High Calcium, but no Corraline. How come??

woody189

woody189

Member
Hi. I have a 46 gal tank that's been running since February
it has:
45lbs LR.
40lbs aragonite sand
Coralife skimmer 65
canister filter
3 PH's
Stocklist is:
2 clowns
purple firefish
royal gramma
6line- just added
5-6 crabs
5-6 snails
featherduster
I'm using oceanic seasalt and for some reason my calcium is way high. I switched to red sea salt for a few months in between but recently switched back.
The levels were too high for my kit, and the LFS said that they were too high for his as well, but estimated them to be about 510 i believe.
My rock came with decent corraline growth, but i have barely gotten any more in the 10 months my tank has been running. I only have a single flourecent tube so I'm not expecting amazing growth, but a little something would be nice.
My questions are:
1) why is my calcium so high if i'm not supplementing anything??
2) why am i not getting more corraline? Is it just because of my cheap lights?
I doubt there's any correlation, but i properly acclimated an emerald crab last week and he died within a few days. I placed him on a rock, he crawled to the underside of it, and didn't move once until i found him dead a few day later on the sand bed. I read somewhere that calcium issues can cause an emerald to die, but idk how accurate that is.
thanks a lot
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Oceanic @1.026 /Calcium= 580 ppm
Alkalinity= 8.5 dkh
Magnesium= 1650 ppm
Are you getting any growth on your glass?
And whats the rest of your parameters?
 
woody189

woody189

Member
ammonia-0
trates-20
trites-0
ph-I forget exactly, but normal
phosphate- LFS tested and said it was barely higher than 0
I have some on my glass. They are just a few tiny specks on the glass. Nothing I even have to scrape off.
Idk if this has to do with anything, but I have a small Cyano problem (I just posted a thread on that also). It's not too bad, but IDK what the cause is. This is why i had my Phosphates tested today.
I've never tested for ALK and Magnesium or anything else. Should I be?? Also, isn't 580 PPM high?? Why would they have so much in the salt?
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by woody189
http:///forum/post/2859013
ammonia-0
trates-20
trites-0
ph-I forget exactly, but normal
phosphate- LFS tested and said it was barely higher than 0
I have some on my glass. They are just a few tiny specks on the glass. Nothing I even have to scrape off.
Idk if this has to do with anything, but I have a small Cyano problem (I just posted a thread on that also). It's not too bad, but IDK what the cause is. This is why i had my Phosphates tested today.
I've never tested for ALK and Magnesium or anything else. Should I be?? Also, isn't 580 PPM high?? Why would they have so much in the salt?
580 is higher than Natural Sea Water but it isnt going to hurt anything.You should test for Alkalinity and Magnesium as it is important in a Reef Tank,Not so much in a FOWLR.
However you need balanced water parameters in order for coraline algae to grow.Low alkalinity in your case could stunt the growth of coraline.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
do you have reef type lighting and how long have you been waiting? just because calcium is available to use for growth doesn't mean its going to automatically grow.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/2859996
do you have reef type lighting and how long have you been waiting? just because calcium is available to use for growth doesn't mean its going to automatically grow.
Fluorescent bulbs will do.Coraline algae will grow in low light ,As a matter of fact i grows like crazy in my fuge with a fluorescent 65k swirly bulb.Im thinking low alk is going to be the cause here.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2860009
Fluorescent bulbs will do.Coraline algae will grow in low light ,As a matter of fact i grows like crazy in my fuge with a fluorescent 65k swirly bulb.Im thinking low alk is going to be the cause here.
a single strip normal output flourescent over a 46g isn't going to spread it. I had this same set up for a full year (single strip 36" light tank more shallow than his) and not a single spec of spreadage except what the rock came with (there was plenty on the rock). it lived but didn't spread. went to pc and 6 months later coralline was on everything. I did add a bunch of corals but I didn't do any calcium/alk testing back then (2005), didn't add ANYTHING like calcium or buffer back then and didn't change salts or water change patterns.
year old

although low alk isn't helping either I think the lights a big part of it. fuge lighting strong enough for macro will be stong enough for coraline. I have 18w on the fuge and it grows fine there too.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I agree that the lighting is more than enough coraline algae seems to grow faster in low lighting conditions than it does with intense lights, I have a single 6500k spiral flourescent from walmart over my refugium and I have a ton of coraline in my fuge and it grows faster than I can scrape it off. It doesn't grow nearly as fast in my DT under 2-250w MH's. I am curious to see where your alk is at. If calcium and alk aren't balanced then the calcium isn't readily available for use in building coral skeletons or in coraline aglae growth.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2860117
I agree that the lighting is more than enough coraline algae seems to grow faster in low lighting conditions than it does with intense lights, I have a single 6500k spiral flourescent from walmart over my refugium and I have a ton of coraline in my fuge and it grows faster than I can scrape it off. It doesn't grow nearly as fast in my DT under 2-250w MH's. I am curious to see where your alk is at. If calcium and alk aren't balanced then the calcium isn't readily available for use in building coral skeletons or in coraline aglae growth.

it does grow better under low light than intense light. when I switched to halides all the non shaded areas died off. I think you guys are under estimating a 6500k spiral light over a fuge or over estimating a single strip light over a diplay. it didn't even grow undesirable algae for me much less coraline. either that or I had a really bad strip light. with a calcium that high alk is garaunteed to be low. so I assume that already. I also believe thats part of the problem. maybe I'm wrong for once but I'm not accepting it yet
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I had a good growth rate under a single strip flourescent back in the day when I first setup my tank. It wasn't as good as my fuge is now but my water quality and stability was not nearly as good either.
 
1990jpyj

1990jpyj

Member
isnt the temp a big factor to. i noticed that keeping my temp in the 80-82* range the coraline grows faster then it did when i had it at 78*
 
woody189

woody189

Member
Thanks for all the responces.
I just used my test kit and it came up "normal" in the 1.7-2.8 range.
I'd say it was about 2.0
That it using my Red Sea test kit which has been nothing but problems for me. Ill have my LFS test it next time I go.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I would recommend trying to maintain 3.5Meq/L Alkalinity. You won't be able to do that with Calcium so high though.
 
woody189

woody189

Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2861274
I would recommend trying to maintain 3.5Meq/L Alkalinity. You won't be able to do that with Calcium so high though.
How would i go about doing that??
I'm stuck with this salt because I just bought a huge bucket so i'm set for a long time. Am i just gonna have to deal with no corraline till i run out of salt?
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by woody189
http:///forum/post/2861292
How would i go about doing that??
I'm stuck with this salt because I just bought a huge bucket so i'm set for a long time. Am i just gonna have to deal with no corraline till i run out of salt?
nothing with the salt your using. you can buy some low calcium salt and mix them to water it down but otherwise you'll have to change salts.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Mix Instant Ocean with the Oceanic.Try 50/50 and test it ,see what your results are at.Instant Ocean is low on calcium and high on alkalinity,Oceanic is the opposite.You can adjust the mix from there to what suits your needs. Or do what i do add the alkalinity part of B-Ionic to raise the Oceanic's alkalinity when mixing for water change so that it at a balanced ratio with calcium.Calcium should be 2:1 ratio over alkalinity. So if your calcium is 420 ppm you alk should be 210ppm.
One other thing i guess i should mention.Since Calcium ,Alkalinity,and Magnesium all work hand in hand with each other to create ionic balanced sea water,then you should know for the future Your magnesium should be 3:1 ratio over calcium. There is some good info out there if you do a search on salt water aquarium water parameters.It would be to your benefit to learn as much as possible so not to kill off all the coral/$ you may purchase in the future.Its also good to know so when somethings not right you will know why and how to correct it.
 
woody189

woody189

Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2861463
Mix Instant Ocean with the Oceanic.Try 50/50 and test it ,see what your results are at.Instant Ocean is low on calcium and high on alkalinity,Oceanic is the opposite.You can adjust the mix from there to what suits your needs. Or do what i do add the alkalinity part of B-Ionic to raise the Oceanic's alkalinity when mixing for water change so that it at a balanced ratio with calcium.Calcium should be 2:1 ratio over alkalinity. So if your calcium is 420 ppm you alk should be 210ppm.
One other thing i guess i should mention.Since Calcium ,Alkalinity,and Magnesium all work hand in hand with each other to create ionic balanced sea water,then you should know for the future Your magnesium should be 3:1 ratio over calcium. There is some good info out there if you do a search on salt water aquarium water parameters.It would be to your benefit to learn as much as possible so not to kill off all the coral/$ you may purchase in the future.Its also good to know so when somethings not right you will know why and how to correct it.
I know I'm alittle late, but thanks V.
I must have not checked back on the post way back when. I'm gonna try that. You saved me a lot of money since now I don't gotta buy new salt (hopefully).
 
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