would like some advice on month-old tank

[clckwrm]

hi my tanks been up with LR for about a month.

37g, 10g sump, Am 0, Ni 0, Na almost undetectable, Ph almost undetectable, AquaC Urchin skimmer,


i made the mistake of using tap water for emergency top-off so i have a hair algae problem. My RO/DI unit just arrived today. i don't have any fish (though I've given thought to getting one for the hair algae) and the only major animals in my tank are 4 astrea snails, 2 large brittle stars, and 4 small blue-legged hermits, and about 2 dozen glass anemones. I might add a peppermint shrimp to handle them, but I've heard mixed results with that route.

i bought the 4 hermits but a week later I can only locate one, which has spent a few days lodged in my LR before I pulled him out. I'm worried about the hermits, I know there are lots of places for them to hide, but I expected them to be more active.

over the past 3 weeks my coralline algae has started to bleach. My Calcium is around 460 and my KH is 8, pH is 8.1-8.3. I have 300W of VHO and my tank is a tall model. the top pieces of LR are only about half the depth of the tank.

is that Purple additive for coralline work?

[Grins]

You're experiencing natural dying off of some of the coraline. It will return if you keep you parameters balanced. I advise not to use PurpleUp or other similiar "cures".

[st0l1]

You're experiencing natural dying off of some of the coraline. It will return if you keep you parameters balanced. I advise not to use PurpleUp or other similiar "cures".

+1

Don't sweat the coraline.

You can physical remove the HA.

[clown-lover]

Yeah my coraline died off in transport and curing between getting it from the original owners tank to my house (3 hours). But like Grins said keep your parameters balanced. I kept my calcium at reef levels and the coraline returned fairly quickly (a couple of months). Just dose normal things like calcium (I used kalkwasser) and you should be ok. Just make sure that you test for anything you dose.

With time you'll be scraping it off of everything that you don't want it on like the rest of us.. ;)

[clckwrm]

thanks for the replies everyone. i've read about die off due to changes in lighting. i thought maybe my lighting is too much. anyway to deal with the HA and the bleaching my lights are currently on for 5 hours.

i currently alternate doses 1/4 tsp of Seachem Reef alkalinity and 1/4 tsp of Seachem Reef calcium each day, with Seachem 8.3 pH buffer on Sundays if needed (which is rarely). the tank has been up and running with substrate since mid November and the live rock was added around Christmas.

also kudos to AquaC for their Urchin/Remora skimmers.

[mayran]

I started out with Seachem Calcium/Alk/Buffer additives at first and they were all right, but I started using B-ionic 2 part just over 3 mos ago and my corals have blown up. Unmistakable difference.

As far as the hair algae, there is an interesting thread on Reef Central about boosting your Magnesium to 1500ppm which seems to effectively kill off the Bryopsis (hair algae) but have no ill effects on anything else in the tank.

ps. take care of the glass anemones (I am assuming you mean aiptasia) now or they will get out of hand quickly