Coralline Algae

[Doodaa]

Doodaa,how long has your tank been setup?Feeding will not help coralline algae,it will give you bigger fish and more NO3 and possibly PO4.If your tank has not been setup that long it will just take time.

My tank has been running for a few years now...minimum 3 years, but it could be 4 or 5...I really can't keep track of time anymore. It flies by way too fast! Now that I look at my profile, it has been about 5 years. I joined about the time I acquired some live rock from my brother before he was deployed for Operation Desert Storm.

You are all correct in that this tank never seen any purple-up or other concoction other than calcium reactor and nightly dripping of kalkwasser.
To be perfectly honest, I hate this particular side effect of excelerated coralline growth when you maintain calcium and alkalinity slightly higher than NSW. I think I used to maintain alkalinity at 12 dkh and calcium at close to 475ppm in that tank, simply because it was sps dominated and demand was so high. Everything grew out of the water in that tank until I killed it with red bugs treatment, and then majanos finished the job last year..

I agree with you...that's too much purple. It is quite impressive though

[Steve McKay]

Doodaa,I have viewed your gallery.Your coralline algae is a light pink and there maybe spots of limited or no coralline algae.You only had a couple photos of corals.The reason you may not have rich dark coralline algae may be the same reason I'm losing some of mine.My lighting has no pure actinic lamps,I have T-5 HO lighting with 3xAquablue+ and 3xActinic+.It is possible that (this is conjecture,with very limited experience)higher lighting combined with little true actinic may not support most species of coralline.That or you don't have the species that thrives in high light.If you acquire a small amount of rock with coralline algae from a source with strong light and scrape some off in your tank releasing spores every few weeks it might help.I have recently upgraded to T-5 HO lighting,I went from a 96 watt pc to a 6 lamp T-5.I'm losing a good amount of coralline but I also have new growth too (different species)and there is some that is surviving.

[Chameleon Bob]

Hey guys just wanted to let you know since I've let nature take it's course and I've added purple up(this could be or not be the reason) that my tank is flourishing with life. Ninong that white stuff I thought was coralline algae is now growing half inch polyps I think their Glove Polyps. A couple button polyps have showed up and either spotted mushrooms or red mushrooms have doubled size. Thanks for all the help. my water parameters are all where their supposed to be and have stayed that way for 2 or 3 weeks and hoping to keep it that way.

[Parrothead]

Mushrooms are filter feeders, they feed off stuff in the water, it's real hard to say whats causing them to expand, I will say it ain't purple up, we already had that discussion, be patient and you will see more and more life show up in your tank, believe me, I'm a purple sponge plantation owner, and NO I do not use purple up

[Steve McKay]

It is quite natural for new organisms to appear as your tank matures,I discover new organisms all the time.Quite a few here recently,WITHOUT ADDING ANY SUPPLEMENTS.All I do is keep my water parameters where they need to be,PH,Ca,KH and Mg.

[Chameleon Bob]

Parrothead since I'm running a fuge could that help the shrooms grow?

[metalhead]

Case in point...



... I think he came in on a bottle of purple up!


Just kidding ;)

[Parrothead]

Bob,

A properly maintained fuge will benefit the entire set-up, it will help all things grow, I would like for you to look into Randy's two part recipe, you can find it right here at Reeflands, if you maintain your tank the proper way, you will not need to add things like purple up, trace elements, etc. those products are designed for people who don't have the knowledge or get up and go to maintain their tanks the proper way, if you do reg. water changes, monitor the above mentioned items(Thanks Steve) and keep your equipment clean and working properly, you will have a tank beyond your wildest dreams, I'm in the middle of a detail job, but I will post some pics of some mushrooms I used to have, and give a brief history of what I started with. Bear with me on this as I finally got some weather I can work with, but its gonna be short lived as rain is heading my way. I will post the pics here in your thread a little later today....

[Chameleon Bob]

I'll check that out, I do have to say and everyone that has seen my tank since the fuge got up and running has said that the tank is clearer, the fish are more active, the coralline is more vibrant and noticed things growing. I'd love to see pics of your stuff. I know all to well about weather and detailing I was a owner/operator of a detail shop for 4 years here in southern Indiana. The worst of all is when the weather man says it's going to rain and doesn't and everyone cancels.

[Parrothead]

Yep, You owned a detail service, happens here all the time, thats why I link to about 8 different radars and check them out each morning, even before coffee and reeflands

[Steve McKay]

No,not before Reeflands Master.

[Parrothead]

No,not before Reeflands Master.

Just want to show Bob some shrooms that acted really weird with a brief history, Steve you'll like it too, I actually started monitoring the full moon cycle, is was weird what those things will do, nothing new in the 55 right now, gonna start a poor detailer needs to build reef tank fund, maybe the feds will chip in

[Chameleon Bob]

Speaking of moon cycle, I don't have the moon lights. In you guys experience have you all seen improvement to justify the cost to get these?(maybe a new thread)




Parrothead I even started offering a rain wash. If it rained on the day of the detail you get a free wash. And it didn't really work out to well but you might try it. something about people waiting for a week of sunshine before they get their vehicle cleaned up.

[Parrothead]

This is florida, it can rain at the drop of a hat with no clouds in the sky, rain checks spell instant death, I've lived here too long and know the weather all too well.

[Chameleon Bob]

I've always wondered since you live in Florida next to the atlantic do you go pick up hermit crabs for your tank or just buy them from LFS?

[Parrothead]

I will not ever remove anything from the coastal waters for my tank, main reason, I won't swim it let alone potential screw my tank, too many unknowns, disease, pollution etc. bad idea

[Chameleon Bob]

Guess i won't be moving any time soon for free critters. I do how ever collect snail shells from the river I live by and boil them so the hermits have plenty of shells to fight over