coraline Algea and good water?

bowhunterj

New member
How is it that I can grow coralline Algea like crazy but none of my corals will open they just sit there and pout . everyday they start to open show some polyp then shrink back to a blob. none are dying but don't seem very happy my tank is going on 2 yrs. old very stable with parameters. I do notice the nitrates up over 20ppm but I water change every 2 weeks. and run carbon and seachem Denitrate. doesn't seem to help.its a 90gl. with a eshopp 110 sump. could my rock be going bad its just covered in coralline algea . I thought that was a good thing. I also have never had any green algea just a diatom bloom now and then. I bought a diamond Gobie he's doing a great job with that.please help. I do have a big bioload with 9 fish hope that's not the problem?
 
What lighting do you have?
What corals specifically?
What are your parameters (salinity/alk/cal/mag/phos/nitrate)?
Nitrates over 20ppm will make many corals unhappy..
any pictures of tank/corals?
How about flow in the tank? powerheads (how many/what GPH/where located?)
 
Thank you Mcgyvr. for getting back. sorry about not enough info I know better!

sal. 1.024
PH 8.2
nitrite..0ppm
nitrate..20+ ppm
calcium...400-410
phosphate...0.25
ammonia...0ppm
Alk...14.0
Mag...1350

lighting I use 2-mars Aqua 165watt set 40% blue 10% white have been playing around with the % though.
power heads 2- 800 gph in opposite corners of tank facing forward
500 gph return pump
pics to follow
I also use eighty four ph buffer
 
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coraline algea

coraline algea

pics
 

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coraline algea

coraline algea

pics

corals I have a Hammer ,toadstool , finger leathers 2 , acon
 
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Just a question and a suggestion. Your tank is 24" deep and you are running your Mars Aqua lights at 40% blue and 10% white. Why so low?

Mars Aqua runs it's 3 watt leds at 1.85 watts. Most other black box leds run their 3 watt leds at 2.2 watts. So the Mars Aqua starts out life down about 15% on light intensity compared to most other black box fixtures.

I don't have a Mars Aqua to test, but at 10% white and 40% blue, I'd guess you are getting a PAR of about 100 or 150 at just under the water surface. I assume you don't have a PAR meter? Then I think it's time to try the the 'canary in a coalmine' approach. Get a small frag of a red cap monti or any other inexpensive plating coral, and set it in your tank as high or higher than all the other corals. Start your acclimatization where you are now, 10%W & 40%B, and raise it 5 or 10 points every week or two (as with everything in this hobby, slower is usually better). You can raise it a bit faster early on, but get much more careful as you get up to higher power levels. When you raise the light intensity too high, the red cap will start to bleach before any other corals. At that point, dial the power back a bit (5% to 10%) and you should be good to go.

As to the final numbers you should end up at, here's a suggestion. You are already at a 4:1 ratio of blue to white and there is nothing wrong with that. Most people seem to run a 50/50 blue/white 2 channel black box led fixture at 2:1 or 3:1. But 4:1 is fine. I ran a frag tank for a long time at 9:1 (90% blue & 10% white). Consider this, add your two power levels together and you get 40+10=50. IMHO you should end up with a total number that is more like 80 to 120. Mix the blue and white to your pleasure, of course remembering that the blue is much more important than the white. I use a fixture that has 3w and 5w leds and I run mine at 90% blue and 40% white over a tank that is only 20" deep.
 
coraline algea

coraline algea

hey Ron thanks, ya ill try the lighting , I've tried dif. lighting % 's before but not so slow , i'll give it a try. I'm just frustrated because my first attempt at salt water went rather well had a 47 gl' cube with a canister filter even had good coral growth . with a low level led strip. that's what is so frustrating I thought I was doing things better but have had really no success . this pic is from my old tank, yes some of the same corals and fish. but no luck with coral since I moved them over a year ago.
 

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I have a mars aqua, same as yours, and at the most they are on just when the fan just turns on, maybe 30% white and blue...my tank is also 24" deep. I go any brighter then that, my corals do not open and look bad. check flow too. I was having a problem with green star...everything else is doing great...but the gsp are finally coming around...no idea why, made no change.
 
Alk is pretty high but how long has it been that high? Nitrates aren't actually that bad, LPS tend to prefer higher nutrient water, they also prefer lower light than sps. Are you target feeding them at all? Also one thing you could try is moving your powerheads, firstly there doesn't appear to be much surface agitation which would help with gaseous exchange and secondly they are both appearing to be pointing right at your Corals, they won't like being constantly blasted, might be worth trying your powerheads in different positions, target feeding the hammer and bringing your alk down slowly as for the leathers they tend to "sulk" every few weeks, they grow a skin over themselves in order to clean again though leathers hate to be blasted with flow
 
coraline algea

coraline algea

hey, thanks everyone. I didn't realize the alk was getting so high I do buffer, going to stop for now, I did move power heads . phosphates are slowly dropping but still no difference in coral health.
 
coraline algea

coraline algea

on coral health and growth, just hit me when I was doing a water change this morning. I have a Cedar hood over the tank that's been there since I built the stand about 1 1/2 yrs. ago, would that have any affect on the water quality for coral? does anyone have a hood made of Cedar? that has trouble keeping coral. also my ALK. is at .14 or so what is the best way to lower. water changes of course will lower but what other means , I said before I do use buffer will just stopping the buffer be enough to lower Alk.
 
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