No Coraline Algea...

[mikelush78]

Hey guys, I have a 90 gallon reef that i have had up for 4 years now and all my corals and fish are doing great... I do a 20% water change once a month and once a month also add some aditives in the water for coral growth and that is just about it. I use Reef Crystal for water changes...

The problem is I have no coraline algea at all anymore... I dont have bad alea eather so its not a problem bust I miss the coraline algea... I admit that i have not tested the water in a bit since my son was born I have not done that as i should but its I have been doing the same as I always do so all that should be just fine...

Is there something I am missing that might cause the coraline algea orver time to die off or go away?

I am Replacing my 2 - 175 watt 14k halides when i get home and also the 2 vho actinics to see if that might help a bi.. (they are like 2 years old i think now at least) I have never dosed Magnesium from what i read that might be the problem also...

When ever I test my alk and Calcium its right hwere it should be for both...

Any thouhgts? Should I dose purple up or some additive like that to stimulate the algea?

:duh:

[AngeloG]

I used to keep a 55gal reef. Never really tested for stuff except nitrates. I used to dose Aragamilk... A big bottle gave me coraline on everything.

[fsn77]

If your calcium and alkalinity levels are where they should be, dosing something like Purple Up could potentially impact those (Purple Up is an "all in one" calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, and trace element product). If your not having problems maintaining calcium and alkalinity, your likely ok on your magnesium level, or at least not far from where it should be (low magnesium makes it difficult to keep calcium elevated).

Just a note... When you change your bulbs, since the others were so old, you may want to cut down your photoperiod by a couple hours and then slowly increase it back to normal over the next few weeks. Otherwise, you run the risk of shocking your corals with the increased lighting intensity.

[mikelush78]

Good idea, Ill do that with the lights... Thanks for the input...

[mikelush78]

I did a water check when I got home from work yesterday and found that along with my lights bulbs being old that my calcium is down to 350. My guess is that with the decline of the lights and the decline of the calcium that this might be my issue...
water came out as:
- Calcium 350
- Alk 8.3
- PH 8.3
- Nitrate 20 ppm

Any thoughts on rasing the calcium? I do not do any drip method or have a calcium reactor or anything like that... I haev a calcium buffert hat I put in last night...

the strange thing for me is that by doin gmy water changes I have always kept my calcium at 400 and had to do nothing to sustain that.. maby I need to now but not sure...

Any thoughts?

[leocom2000]

It is time for a bigger water change. Those nitrates are high

[mikelush78]

My Nitrates are always between 10 - 20 ppm, any suggestions about getting that lower with my setup?

I have a 10 gallon Refugium that is filled with about 20lbs or live rock and clurpa...
20 gallon sump that has my protien skimmer and heaters...

Then I have my main tank... Here is a pic of the main tank...

142064

I removed the sand form my refugium so as to no collect as much detritus on the bottom... this way i can suck it ou durring water changes...

That has helped a bit but any other thoughts?

[mikelush78]

Another thought...
I could be over feeding I guess... I know the general rule is that the food should be gone in 30 seconds from the aquarium but if that is the case then my shrimp will never get any of the ocean plankton for himself ... So i feed a little more and when the tank is done feeding there is some leftover food stuck on corals or on the rock...

I always figured that this would be taken care of by the cleanup crew... But maby this is also what is causing my Nitrates to be at 20ppm...

[greech]

While not extreemely high 20ppm is definitely something to pay attention to. If you were to increase the frequency of your water changes, you may find that helps both issues. You do have some large colonies in there but its not like you have multiple colonies of SPS consuming the calcium. It is entirely possible that increasing WCs to twice per month or doing a larger monthly change would provide the added calcium to promote coraline growth and reduce nitrates. Your display looks clean but you have nutrients settling somewhere. Do you have a powerhead behind your rockwork? I see you are running multiple maxijets for flow. Those have a fairly focused stream. Have you considered adding the propeller attachments to widen/increase flow? Just thinking outloud and that you may have deadspots you can't see where wastes are collecting.

[leocom2000]

Well, I don't know how often you feed. I would reduce that if possible. Definitely do more water changes. You might not see much change at first, but if you keep at it it should get better (provided you replacement water is good).
Another thought, is there enough light on the refugium? For how long do you have it on? What is your phosphate?
That is a nice looking tank. Who cares about coralline :).


Ah, when was the last time you cleaned the refugium? 20Lb of live rock in a 10 gal can accumulate stuff.

[mikelush78]

All good thoughts.. I clean the refugium every time i do a water change.... That is why I got rid of the sand so i could better maintain it... My lghting is on for 10 hours for the refugium and it seems to be good ight... i have to trim back every few weeks from growth in the refugium.... I will inrease my water changes so i am doing them more often...

To be honest i might have gotten a little lazzy and not done it right when i was supposed to and had gone past a month a few times and that might be my problem also...

I also like the idea of changing the position of a power jet to be behind the aquatium rocks to give more flow back there...

Thanks guys... I will test again in tomorrow the water quality again...