why is my coraline dieing?

[andydavis141]

the coraline algea is dieing and everything else is ok(sps,lps,shrooms,fish) i don't understand this. nitrates are 0 my ph is 8.2 alk is good. any speculations would be helpful. i have no other tests or money to test, i would just like to try to understand why it would happen. all the purple on my rock has faded to a blanched out purple(coraline algea right). this sucks but i've seen worse. help!!!! thanks you'all

 

[Henry Bowman]

Could be a change in lighting or more likely, low calcium or Alk.

 

[andydavis141]

probally not calcium could be the light. i have 3MH bulbs and switched the cycle. my two outer bulbs run an 1&1/2hr longer than befor and my center is an 1&1/2hr less.and i recently replaced 2 of the 3 bulbs. different k as well. should i expect this every time i try a new bulb?

 

[Treeman]

Try testing for magnesium. Coralline is very dependent on that.

I doubt it is the lighting. Did you do a large water change recently? Sometimes if the coralline is out of the water for a while it can die.

 

[andydavis141]

my water changes don't go low enough to expose my rock. i hear a lot of people have started testing mag is this new? i dose strontium calcium idione trace ele coral accel and coralvite now i need mag too? my water is going to turn to a chem bath!

 

[DrBDC]

You don't need the others. All you need is calcium, alk, and magnesium. Nothing else is needed or even proven to be any benefit.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I found out in my tank when I went from 250watts to 400watts the coraline algea near the top of the the tank turned white. Also when my mag level went below 900 it started to do turn light pink.
Hope this helps
michael

 

[radiata]

PO4 ???

PO4 ???

andydavis141,

What's your Phosphate level? Coralines die back when the PO4 gets too high...

Bob

 

[andydavis141]

i have a phos test i'll give it a testing and let you know. thanks!!!!

 

[andydavis141]

i have 0 phos and my alk is normal. i'm thinking it may be my light cycle and kelvin change. but i can't test for it. thanks for the ideas. much appreciated. have a nice day.

 

[Oldude]

I had my coraline die off recently too and never thought about the magnesium. Thanks.

 

[elegance coral]

I'm having a simular problem also. I think mine is lighting. When you changed the Kelvin temp did you go down? I don't think coraline likes low K lights. I went from 10,000 to 14,000 and I think mine is doing better.

 

[stevedola]

mag and stron levels could be out of wack. check them and dose appropriately. ive changed bulbs tons of times with out ever seeing coraline die off.

 

[andydavis141]

i was just reading that mag helps stabelize calcium to keep alk from droping. sounds interesting. it could have been a combination of several things on my part. although my test would have shown that it was a very small dip if any.

i changed my light cycle and kelvin from 14k to 10k and 20k the rock under the 10k have had the most recession and the 20k areas look to be fine with maybe slight recession. lower k might bulbs might need to be aclimated similar to buying new live stock. just a guess though. i think i burned some of the coraline. still not positive.