coralline algae fading (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Okay. We set up our 75 gallon tank with 80 lbs of live rock on Jan 1st. The rock was pre-cured and covered with beautiful purple coralline algae. We went through a very minor cycle, and it has been stable for about 6 weeks with no ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates. We haven't added any fish yet because we're trying to be safe and put all fish through a 3 week quarantine before adding to the main tank. (We're still working out the bugs on quarantine.) We do have hermits, snails, & copepods.

Anyway... I've noticed that our beautiful coralline is fading! For now we're just using the lights our Oceanic tank came with. I'm using Red Sea salt, and no supplements. I don't have a calcium test, because I was told that in the early stages the aragonite sand should provide plenty. Any ideas on what I need to look at?

Thanks.
-Suzanne

 

[Trey]

When you say it is fading, do you mean it is turning white, or is it just changing shades? I found that my rock transitioned after putting it into the aquarium to include more colors than it originally came with, but they were all attractive colors.

I wouldn't thing that the light is a problem. It doesn't take that much light to get corraline algae to grow. You would probably do well to start measuring your calcium since you will need to do so sooner or later. I was surprised when I measured mine on my two month old tank only to find it was very low (150 ppm versus the target of 400 - 450 ppm).

Additionally, you might want to go ahead and start using additives like coral-vite, or other coral vitamin mixtures to get trace element replacement. You could do the same to some extent by doing more frequent water changes, but I found that not to be as affective as a good coral vitamin additive.

One last thing, are you using red legged hermit crabs in your clean-up crew? Many of those little beggers and you could loose all of your coralline algae. They are prolific coralline eaters. Watch out for those little guys.

Trey

 

[Guest]

By fading, I mean turning lighter, and in some areas even white. The rock just looks "washed out" now, instead of that vibrant, colorful look it had for the first 2 months. I guess I'll go buy a calcium test kit, and look into possible supplements. Any suggestions on an easy-to-read test kit?

As for the red-legged hermits, I've got 3. They don't seem to be bothering the coralline, though. The coralline isn't coming off -- just bleaching in color.

Thanks,
-Suzanne

 

[Guest]

That is typical for a new tank. I would not worry about it. If you get your Alk >10 and Calcium > 400 in a few months you will be scraping it off the glass.