Growing coraline Algae on Rocks

[slow_leak]

I have fairly stable set up with moderate or fair SPS growth. The rocks are cured in tank BRS Pukani. The refugium has original rocks from previous set up. They are a hue of tinted geen with little coraline. The back panel and front glass will grow coraline however.

I have read in one of Julian Sprung's books that green rocks is a sign of under saturated calcium. Levels are alkalinity 140ppm, magnesium 1350 ppm, and calcium at 380.It is a low(er) nutrient system with undetectable nitrate by salifert and 0.03 phosphate by Hanna LR meter.

Lighting is 2 - 250 DE MH 14K - same bulb that Icecap rebranded. Not for discussion!, and 2 T5's over a 151 custom tank 4' by 28" x 28". I use GFO, but no carbon, and water changes with Tropic Marin. I did uses VSV mix for algae in past. No additives currently but food. Chateo growth in refugium is very slow lately.

Here is what I may consider to slowly favor a display with purple rocks.

1) use radiums 250K bulbs or lower output Reeflux 12K's. Read they prefer lower light.
2) Uses liter meter remote pump to at some kalk every hour by Neptune controller, knowing kalk growth helps coraline.
3) Buy seed plugs of corallne from IPSF.
4) skim dryer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks-

 

[bertoni]

I'm not sure how green rocks could be a sign of undersaturation, and just about any tank is supersaturated with calcium and alkalinity. Yours certainly is.

The problem might be a lack of an appropriate species or variety of coralline, or the issue might be the nutrient level. We don't have the equipment to be sure about the nutrient levels in tanks like yours. Any of the steps you suggest might help. I'd be tempted to try to find a small piece of rock locally with a purple coralline that's growing in similar lighting conditions to your tank, but the plug from IPSF might help, too. The local rock might be a lot cheaper, though.

 

[slow_leak]

Actually I questioned accuracy of Calcium levels and replaced kit. Salifert kit had reagent 1 & 2 labels wer swapped. I ran new red Sea test kit and found calcium to be low at 340 ppm. I checked several times to ensure results were correct and made assumption Salifert kit was incorrect. BRS calculator showed that 1.2 liters was needed to make up deficiency I ran this over a few days with a dosing pump and calculation and results matched up well. I will use IPSF sample only because I have no aptasia red bugs etc. I will quarantine that for 2 weeks.

 

[magnetar68]

I have a dry rock, dry sand tank using BRS "Eco Saver" rock. It starts out yellowish, then it turns greenish. I think this is mainly from algae growth. I get a lot of bubbles. It never grows tall, so it just makes the rock look kind of greenish. The rocks leached phosphates for at least a few months, so I assume this is the nutrient source for the greenish rocks.

I have a coralline booster I got from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms. The tank as been up since last November. The back wall is now covered with coralline algae and the high flow areas of the rock are also covered. I get more flow through the refugium in the sump (all of the tank flow going through a much smaller area), and in there the rock is mostly covered in coralline algae. I know if I got my two Tunze 6105s going in the DT the rick would have a lot more coralline algae on it.

 

[bertoni]

Okay, I agree that 340 ppm is a bit low. I'm usually reasonably good about not trusting kits, but I forgot this time. Sigh!

 

[slow_leak]

Salifert is usually good so when it had swapped labels I just tossed that one out. I did not sea any precipitation when I increased calcium.

I am trying IPSF with grazer pack anyway. LFS are limited here or few hours away for anything decent. There was a lot of hobbyists here but many of them quit from failed chinese junk equipment used to run tank.

 

[bertoni]

I always liked the IPSF animals, personally. Good luck with them!