coraline algae

[flowing flower]

i bought some beautiful live rock for very cheap...well at least its cheap for TX. anyhow, it is a fish only tank and i am running only a 40watt 10,000k. i was told that this purple and pink algae on the rock will die with that little light. i am buying an actinc blue tomorrow(40 watt) to add some more light, will this be enough light to at least keep the rock as pretty as it is now.
55 gallon tank.
thanks

 

[solRNY]

bump, i am in the somewhat the same situation and i would like to know too.

 

[gcvt]

Coralline algae does fairly well in low/medium light situations. In fact, it does not like a lot of light - many people who have added metal halide lights to their tanks complain that their coralline has either stopped growing completely or is actually decreasing.

Since I added my HM lights, I've noticed a slight decrease in the purple coralline in the brighter areas, but it's been replaced by pink & green coralline. When I was running PC lights only, the purple was thriving everywhere in the tank.

 

[flowing flower]

thanks

thanks for the input. i've noticed on the back side of both rocks the algae seems to be flourishing, yet it is not so on the front side(most visible from front of tank)
thanks for responding

 

[dethjam316]

Originally posted by gcvt
Coralline algae does fairly well in low/medium light situations. In fact, it does not like a lot of light - many people who have added metal halide lights to their tanks complain that their coralline has either stopped growing completely or is actually decreasing.

interesting...i only have about 2w/g on my SW tank, and all my rock is totally purple. it has spread from the live rock to smatterings of purple throughout the entire tank. i'm amazed at how fast it's done so, as well.

 

[gcvt]

Originally posted by dethjam316
interesting...i only have about 2w/g on my SW tank, and all my rock is totally purple. it has spread from the live rock to smatterings of purple throughout the entire tank. i'm amazed at how fast it's done so, as well.

Cool! You must be doing something right with your calcium and alkalinity...which are critical for strong coralline growth.

 

[dethjam316]

yeah, i'm extremely pleased. i've been really anal about everything, because i've kept FW fish for years, but this was my first SW tank...

 

[wayne]

My experience is similar to gcvt's - I'm building a new tank with T5 lighting, and my coralline has bleached in the top half, and is regrowing very strongly nearer the bottom