Coraline on glass turning white??

[dankoos]

I have a 90 gallon that is established..almost a year now. I have let coraline grow on the sides and back glass. I just noticed today several large splotches, both on the sides and back that have turned almost white. Is this a sign of anything bad? All of my 100+ lbs of live rock is still purple. Fish seem fine. I have a few corals, they seem fine.

[alan214]

The section that is turning white is likely dying off. Do you dose calcium?

[James404]

coraline is dying, I would check your alk, cal and mag. Any one of those out of range can cause it to start dying.

[dankoos]

I don't test or dose for any of those

[Beaun]

That is probably your problem

[ahenson]

I'd start adding Kalk, it is easy research "Kalk Slurry". I use Mrs Wages Pickling lime

[onevia_01]

Have you got an urchin? Maybe check at night.
Maybe your levels are out of whack but if your rock is fine perhaps something like an urchin is eating it.

[dankoos]

No urchin (unless there is a tiny one running around that hitched a ride in), but I do have numerous snails that munch on it and a new Blue Starfish that likes to ride the glass.

I don't want to spend the money to dose stuff just to make sure my coraline is purple...will it eventually affect my fish and/or corals??

[James404]

No urchin (unless there is a tiny one running around that hitched a ride in), but I do have numerous snails that munch on it and a new Blue Starfish that likes to ride the glass.

I don't want to spend the money to dose stuff just to make sure my coraline is purple...will it eventually affect my fish and/or corals??

If your parameters arent sufficient to keep coraline growing then your corals will suffer as well. They use the same elements. It's not an urchin as suggested before, urchins eat coraline, they don't turn it white. Using Kalk or a DIY 2 part is very cheap and should be affordable to any reefer out there.

[Uncle Salty 05]

Is the coralline in question by chance near the top of the tank?
When you do a water change and the level in your tank drops any coralline exposed to air can die off.

[cloakerpoked]

As suggested above, if coraline is dying, it is probably a sign that things could get bad for other stuff. To keep a successful reef, you really need to be testing (or at least have the ability to test) things like calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. If you're doing a somewhat lightly stocked softy reef, then water changes very well may be more than enough to keep up with replenishing these elements. If you want to keep LPS or SPS, you need to be watching these elements a little more closely, and suppliment them if needed. The worst thing you could do is to buy additives and start dumping them in the tank hoping things improve. Probably the second worst thing you could do is nothing. Dosing kalk, as suggesed above, does not need to be expensive, but it can be dangerous if not implimented carefully. Kalkwasser can significantly raise your pH if you aren't careful. My first step if I were you would be to buy an alkalinity and calcium test kit. If those both test in a normal range, look at magnesium. If all 3 are fine, explore other options. Any way it goes, you should have the ability to test the 3 elements mentioned or you will probably have problems at some point.

[rivoth]

I don't test or dose for any of those

You really want to have a working understanding of the critical water parameters for your tank to tackle your white coraline issue. This article will get you off to a great start.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/