Coralline Disappearing

[BlurClown]

Hi ,

my coralline aglae (Purple and red) are slowly disappearing. Been cycling the tank for ard 2 mth. Currently having onli two clown fish in the tank. Could anyone pls advise on how to maintain the growth of these colourful aglae. I do not have any special lighting, just that the tank is pretty near to the window, exposed to the natural sunray. Is that sufficent?

Water Parameters

Salinity - 1.025

Calcium

Salt Water trace elements

Strontium Composition

Temp- 30 ( heater becos of air-con room, is this necessay?)

[arcanehacker]

you need calcium and lightings. Sunray IS NOT enough. Go get at least PL lights. Blue would be good for coralline.

[aStRoBo|]

bring down ur temp too.. 30c seems alot for marine to handle..

[jas_soh]

salinity at 1.025 isn't it a little high? have always been advised to keep it between 1.021 and 1.023. 1.025 means u got to use much more salt than truly necessary....

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

add calcium and magnesium to boost your coralline growth which is important....

[FuEl]

Get calcium and kH test kits. And calcium & alkalinity 2 part additives.

[Marine Dreamer]

Exposing to sunray would promote green aglae, you should try to get the correct lighting.

Marine Dreamer.

[sinner]

i use reef builder to maintain =)

[lightningstrike]

r u utilising UVC? coz if u r, it affects coraline algae growth too.

[dravan]

no need to use heater... corals like it at a lower temp.... hmmm need to improve lighting n get calcium supp....

[KingFish]

r u utilising UVC? coz if u r, it affects coraline algae growth too.

Why is that so?

[Terryz_]

Why is that so?

Ya... UVC got noting to do with coraline algae wat...

[Clownfish]

i guess u r new to this hobby?

welcome to the world of marine fishkeeping!

firstly, a normal cycle of tank shldnt take so long as to stretch for more than 2 mths.... either u hav had gone thru several cycling oredi or u hav added too much prawn/watever to start off ur cycling....

secondly, wat do u mean by no special lighting? u shld hav at least FL lights which hav color temp of 6,500K n above even if u wan to keep fish onli... those pink tubes that usually come with the light sets r not practical for marine...

thirdly, if u wan to sustain ur coralline, on ur lights for like 7~8 hrs a day...

fourthly, 30 degrees is on the high side.... it wld be better if u can place ur tank at a more windy place or DIY/buy fans to aid in bringing ur temp down...

fifthly, i wld recommend a 1.022/1.023 salinity to start off with... as u do not hav a chiller, a higher temp n higher salinity wld mean lower dissolved oxygen...

lastly, do a 30~40% water change after ur cycling to remove excess nitrates.... then hav a routine 20% water change once in 2 weeks.... no extra addictive is needed to sustain/grow coralline in a fish onli/soft coral reef tank

n yes, do ur stocking of livestocks slowly

[Gouldian]

Hi I experience receeding Coraline Algae just after my cycling period but it has slowly recovered, I agree with what Clownfish has mentioned too.

Just remember coraline take longer to grow, so be a little patience and I think they will grow back again.

[BlurClown]

Thanks to all who have replied.

I have adjusted the temp down and installed a blue and white lighting (bought from LFS), switching it on for at least 9 hrs daily. Calcium and strontium have been added as supplement.

However, there do not seem to be improvement in coralline algae growth. How long does it take for them to grow? In fact, i notice that there are more whiteish spots appearing.

Recently, there has been a diatom growth in the tank and i have added two turbo snail to control it. But the snails have much to handle and the diatom are slow in disppearing.

All livestock appears to be in gd health.

Should i ever attempt to transfer the entire tank content and give it a gd cleaning ?

[Gouldian]

Diatoms thrive in tank will high phosphos, bedise controlling will snail, you might have to employ chemical filteration such as Rowaphos.

As mentioned coralines are slow to grow as such be patience.

Cheers,

[BlurClown]

Hi,

I have purchased calcium, strontium and trace elements thinking that it is neccesary for marine. I have only LS and LR with small mushroom growing on it.

Is all this neccesary ??

My tank is small with onli a capacity of ard 60 litres. i plan to stock up on more LR to make the tank more attractive.

How to make the mushroom mulitply and spread to other parts of the LR?

Currently, the mushrooms do not appear to be stressed even though it did exercete out white stuff prior to my installing of the blue and white lights.

I have purchased a 11 watts tube. Is this sufficient for gd coralline algae growth.

i understand it does take some time for the coralline to grow but the existing seems to be dying off, turning white?

Pls advise as i am pretty new to this exciting and rewarding hobby.

[Gouldian]

Hi, if you are planning to have fish only, then you need not worry to much about lighting except that the illumination must be enough for you to see your fishes.

However, if you intend to keep corals, then 15w is not sufficient. Atleast get 2 x 39w pl (1 white, 1 blue).

Please note that coralines especially purple coralines do not require strong lightings as compared to the green coralines.

Please take sometime to read the Pinned thread written by the lao chiao (Old Birds) very informative.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Hi, if you are planning to have fish only, then you need not worry to much about lighting except that the illumination must be enough for you to see your fishes.

However, if you intend to keep corals, then 15w is not sufficient. Atleast get 2 x 39w pl (1 white, 1 blue).

Please note that coralines especially purple coralines do not require strong lightings as compared to the green coralines.

Please take sometime to read the Pinned thread written by the lao chiao (Old Birds) very informative.

I am sorry to tell you that you have given wrong info...purple/ reddish pink coraline require the most light instead of the geens.. In fact green is the lowest light demanding coraline, you notice that they always grow is dark spot, where there is little or no light.

[Gouldian]

Hi, if you are planning to have fish only, then you need not worry to much about lighting except that the illumination must be enough for you to see your fishes.

However, if you intend to keep corals, then 15w is not sufficient. Atleast get 2 x 39w pl (1 white, 1 blue).

Please note that coralines especially purple coralines do not require strong lightings as compared to the green coralines.

Please take sometime to read the Pinned thread written by the lao chiao (Old Birds) very informative.

My apologies. Type too fast and got all mixed up.

Sorry.

[BlurClown]

Hi,

have not been feeding much to the two clown any flakes these past few days. However, to deal with the unsightly diatom bloom on the walls, i have been srcubbing it off. Surprisely, the clowns seems to be globbing them up. Is this healthy for the fishes?

[Gouldian]

Hi bro,

Just feed enough for the clown to finish, unfinished food is another cause of diatom bloom.

Have you employed chemical filtration such as Rowaphros?

Cheers,

[BlurClown]

hi,

do not know what is chemical filtration such as Rowaphros. Perhaps someone could fill me up on that ?

Anyhow, how do i make my mushrooms grow and multiply.

Are polys, mushroom? Do not need to feed them like LPS OR SPS issit ? Just proper lighting required issit ?

thanks !

[Froggy]

I am sorry to tell you that you have given wrong info...purple/ reddish pink coraline require the most light instead of the geens.. In fact green is the lowest light demanding coraline, you notice that they always grow is dark spot, where there is little or no light.

My green coraline is growing under my 2 x 55w lights, while the darker region of my tank the pink and purple ones are thriving... Dont know why leh. I tried take one maroon and purple coarline encrusted rock and place it under my lights. Now its starting to show signs of green coraline growth..

[Gouldian]

hi,

do not know what is chemical filtration such as Rowaphros. Perhaps someone could fill me up on that ?

Anyhow, how do i make my mushrooms grow and multiply.

Are polys, mushroom? Do not need to feed them like LPS OR SPS issit ? Just proper lighting required issit ?

thanks !

Rowaphros is used to absorb Phrosphates. It is available in most marine LFS. It is well recomended by the bros of this forum.

I have used it and found that it is better than Seachem PhosGuard. However, due to the price I have been looking for other alternatives. Today, I was at Parad** R##f and I bought 0.5l of BioPhos from Edwin, he told me that it is comparable to Rowa but at a fraction of the price. Thus you might want to check it out.

I also saw some beginners books that you may want to consider investing.

Cheers,