pristine traits for coraline algea?

poolguy

poolguy

Member
well, after a year and a half, i am not happy with the amount of bare rock i still have, the amount of coraline algea i have just plain sucks,, now granted, i am sure i have done enough bad, lol to keep it from sprouting well, so i ask, what are the pristine traits to encource new growth, bear in mind, my alk test is not in a number read out, it is just the blue/green scale. and my alk has alwyas been high,, lfs told me to use les alk, and more cal. (i use bionics) to counteract this.. so i am curently doing water changes to clean it all out, and start fresh with additives, and i am looking for you smart people with awsome tanks to guide me... so hear i wait...
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Ditch the strip tests and get real test kits!! Salifert seems to be among the fav's, so that's what I use. Do you add any kind of buffer to your tank?? That would cause high alk. Test your calcium and alk. Or take a sample of your water and ask them to test it. If you know those numbers, it would be most beneficial!!
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Oh, sorry you wanted someone with an awesome tank... Mine is not awesome, but I got lots of coralline!!
 
poolguy

poolguy

Member
lol, i don't use teststrips, i have the red sea kit, nd it has the card that lacks alk numbers, i am ordering a new alk test that uses numbers, vs the low high scale. but still would like to educate myself on ratios and what not.. never added buffers, lmao, why would i ever do that with already high alk. that is just dumb
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I was asking because if you were adding the buffers, that would "explain" the high level.
My levels are currently calcium 420-430
and my alk is 8, very recently I added a little buffer and my alk went to 12, but I won't be doing that anymore.
My salt mix was another contributer. With Instant Ocean and Red Sea salt mixes, my calcium levels never got above 370. I switched to Oceanic and have had positive results ever since.
But those are the only factors that I can think of that would encourage coralline.
A lot of people have different results with their lighting, but that's not the case here. I went from flourescent to PC's to MH/VHO and I have never seen a difference in the speed at which my coralline has grown.
Do you have any at all, or are you trying to speed up what you currently have?
 
poolguy

poolguy

Member
i have pc lighing, and i use lfs water, i work to much to make my own water.. they say they don't have a problem with high alk with there water, we even tested there water to see what was up with it, and it was ok, so somehow it is rising in my tank, hints why i am doing a 200% water change over 2 week period... i have small amounts of coraline, pretty much what was on the rock when i bought it, it is fl. rock. it seems it has not spread much at all. so thats why i am here asking
 
badkharma

badkharma

Member
I also have a lot of coraline, especially in the past 6 months (tank is over a year old). I don't have pics, no digi cam here (yet). :) However, like Tizzo said, salt mix may make a difference. I switched from Instant Ocean to Oceanic (which also mixes quicker) and in a matter of months, all my rock was pink/purple. All my powerheads are also covered in the stuff. I don't have a calcium test kit, so I couldn't tell ya what it's at - I'm assuming it's pretty high. That tank will be torn down in a month or so because I have a 120 reef that I'm setting up (stand building in progress - all equipment is in my office, ready to be hooked up...). Hopefully with the continued use of Oceanic the coraline will grow rapidly to the newer bare LR that inhabits my 60 gal. QT tank.
 
poolguy

poolguy

Member
i have two maxijet 900s on the back sides of the tank, as well as the output from my ecosystem filter.. and a protien skimer,, i would think that is pleanty of water flow? the maxijets are at the bottom of the tank, angled up towards the middle of the tank? is this best? does light have much to do with it, as i have pc's
 
eg_hatch

eg_hatch

Member
If you could get an extra powerhead to point towards your rockwork with coralline on it, thatll probably help a lot too.
 
boomper

boomper

Member
I think phosphates could also be a problem. I have high level of phosphates (not for long) and mine grows at a slow pace. Can't wait to lower em and see if it works.
 
poolguy

poolguy

Member
damn it, and wouldn't ya know it that i have an ecosystem filter, so how do i fix the problem, without having to get rid of it? or do i have to? HELP:help:
 
poolguy

poolguy

Member
when you say are you "harvesting" allot of algea, what do you mean, i have been battleing a hair algea problem for a while, not a huge problem, but allot more than i would think is ok,,, i attribute this to the tank being directly infront of a window, with little protection from the sun.. so this week i painted the back glass looks great. and also put up blackcurtins to keep "sun light" out of the side glass. and am currently only running my pc's for 4 hours in the evenings, on a timer to keep from stressing the fish out, and i feed 1/4 cube per day, feed half of it in the morning, and half in evening, of formula 1 or 1/4 of "meety" alternating everyother day... i am jsut so lost.... i think i am doing what is right, not over feeding, 2.5 gallon water changes a week,,, limited light use.. not over stocked.. hell only have two fish in there. but the tank has not "matured" at all
 
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