special lighting for live rock
- Thread starter findgnemo
- Start date
Nope, LR is a low light algae. Normal output fluorescent is all that is needed. Get "daylight" tubes with a color temp of 6500 K and use at least 40 watts for that size tank. Many FOWLR tanks are run like that. It may be more monotone in appearance that brighter tanks but it really doesn't make a difference.
MadSkillzMan
New member
You need to be adding caclium in some way to get coraline
mike4271
Premium Member
DO NOT add calcium unless you test for it. Your water will have plenty of calcium from your salt mix, and as you have no corals in your tank, it wil not get depleted. If you are doing water changes, that will top up your levels as required. JMHI. Mike
Sorry missed your last post...... no, not having coraline means nothing, I suppose you could say it was purely aesthetic unless you have any creatures that eat it (Urchins for instance)
jwhitlow1031
Member
coraline will grow in stages and in different colors, in my tank it started as a light green, then a dark green, a light pink, a dark pink, and finally that dark purple color that we all like so much. also i beleive that the color of the coraline will depend on the strength of your lights, the lighter the color of coraline the more light, so the darker purples may actually do alright in your tank, at the very top of my tank, mainly on my power cords for my maxi-jets i have white coraline... kinda cool looking... just have patience and it'll start to grow, how long has the tank been up? as long as you have good water peramiters and a propper calcium level 350-450 coraline should do fine, just make sure you test for calcium before adding anything, your level should be high enough just with water changes, maybe even higher than 450, mine sometimes is-not a bad thing... also listen to wtr waterkeeper says about lights, he knows his stuff
Most people just tell me to get stuffed J. 
You are certainly correct in your hypothesis on corallines color. I think it is a single species and color variation is dependent on both light intensity and spectrum. Outdoor tanks usually mimic the true reef better than artificially illuminated tanks in that they have many shades of coralline other than just deep purples. Tanks that use several different K values in the lighting often have more realistic colors than tanks with single K value lights.
I also agree with those that said that water changes will in most cases provide all the calcium that coralline needs. It doesn't really need the large amounts that SPS corals and such require so the amount in the salt mix will be sufficient.
I would say that coralline has more value than just aesthetics. Don't forget that as an algae it uptakes phosphate, nitrogen and potassium. That limits the amount available to support nuisance algae. Often good tanks with lush coralline growth have far fewer green algae problems than tanks with marginal levels.
You are certainly correct in your hypothesis on corallines color. I think it is a single species and color variation is dependent on both light intensity and spectrum. Outdoor tanks usually mimic the true reef better than artificially illuminated tanks in that they have many shades of coralline other than just deep purples. Tanks that use several different K values in the lighting often have more realistic colors than tanks with single K value lights.
I also agree with those that said that water changes will in most cases provide all the calcium that coralline needs. It doesn't really need the large amounts that SPS corals and such require so the amount in the salt mix will be sufficient.
I would say that coralline has more value than just aesthetics. Don't forget that as an algae it uptakes phosphate, nitrogen and potassium. That limits the amount available to support nuisance algae. Often good tanks with lush coralline growth have far fewer green algae problems than tanks with marginal levels.
jwhitlow1031
Member
well water keeper, im glad to hear i had somewhat of an idea lol, i remember you gave me some info when i was getting started so thanks for that...
