Green algae?? Good or bad?, etc.

[Trandall]

Is this a good algae or bad?? It is not thick or stringy or anything at all. It's more or less just a *color* that has been coming on my live rock for the past few days. Should I be concerned or is this a good algae that my blenny and soon to get Tangs will enjoy?
Also....

I ran all my tank levels today as well Do they seem o.k.?? Remember I've got a 210 gallon tank that has been set up now for 2 months. It was cycled with uncured live rock.I've currently got a clean up crew of hermits and snails, a Lawnmower Blenny, & a Tomato Clown residing in the tank along with 4 soft corals < a zoo, Xenia, mushroom, and button polyp >. That's all. Soon to add more hopefully! Here are those results...

Temp. = 77.9
S.G. = 1.022
Phos. = 0.25
Calcium = 400
Nitrate= 5
p.h. = 8.5
Amm. = 0 to 0.1 max
Nitrite = 0.1
KH = 9.5 dkh or 170 mg/l

Another question please.... what formula i.e. strength of salt to water mix do you use to up your salinity slowly like, .05 at a time so as to not shock any tank stock? I've tried upping it slowly without much luck. Is there a formula for this?

Should I attempt to up my calcium to 425 to 450 from where it is now < 400 > for my softies?


And finally < thanks for your patience> Is there a reason my PH always reads a bit high? 8.5 to 8.6? What would make it high? I use R/O-D/I water only. Should this be a concern?

Thanks for any input~
Terri Randall

 

[aquaman67]

It's hard to say about the algae without a pic, sorry.

What are you testing your pH with? And when do you test it?

pH is highest just before lights off in the evening and lowest first thing in the morning. Test it at those two times to give you a better idea where it's at.

Some test kits aren't that accurate.... +/- .2 or so.

So depending on what you are testing your pH with, I would leave it only for now.

Stabile is more important than a magic number.

To increase your salinity I would mix up some water at the salinity you want, say 1.026 and use that for evaporation top off until you get your tank to 1.026.

You are replacing fresh water lost with salt water and the salinity will go up.

Are you using a refractometer to check the salinity? Swing arm hydometers are known to off sometimes.

I think the calcium is fine at 400.

 

[Trandall]

Thanks for your response. I tried to send a pic but it wouldn't upload? I'm using the Hagen Master Test kit for all my parameters. I usually test mid day, afternoon.
I don't have a refractometer, I use a Deep-6 swing arm.

 

[Ranzan]

is it just more of a slime coating on your rock ? im pretty sure its fine if you really want to get rid of it get more snails

 

[Trandall]

Basically it's just a color. Not slimey at all. Pretty clean looking actually. And it's on there good! Tried scrubbing it off with a toothbrush but it didn't budge.

I'm thinking it's more just a normal progression of my cycle and perhaps not a problem.
I've got quite a few snails, some hermits and a Lawnmower blenny and they all seem to be enjoying it.
Will be adding 2 tangs in a week or so and think they will help keep it in check as well.
Thanks~

 

[Jocephus]

If it's crusty, it's good. If it's flowing or mat-like, typically bad.