coralline algae

jessie

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Mar 3, 2004
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ok i asked the people at inland aquatics this same question and they didnt know. i dont have alot of light. just standard power glow bulbs on a 55 gallon tank. i was told this would be fine for corraline algae ( by inland ). my live rock is loosing all the purple algae. in some places it is turning into green and red. and in some places it is just gone. ive read that the green and red basically need more light than the purple. ????? do i maybe have something in there eating some of the purple? i really dont know, everything checks out ok except the nitrates are 20ppm, which some people say is high but others say its ok as long as its under 40ppm. the tank has 2 false perculas, 1 hippo tang ( yes i know tank too small, trying to get my family to chip in on a bigger one for my birthday next month). 1 stripped damsel that cant be caught, 1 feather duster, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp and around12 blue leg hermits. on the rock closest to the top of the tank all the purple aglae is gone. on the lower rocks, 1 is fine and growing new purple, one hasnt changed at all, and 2 are changing to red and green algae. so whats your thoughts???
 
The rock near the top is closer to light and from what I have seen the purple coraline usually prefers lower lighting. Mine is growing well back in nooks and under sides of rocks and is all but gone on the tops under my metal halides. I am starting to get some nice deep red coraline on the top now though.

You my want to check your calcium and alkalinity as these are imporant to coraline algae.
 
Apparently

Corraline algae thrives beneath actinic blue lighting, and receedes under full spectrum lighting. I recently installed a 50/50, and the coralline is growing noticably daily.
 
Not sure I would say its just the actinic or rather the intensity of lighting. I have dual 400 halides and 256 of actinic lighting over my tank and the purple coralines prefer the lower light areas it seems.
 
perhaps

I haven't tested for intensity. At Coral Beauty Phil did a test. One side of the tank had actinic, the other had Halide. The coralline thrived on the actinic side, was barely to be seen on the Halide side.
 
In my tank coralline has disappeared from the top part and regrown in the lower shady part. I'd check out calcium levels, and dose as required. Also I saw as article by Mike Paletta in which he found a link between coralline growth and trontium levels (high is good), so you can try dosing that, but don't overdose.
 
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