KH Too High, and no coraline algae.

[VeneReef]

Hello Group,

I have been trying to see some progress in my young 90 Gallon 8 month old tank regarding the Coraline Algae with no much luck, however today I decided to test some parameters and and results are these:

Temp 81.5
Nirate 0. (API)
Phosphate 0.25 (API)
Calcium 480 (API)
PH 8.0 (API Test Strips)
Magnesium 1.450 (Salifert)
KH 11, I believe even 12 214.8 ppm When it turned yellow. (API)
Salt: InstantOcean.

Tank is a 90 Gallon, 30 Gallon Sump. Using Chaeto.
Return Pump Eheim 1262, Circulation 2 Jebao RW-4. Reef Octopus Diablo Skimmer. ViaAqua reactor using GFO.

live Stock:
2 false percula, 1 yellow cori, 1 blue hippo tang, 1 flame angel, 1 yellow watch man goby, and like 60 Lbs of live rock, and a decent cleaning crew, water changes around 20% monthly. (I know, I´m a little lazy on that one :lol

I only dose Bionic 2 part.

So my main worries are, Why I don´t have any purple or pink Coraline algae on the sides of my tank? I only see the white spots around but then they turn like greenish and they never get purple. I do see somehow "ok" coraline algae on the rocks.
Also I have a problem keeping the chaeto, it just wont grow, I try to keep some macro algae in my sump but they wont grow and even start fading, that´s when I take them out before they decay.

Can anyone give more advice if my KH is too high? I have been reading and it seems still ok on those numbers, but then why I just can´t grow coraline algae in the DT and chaeto or macro algae in my Sump?

I guess even after the years I still haven´t found that "secret" magic formula for Reef Success...
Thanks too much for the help, any good advice is really appreciated.

Alfredo.
p.s: Here´s a couple of pick of the Tank when I started, back filter is no longer there.

 

[Spslvr]

api kits are really unreliable. a po4 of .25 can inhibit calcification, and chaeto can be difficult at the best of times what sort of flow do you have for the chaeto?

 

[VeneReef]

Hello and thanks for your reply.
Well I have a small Aquatop uv filter for internal water circulation in the sump which moves the water, I also installled a 5k 75 watt Homedepot Led bulb to light it up. But it really grows too slow or nothing, same is with the Macro Algae.

 

[ozmedic80]

algae needs some nitrate in the system to grow, as it uses the nitrates to grow. KH appears fine, not much to panic about there.

 

[VeneReef]

Thanks, Well actually I forgot to mention that I'm using a few mangroves to help reducing nitrates and nutrients.
I will test again and will wait more time for these macro and coraline algae to thrive.
That's how the tank looks today. You can see the white pale green calcareous spots behind that simply wont turn purple or pink.

 

[bertoni]

I agree that the phosphate level might be high enough to cause problems. I'd get a more precise kit, and work from there, but waiting is a reasonable idea, too. Sometimes, coralline seems to take a while to start colonizing new areas in a tank. I have no idea why.

 

[nmotz]

My tank has been set up for around 7 months now and I have a limited amount of coralline too. I think it just takes time for some people. There are a few purple patches on my rocks/back glass (started with dry rock), but nothing to get all excited about. Granted I do only have just a few pieces of coralline algae covered rock that I brought back from my recent trip to the South Pacific.