purple haze

[luvnluk]

over the past month my purple coraline has spread like wild fire. My tank has been cycled for 6 months and I have 2 false percs, 2 damsels and about 55lbs of LR in my 55 gal. As a newbie, I'm still trying to understand the different types of lighting, but, I have a double ballast with an Actinic and a 20,000K bulb. I'm not ready for a reef, but is this enough to keep the purple coraline happy? I test my water parameters frequently and the basics are in check, however, I'm a perpetual sceptic and need confirmation - does purple coraline algae need good water parameters to grow?

 

[jarvis]

never heard of anyone trying to make coralline algea happy. Coralline does well all light whether it be NO VHO PC or MH. good growth could be linked to stable alk and good cacium levels. Whatever your doing is just fine. If it aint broke dont fix it.

 

[bobo]

heh heh, keeping coraline happy...
yeah if its spreading like wild fire then its happily reproducing. i agree with jarvis, stable alk and good calcium supplement, which you can easily achieve by adding calcium supplement widely available in marine lfs. but if you're not keeping a reef and your coraline is spreading wildly, i think you're worrying too much and you don't need anything extra. if you're using RO/DI water for your water changes and keep your phosphate low to none, which you're suppose to for your fishes anyway, then there is no problem...if your phosphate is high use phoseguard, or any phosphate neutralizer. if the water parameter is good for your fis, i wouldn't worry about the algae.