Coralline algae and new lights...

[Dogwood]

I changed the lights in my 12 gal nano from 2-12w pc to 2-18w pc and now the coralline algae appears to be dying as a result. Wherever there's shade, it's doing ok, but in the brighter areas, all turning white. Anyone have any ideas here?

thanks,
Jeff

 

[kstallbe]

Same issue here. Figure it will get replaced by more light tolerating coralline soon, though. Tagging along.

 

[reefnetworth]

Actinic lighting mixed with 14K and Mg level at 3X's your Ca level will encourage coralline growth.

if you are now using 10K lighting that could very well be the result of bleaching, coralline grows best at deeper depths in the ocean where the lighting is less intense.

if your lighting is 10K or brighter it will increase alga growth too.

just remember to do a 20-25% water change (WC) weekly to help keep your parms stable.

 

[Dogwood]

I have noticed more hair type algae growing on the glass...

I'm using Current USA Dual Daylight 6,700k/10,000k 1 x 18watt
and Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm 1x18w bulbs...so maybe going to a 14k bulb would help with this? Or just lift the fixture off the tank surface a bit?

 

[IslandCrow]

if you are now using 10K lighting that could very well be the result of bleaching, coralline grows best at deeper depths in the ocean where the lighting is less intense.

Actually, coraline grows just fine in shallow water under intense, low kelvin light. A sudden increase in light can stress the coraline, though, and cause it to die off. When upgrading your lights, you should always slowly acclimate the tank either by temporarily reducing the photoperiod or placing something like windowscreen between the lights and the tank so the light intensity is increased gradually. You didn't increase your lighting by very much, so the coraline should come back just fine on its own.

 

[Dogwood]

Actually, I thought I had done a decent acclimation, I had a grid in place for about 2 weeks before fully exposing the lights...guess it wasn't enough!

 

[rdlisby]

I'm trying to get my coralline growing back as well after upgrading to 250 MH from power compacts. oops should have acclimated a lot more....... so increasing Mg will help??? can you over dose Mg?????

 

[deejeff442]

thats odd ,i went from 2 175mh to 3 250watt mh and 4 96 watt compact.
full blast and the coraline is growing like crazy and only had a little algea for a couple weeks.
15,000 k bulbs