list it above. Your normal alkalinity should be in the 9-11 dKH range. Swings are a big culprit from the bleaching though.
 
anonome

anonome

Active Member
Calcium at 400 will not support thriving corraline growth. Try to bump it up to at least 430-450 ppm. Lighting seems fine, in fact my corraline was better before I got my halide lighting. Mine is still growing, don't get me wrong, but not as deep dark purple as it is today with the bright lighting. The only place that it is really deep purple is where the halides don't penetrate.
Corraline really needs high calcium levels, so I would try to dose with a calcium additive, always test it though. You can quickly dose too much, if not testing.
But, I do agree with GatorWPB that it could also be live rock that is adjusting to the new tank.
 
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