SPS Gurus HELP!!!

[Alex T.]

Actually, the kalk is just something I got used to doing. I run a calcium reactor to keep up with the demand of my SPS and Clams....kalk just gets added to topoff and drips throughout the day to keep up with evaporation. Because of the reactor and my calcium and alkalinity demand, my ph hovers around 8.0 - 8.15. With the kalk, it stays between 8.1 and 8.3. Maybe I'll just get rid of the kalk drip and only top off with RODI and let the calcium reactor handle the load with the lower Ph. I don't think it's at a dangerously low level....I just like keeping it higher.

 

[Nate R]

Alex i dont think the kalk is your problem if you getting a ph range from 8.1 to 8.3 thats a nice swing. If you just let the calcium reactor run it will lower ph as you know and there is not algea killing benifits in anything we talking about. i think you need to start back at the ro/di and try a refugium technique with a on/off lighting schedual. in the mean time scrape small sections off glass with a turkey baster collecting algea and do water changes with the new ro di filter installed and i bet you you will get a handle on this.

 

[Alex T.]

I changed them out a few days ago. Will be doing a water change with newly mixed salt water Sunday morning. Hopefully in a month or two I'll start seeing some improvement.

 

[Nate R]

i must say as well you must have one heck of a alkalinity demand to get dkh readings at 8 and a calcium level at 420 using a calcium reactor. Usally with sps systems i find that it is the other way around and we find ourselfs with a alk reading at 10-11 dkh before our calcium levels will go over 400. I dont think this has anything to do with your algea problem but it has baffeled me since reading your original post. You must have some super mutant coraline algea to be growing and consuming that much.

one more question. are you running Mag media in your reactor? if not how are you keeping your mag levels over 1350?

 

[Alex T.]

Well Nate...as far as coralline algae goes, I really have no real explanation for it. Once the tank cycled with new live rock, I moved about 35 pounds of live rock from a 29 gallon system that had SPS and a bubble tip anemone over to my 150. At the time, Seachem's Reef Advantage Calcium and Reef Builder Alkalinity supplements were the sole sources of supplementation with Oceanic Salt Mix which kept magnesium and calcium extremely high, but alkalinity rarely could get above 7. Within a few months the coralline did not look like dots on the back glass....it WAS the back glass. It was so thick on the overflow boxes of the reef ready plastic enclosures that it was starting to sheet up like barnacles. The rock was turning pink and purple all over the place but supplementation became so difficult and expensive to keep stable with Oceanic Salt mix and the Seachem additives.

I went to MACNA when it was here in Atlantic City and scored some awesome frags and a great deal on an MRC Dual chamber calcium reactor that is rated for a 700 gallon system. I filled that reactor 2 years ago with Aquamedic Hydrocarbonate and it still doesn't need to be refilled!

As for magnesium, since I switched to Reef Crystals over a year ago my levels have stabilized but from time to time (about every 2 months) I need to supplement with BRS magnesium 2 part. I like my magnesium between 1350 and 1400. I feel it gives me that extra padding. As for consumption of calcium and alkalinity, I think my clams have a lot to do with that. I have 2 Derasa Clams, 3 Maxima Clams and 2 Coceas. The Derasa clams were baby clams no larger than 3 inches across and now are as large as fully matured Maxima clams so there's definitely a demand in my tank. I'm so tired of scraping the coralline off the back glass that I think this time I'm letting it go. I just got tired of friends, family and company asking what all the thick purple stuff was on the glass and that it made the tank look dirty to them.

I really can't explain why it's as thick as it is. I've never seen it like that in anyone else's tank except maybe Sanjay Joshi's. If I can load some pictures I'll post them.

 

[Nate R]

all those clams have alot to do with the alk load for sure i didnt know you had those. I agree with you completly on the mag levels in your tank thats were i like to keep mine (above 1350)I run Neo mag in my reactor and i keeps it right there. I dont have any experiance with the aquamedic media maybe it produces a lower alk level than the ones i use and am familiar with. My favorite is the GenX Course media witch is now not made anymore.

 

[LifeAquatic]

I generally leave the Coraline growing. Tell your friends its the sign of a healthy tank. Everyone has their own "canary in the cole mine" for tank health. I think Coraline algae is the best indicator of parameters out of wack. In my experience it will show trouble-a-brewing long before any coral will. Any hint of purple turning white and its time to check the big three.

 

[Alex T.]

LifeAquatic, I agree with you completely. Every time I decide to scrape the back glass to expose the beautiful blue paint I applied, something triggers the coralline to go to white, and then green, and ultimately a hair algae outbreak takes hold. This has happened twice now at the same time lapse after scraping it off the back and side panels. I'm no chemist...but I truly believe and have witnessed repeatedly that when coralline begins to die back, the dead surface left over is a breeding ground for other algae to bond to and outcompete the coralline. I'm just going to let it grow in again and stay purple and pink. I agree 100% that it's the canary in the coal mine.

It really is an interesting strain that I have growing though. One of my reefing friends was over about 2 months ago before I scraped it and thought that I glued a purple monti cap to the reef ready overflow. When I told him that was coralline he almost wet himself. In some spots it's almost one eighth of an inch thick.

 

[Alex T.]

Just to add....I've donated a few frags and fish over the years to the Atlantic City Aquarium. It's a very small aquarium in the inlet of Atlantic City and many of the staff are volunteers that help out. In return, they gave me a frag of their purple nana and affixed it to an aragonite plug. It sat there waiting for me almost a month until I had the time to pick it up. When I did, it had the most insane coralline growth on the base that I'd ever seen. This may have been the beginning of the strain that I introduced to my tank on top of that which was already growing.

AC Aquarium doesn't even mix salt. They actually pump natural seawater directly from the bay and can do a 100% water change in the reef tank (1000 gallons with 2 300 gallon sumps) in less than 10 minutes. The reef suffers in the summer a bit from all the excess nutrients and free floating algae that are probably in the bay because of the warm water and extended sun, however they have some barnacle like coralline growing on their tank glass and rocks. They've also got the largest ETSS skimmer I've ever seen in my life...almost 6 feet tall with a foam tower as wide as my waste. On a further note...if you ever get a chance to go behind the scenes at a public aquarium it really is a spectacle that should not be missed by any avid hobbyist. Our systems pale in comparison to the sheer water volumes that they're dealing with. It really is interesting and I marvel that it can run so smoothly with all that it takes to keep it running.