Coraline concerns

[putemup]

I've noticed that coralline in my tank appears to be going away and or turning white. This is occurring on the rocks and entire back wall of the tank. I am still seeing minimal amount of sporadic growth on the front of the tank. About 3-4 months ago I switched from power compact lighting to LED's. At that point I added corals which are growing fine but around the same time the coralline began to recede. Should I be concerned or just let it ride.

Notes:
The salinity in my tank did get up to 1.030-1.035 (for a couple of weeks at least recently) but I had minimal issues with my corals and no issues with my fish. I have corrected the salinity.

Thanks

 

[gacolt]

i would check your cal,alk,mag that could be your problem.what kind of leds?

 

[putemup]

2 of the large Maxspec Razors over a 75 gallon tank

 

[sn4k33y3z]

WOW... that's a lot of punch for a tank that size. I've got a few friends running them over their 93g cube(s), and they are only using one fixture. Wish I could help with the OP.

 

[gacolt]

i would also check phosphates.

 

[mcphock]

I'd willing to wager dollars to doughnuts your alk is low.

 

[tbub1221]

I would do as the above stated said and check calcium , magnesium , alk and I'd think it will be one or more of those 3 .
Coralline is funny and can be effected by flow change and it grows best in low to mid lighting in the 500 nm range (like pc lighting) so perhaps your led's are to much , I'm not saying it can't grow under high lighting , if you can keep dkh at 10-11 , calcium at 400-450. And magnesium at 1200-1300 it Will grow somewhere .

 

[putemup]

I just did some water tests and my calcium was 480 and my dkh was 6.

I'm thinking I need to bring the calcium down a bit with a water change and dose a little for the dkh.

Edit: I just did some water tests and my calcium was 480 and my dkh was 6.

I'm thinking I need to bring the calcium down a bit with a water change and dose a little for the dkh.

 

[tbub1221]

Cal is fine there your alkalinity is so far off I don't think much can grow in that condition , are you able to check your mag , its more than likely low as well.
No coralline or calcerius coral can grow very well if at all in these conditions , the mag cal and alk all need to be in sinc or the coral can't grow.

 

[bluespot]

I am willing to bet that it isn't an issue with water parameters. LEDs tend to be a very directional type of light. They often have a lens that directs the spread of light ie 40 degree, 60d, 90d, etc. thus the light extends into the tank like a cone-narrow at each led and spreading towards the sandbed. Basically, most of the light never hits the glass, thus little coralline growing in those places. Most other types of light use reflectors that spread light more evenly. A lot of people report less light spillage outside of the tank with leds. I believe that when you switched to the leds the coralline on the back glass just doesnt get much light. I have 3 Maxspect Mazarra P units on my tank. I usually only get coralline or other algae on the bottom 4" of glass. The spectrum and strength of the new lights are also different and very probably is causing some die back. I wouldn't worry about it. It should bounce back soon.

 

[putemup]

I think both of you are correct in a sense. My waters levels are off as well as the lights aren't hitting areas of the glass as it did when I had my previous fixture. What concerns me is the fact that pieces of rock that are directly under the lights are losing coralline as well. I'm gonna get my parameters in order and hope for the best.

Thanks for the info.

 

[clay4au]

Asterina starfish will eat it too

 

[ringo®]

I would call that a blessing in disguise. I hate scraping that stuff.

 

[bluespot]

Definitely check your water for this and especially for the health of the rest of your tank. With normal or near normal parameters I would not worry about the coralline. It will come back. Most coralline naturally grows in moderate to lower light but will eventually adjust to higher levels and grow just fine. You are basically blasting/bleaching the coralline on the rocks directly below your lights. The led units you are using put out tons more PAR than the power compacts you had before. Great for corals but shocks the coralline. Obviously good water chemistry will grow it back faster.

 

[putemup]

I've raised the alk in the tank to 8 and with the alk rising the cal should have gone down some (although it wasn't all that bad). I've ordered a good mag test kit that should be arriving by Monday. Hopefully I'll see some coral growth as well as the return of my coralline over the next few weeks.

I'm going to chalk this one up as a lessen learned. Luckily in this case all I lost so far was about 50% of my coralline.

 

[bluespot]

Yep, before you know it you will be like the rest of of us and wishing it would grow slower so you don't have to scrape as much off lol. As your corals grow in they will cover more and mor of it up.