High Calcium but no coraline?

[letik]

Several days ago I got the Hagen master test kit (small plastic briefcase) and tested my water parameters. This is the first time I tested Ca; I believed my Ca was low :) hoping it could be a quick fix... I wanted to dose two little fishes C balance A+B, now I have no idea what to do ?

nitrate: 5
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
iron: 0
PH: 8.3/8.4
KH: 240 - 250 (higher than norm)
Ca: 500
PO4: < 0.1 (almost none)
temp: 79-80 F


I have some coraline but it never ever encrusted on the acrylic walls or anything plastic, not even a bit. I have some on the rocks
but not much. I have no Ca precipitation on anything.

My tank is couple years old. 10G Hexagon. I have two clowns, neon goby, some tiny blue leg hermits. some palys and zoas that started multiplying. One big mexican/zebra snail.
Here is an additional fact... Two weeks ago I bought two Banded Trochus Snails. One died one week later, I thought that my bigger hermit got him; another died two weeks later. My mexican snail is thriving. I also did some research and found that people cannot really figure out why sometimes snails die. I never acclimated them though, just threw them in. Not sure if it's connected to coraline question. All other animals are doing well.

I do 2Gal water change every two weeks with DI water. I also run carbon, polyfilter and phosban. I'm not dosing anything and using a mix of Oceanic + Kent salt. I have no algae blooms. There are some 0.5mm brown dots that appear on the aquarium walls that I scrape every two weeks. I guess next water change I'll do only with Kent - lower Ca.

There is definitely something missing or too much of something, I just need help to figure out what?



Thank you!

More about my system
http://picasaweb.google.com/aletik/Hexagon#

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/216312IMG_0227sm.JPG

[gabbagabbawill]

cool little minireef tank you've got there... snails have very complex systems that do not do well with sudden drastic changes in water conditions... sometimes it can take a while before these sudden changes kill them. may not be that your params are bad, but just diff. (temp, salinity, alk, ph) than the LFS where you got them.

I'm not sure why you'd want a ton of coralline algae, especially since you've got a 360 viewing angle and acrylic tank (would be a pain to scrape off and not scratch up). I would consider yourself lucky!

[letik]

Why I'm asking is because I don't have any SPS coral in my tank now, but maybe trying a couple the future and thought that the behavior of coraline and SPS is similar. No coraline bloom/growth => no sps growth?

[stylolvr]

What is your magnesium level?

[mat167]

Mag levels will have an effect, but if you're doing regular water changes as you mentioned I don't think that would be the problem. PO4 can stunt the growth of coralline algae sometimes, although I'm not sure that 0.1 ppm is quite high enough to accomplish this. Running a little GFO probably wouldn't hurt, since most people try to keep PO4 under 0.03 ppm, especially for SPS.

On another note, the main reason we dose two part is to maintain the respective levels of calcium and alkalinity (and magnesium to a lesser extent). If water changes are able to keep those parameters in check, then there's no real reason to dose. So in your case, I would just leave the levels as they are.

IMHO the best way to see if you're capable of keeping SPS is to try a small frag.

[letik]

bump

[davocean]

That is a cool little system, and I also agree it looks great as is.
Your rocks look purple(pics a lil small)
I find coraline seems to grow best under my actinics, and not quite as much under very bright light(that pic looks pretty bright)
Maybe increase actinics?
Also test mag, maybe strontium.
I'm sure sps will be OK.

[letik]

I just changed the timer on my LEDs to keep only actinics for a couple more hours. Unfortunately I don't have Mg ar Sr test kits. I just hope these are replenished with salt/ water changes

[davocean]

Kinda, and your ca is high(usually low mag comes w/ low CA)
Last year I was turning MH off on hottest summer days, and just running actinics, and did notice significant increase in coraline.
Get some closer shots for us, looks really clean.

[letik]

Just checked my Ca today again.. and got it at 500-520 more like
520. Probably two days ago I just didn't add enough drops to completely change the color of the test solution.

I'm running actinics now. Funny how come I don't have Ca precipitation? What's holding it.
I'm running actinics now (blue LEDs only)

gabbagabbawill says that I can consider myself lucky not to have coraline all over the place, maybe he is right!

[davocean]

I'm kinda trippin on CA precip as well, and also your CA is way high IMO.
And yeah, I'd be bummed scraping all those sides/corners.

[ludnix]

My Ca used to be that high but since I started keeping my alkalinity up it's gone done and stayed around 400. I don't know what's causing your lack of coralline, but I too would consider it a good thing with an acrylic hex. Your tank looks great the way it is though!

[domb54]

i had got the same advice before actinics completely worked for me dont be affraid to experiment but your tank looks perfectly clear to much algae growth may only cause you more pain than pleasure

[conorwynne]

I'd say it is the high lighting that's preventing the glass coraline build up. But I'm no expert. I just read it somewhere, probably reefcentral.

Cool tank, any chance of a closeup pic?

[luther1200]

Did your rock have coraline on it? Could be you just need to "seed" the tank with it.

Also if you do get SPS, I would recomend getting a birdnest or something that is considered a bit more hardy than other SPS.

[builderguy]

Coralinn algae uses an unusually high amount of Mg...about 50/50 with calcium. Also, high calcium doesn't mean high Mg and vice versa.

A lot of salt mixes are low on Mg, I always test my newly mixed SW before doing water changes and almost always have to dose up the Mg.

If the Mg is too low the tank won't utilize Ca properly and it can continue to rise and begin to precipitate...raising Mg can actually lower Ca.

Since your not dosing it sounds to me like the salt mix you're using has very high Ca...you might want to consider Reef Crystals instead.

Your Ca levels should be around 420-450; Mg should be 1350; and Alk should be between 7-9 dKh (you listed 240-250 above - that can't be right)

[ChrisKirkland]

I have found that coralline is a funny algae. I've found through some recent experiments that is grows best in my tanks that are dimly lit and water params are not good, were talking nitrates around 40-60 and mag 1280. Although phosphate is zero. Your tank may be too "clean" to house SPS corals and coralline... With nitrates that low in such a small system you would have to feed your SPS corals bi daily. I have experienced the too clean issue and I now purposely over feed and feed the SPS at night to keep them colored up and growing. this is just my two cents take it for what you will...

[luther1200]

I don't think its to "clean" for SPS. Natural reefs are considered ultra low nutrient environments. It could be many things not making the coraline take off. But that doesn't mean SPS will do the same. Although I would get my Ca/Alk/Mag levels in order before I got any SPS if I were you.

[luther1200]

What kind of lights are you using? Also what kind of PO4 test kit did you use? It could be less tham 0.1 and still be 0.08 which is still considered on the high side for a reef. Even though PO4 test kits aren't very accurate, they are usually close enough to know if somethings wrong.

[dudley moray]

ca at 500 + is not a bad thing it is if it is not being utilized any way yes in my opinion it is your lighting or perhaps you clean the "glass" to often for it to take hold as previously stated it's not a bad thing as long as your rock can grow it !