Is Algae a problem in an SPS tank?

[M Woodhill]

Yes...+1

I have found that Coralline Algae Doesn't grow as well inh Lower Alkalinity, 6-7 dKH.I used to have it growing like crazy, then i accidently ran my Alalinity at 6-8 dKH and it slowed down quite a bit.

-Ray

I agree, when my kh drops down to around 6, there's almost no growth for coralline algae.

And in my tank, the brighter a part is illuminated, the less coralline algae grows on it.

 

[Retzius]

Coralline algae does not grow under bright light. I know, because I have first hand experience with this. My led light fixture was at 60% intensity and I was growing a lot of coralline algae. I then decided to raise the intensity on my led unit to 100% and the coralline algae bleached. Just my 2 cents.

 

[psykobowler]

It depends on the coralline. I took coralline from a radium lit frag tank and it took off with just radium halides.

 

[sahin]

It depends on the coralline. I took coralline from a radium lit frag tank and it took off with just radium halides.
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My experience agrees with that observation. I cherry picked liverock pieces from my LFS display; not only based on size/shape etc, but also based on different colours of coralline algae.

I have rocks with purple, pink and a deep red coloured variety of coralline algae. The purple variety has bleached a little and isnt really growing in my T5/LED tank. The red variety hasnt bleached, but isnt spreading.

But the pink variety is showing up in spots all over my marco rocks and glass etc.

In certain tanks I only see the really purple coloured variety etc. So, yes, it is quite possible that certain "strains" of coralline algae will thrive under certain lights.