L/R bleaching, coraline alge dying..

[vito is hooked]

ammonia-0 nitrates-0 cal-400 alk-9dkh ph-8.4 waiting for mag test kit in mail, does it look my mag is way off ,because my other readings are pretty good. API test kit, loseing all my coraline alge, any ideas? maybe a couple of massive water changes?

[dkirchoff]

any spikes in temp? or exposure to air (ie, reconfiguring L/R)?

[HaywoodJafragit]

Personally --and I'm not claiming this is your case-- unless I keep Calcium hovering around 450 ppm and alkalinity around 3.5 meq/L my coraline algae doesn't grow significantly. And to keep Ca around 450, my Mg is usually around 1350 ppm.

[vito is hooked]

Yes I had a jump in my temp, and I raised my hood about 3in to get more air flow. How did you know? could this be the prob? my temp is at 80 right now. should I lower my hood back to where it was? Thanks for the quick reply

[Chong27]

Check to see if you have any astrea starfish( tiny deformed whitish color starfish)- i think that what they are called. I had few in my tank and they ate almost all my coralline algae on my overflow to the point where it looked bleached out. I got a harlequinn shrimp and it ate them all up. Just a thought what could be the cause of your coralline bleaching

[mikesommers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13498979#post13498979 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HaywoodJafragit
Personally --and I'm not claiming this is your case-- unless I keep Calcium hovering around 450 ppm and alkalinity around 3.5 meq/L my coraline algae doesn't grow significantly. And to keep Ca around 450, my Mg is usually around 1350 ppm.


I agree!!!! That is a real good start. My temp is 80 all the time I have to use a chiller and coraline growes like crazy.

CA+ 440
Alk 12-13dkh
PH 8.3
Mag around 1300

LOTS of water flow to. Coraline likes water flow.

[vito is hooked]

Im doseing now, gonna raise my cal to 450 and see, looking for the tiny stars also. never had a problem till i raised my light fixture, and I shut the A/C dwn last week, temp went up 6 or 7 degrees but now back to 80.

[FishNFun]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13501366#post13501366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikesommers
I agree!!!! That is a real good start. My temp is 80 all the time I have to use a chiller and coraline growes like crazy.

CA+ 440
Alk 12-13dkh
PH 8.3
Mag around 1300

LOTS of water flow to. Coraline likes water flow.

On my FOWLR tank I don't have anywhere near CA that high (maybe mid-300's last time I checked) but I've got coraline growth out the wazoo! If I don't keep up with scraping it I wouldn't be able to see in a couple weeks. The only time I've had a problem with it is when I moved some rocks or changed lights.