tektite
03/04/2011, 01:56 PM
I've been having problems with my Halymenia in my macro tank. Its been turning bright orange and then dying. If I frag it its usually OK for awhile, if I don't the orange keeps spreading :( I have at least 3 different kinds (plain red, red with orange tips, purple with white spots) and all of them have done this.
Other macros like my codium, caulerpa prolifera, red gracilaria are doing fine though I think they're all a bit hardier than the halymenia.
My tank stats:
90 gallon, macro dominated
No skimmer, temp kept at 76-77 F
Current T5 48" fixture, 2 T5 bulbs on 8 hrs/day, other 2 on 12 hrs/day
Cal/alk kept steady at 450 ppm/3 meq/l with dosing pumps
Mag unknown
Nitrates a bit high ~40-50
Phosphates undetectable
I have thousands and thousands of amphipods/munnid isopods all over the tank, I can see some areas where they've eaten through the halymenia but it doesn't seem to correlate to the orange areas.
Has anyone ever pinpointed a specific cause of halymenia doing this? So far its been growing faster than dying, but I'm afraid I'll lose all of it if this continues.
Other macros like my codium, caulerpa prolifera, red gracilaria are doing fine though I think they're all a bit hardier than the halymenia.
My tank stats:
90 gallon, macro dominated
No skimmer, temp kept at 76-77 F
Current T5 48" fixture, 2 T5 bulbs on 8 hrs/day, other 2 on 12 hrs/day
Cal/alk kept steady at 450 ppm/3 meq/l with dosing pumps
Mag unknown
Nitrates a bit high ~40-50
Phosphates undetectable
I have thousands and thousands of amphipods/munnid isopods all over the tank, I can see some areas where they've eaten through the halymenia but it doesn't seem to correlate to the orange areas.
Has anyone ever pinpointed a specific cause of halymenia doing this? So far its been growing faster than dying, but I'm afraid I'll lose all of it if this continues.