No caroline algea?

[le9569]

Hello reefers,
I have m 46 GL tank for about 3 months. Inside, 45 lb live rock + 40 lb of live sand. Surprisingly, there is no caroline algea on my tank??? I guess it is complete for my cycle.

For live stock, I have one yellow tang and one medium size of touch coral. all are doing well. No cleaner crew yet.

The water parameter is in acceptable range. Is there something wrong with my tank?

Thanks for your input.

le9569

 

[JasonD]

Could you post what you tested for and the results?

 

[sryder]

if you have coraline on your rock work it will soon be around your tank. give it time. sometimes it takes many months. if you have high lighting this may slow the growth somewhat.

 

[DonW]

if you have coraline on your rock work it will soon be around your tank. give it time. sometimes it takes many months. if you have high lighting this may slow the growth somewhat.

I agree and a year after you have it you'll wonder why you wanted it.

Don

 

[mmkeeper]

If you want to speed up the process go to garf.org and get some of their grunge

 

[returnofsid]

Purple Up is also supposed to aid in Coraline growth. I've a 46 bowfront tank. It was set up for over 6 months before coraline started growing on the glass. It's just starting. It started growing on my HOB power filter that I turned in to a mini-fuge a couple months ago and it's almost covered (the intake tube) but for some reason, it took longer for it to start on the glass. I just took a razor blade to the glass for the first time yesterday in fact.

 

[Krish]

Also, to add what everyone else mentioned, high flow and clean water is supposed to help promote it as well. What I personally did to get things going was get a rock that was covered in it and scrape off all of the coraline and then toss all the little pieces in the tank. I had it everywhere in no time

 

[Brenden]

Please post water parameters. If you keep your CA and ALK in check it will grow like crazy.

 

[jake65]

What is coraline?...lol Actually I have been slowly scraping mine off so as to see the the black background again. It helps brighten up the tank a bit

 

[le9569]

Please post water parameters. If you keep your CA and ALK in check it will grow like crazy.

Below are my readings:

Ca: 450 ppm
pH: 8.4
Temp: 80F
Alk: 1.6 ppm
Amonia (NH3): 0.0 ppm
Nitrate (NO3): 0.7 ppm
Nitrite (NO2): 0.05 ppm
Phosphate (PO4): 0.03 ppm

I change my water (with RO) about 10% of the tank.

My tank info:
46 Oceanic bowfront
50 lb live rock
30 lb sand rock
1 yellow tang
1 medium size torch coral

Thanks for your input.

le9569

 

[prow]

wow your alk is way low. 1.6ppm of alk is like nothing. i think it equals 0.09 dkh or 0.03meq/l, which is nothing. are you sure the readings are in ppm???

also with the nitirtes present i would have to save you tank is still cycling. almost at the end but still cycling.

one other thing is your phosphates. they prohibit calcification, thus no coraline growth. but with the alk that low you will not get any growth. first step would be to let the tank finish cycling. while your waiting do water changes and dont feed to get the phos to 0.0. then adjust the alk and Ca+

 

[Krish]

Yeah...You'll need to raise those alk levels some to get the coraline to grow.

 

[le9569]

wow your alk is way low. 1.6ppm of alk is like nothing. i think it equals 0.09 dkh or 0.03meq/l, which is nothing. are you sure the readings are in ppm???

also with the nitirtes present i would have to save you tank is still cycling. almost at the end but still cycling.

one other thing is your phosphates. they prohibit calcification, thus no coraline growth. but with the alk that low you will not get any growth. first step would be to let the tank finish cycling. while your waiting do water changes and dont feed to get the phos to 0.0. then adjust the alk and Ca+

It is the Marine Red Sea test kit http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RS3151 . The result is based on sheet. I am not sure about translating it to regular ppm.

What is the best way to get the alk up? Buffer?

I have only one yellow tang and you feed him about once/2 days. Just enough food for him. No more feeding for him as you suggested?

I will treat the phostphate. Not so sure why it is high since I use RO water, not feed food much.

Once again, thanks for your input.

le9569

 

[Brenden]

What is the best way to get the alk up? Buffer?

Yes I like Kent super buffer JMO. Main thing is your tank need to age a little. What type food do you feed the tang? PO4 is high in some foods. I would try to get a salifert test to retest the ALK. (or take it to your LFS)
You need to get rid of that NO2

 

[le9569]

Yes I like Kent super buffer JMO. Main thing is your tank need to age a little. What type food do you feed the tang? PO4 is high in some foods. I would try to get a salifert test to retest the ALK. (or take it to your LFS)
You need to get rid of that NO2

Excellent. One question though: My tank has been 3 months and not completely cycle?
I feed my tang with frozen blood worm. It seems he likes this than flake or prine prime.

I will treat my phosphate for now. Hopefully it will go back to 0.0.

Thanks.

 

[Brenden]

In 3 months your tank should be done with the cycle. Have you added any LR etc recently? You only feeding small amounts of food? The NO2 may just be from a bad test. Work on getting some Salifert test. The Red sea test are about worthless. Also you need to get that tang some nori

 

[prow]

It is the Marine Red Sea test kit http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RS3151 . The result is based on sheet. I am not sure about translating it to regular ppm.

i agree with above get some salifert kits.

What is the best way to get the alk up? Buffer?

no, dont just add buffer. your ph is already on the high side. adding buffer will may raise the alk but it will affect the ph as well. baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) would the best choice here. however, with such huge inbalance between Ca+ and ALk i would suggest water changes to fix it.

I have only one yellow tang and you feed him about once/2 days. Just enough food for him. No more feeding for him as you suggested?

target feed him but let him feed off your reef for the most part. do give him some greens like mentioned before. also try to blow off your rocks daily till not so much gunk blows off them. your phosphates are more than likely coming from there.

I will treat the phostphate. Not so sure why it is high since I use RO water, not feed food much.

rocks- humm RO or RO/DI water?? there is another place you may be getting phos. might be the salt mix or your mixing bucket/bottle. after every batch of salt water you make use vinigar to clean out the bucket. check your fresh mixed water too for and nasties, what kind of salt are you using??

Once again, thanks for your input.

no prob. for your chemistry(Ca+ Alk) here are a few good articles you should read.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

hope you enjoy them and happy reefing WWOOOO HOOOOO