Over the last few weeks I’ve notice that a large portion of the Coraline Algae on the back of my tank, and overflow chambers is dying off. The only changes that I’ve done, which seem like an unlikely cause, is, I’ve swapped out my LED’s for a T-5 fixture, and I started to use the BRS kalkwasser. I noticed that that BRS uses a pharmaceutical grade of kalk, and the Mrs. Wages was a food grade, and somewhat whiter in appearance. Other than those, my routine hasn’t changed. Any thoughts? ::
PS All water param’s are spot on, and all inhabitants are healthy.
I do.d that light is the biggest culprit of killing coraline. I do agree it would be odd to have it happen switching from LEDs to t5s though. Maybe a spectrum shift between the 2?
I know to grow Coraline Algae you must have high Calcium - 350 to 480 ppm, Carbonate Alkalinity - Between 2.5 and 4.0 meq/L (7-12 dKH) and Strontium. Also, it depends on what part of the reef where the Algae comes from whether its light loving kind or non light loving kind. So, for my guess it must be something with your lighting.
I use Mrs. Wages kalk as well but, I haven’t heard of it being any influence to Coraline Alage other than increase Calcium and or PH.
[quote=“reefman66, post:3, topic:5344”]
I know to grow Coraline Algae you must have high Calcium - 350 to 480 ppm, Carbonate Alkalinity - Between 2.5 and 4.0 meq/L (7-12 dKH) and Strontium. Also, it depends on what part of the reef where the Algae comes from whether its light loving kind or non light loving kind. So, for my guess it must be something with your lighting.
I use Mrs. Wages kalk as well but, I haven’t heard of it being any influence to Coraline Alage other than increase Calcium and or PH.[/quote]
I keep my water param’s close to NSW, so my Ca is always in the 400 ppm range, alk is always between 7 and 8dKH, and Mg around 1350. I don’t test for trace elements, but am diligent with my WC’s, so they should be in line too.
I think my use of kalk was instrumental in the growth of the coraline in my tank. Although, early on, I had some coraline in the tank, when I started to use the kalk, is when it really started to take off. Which is one of the reasons I included it as a possibility, since the change in brand occurred at about the same time as the change in the lighting.
If you added t5s and the tank is brighter you will notice some die off . Lower blue light it loves brighter white light will slow it down and even cause it to recede . It should come needs some adjustment time.
Do you monitor ph? lime is lime though you would think ::
I’d say lighting is the culprit, I had coraline die off within a week of changing out my t5’s to other spectrum bulbs (still t5’s) . after a couple weeks a diff color just grew back over it.
where is the bulk of the coraline located your talking about? was it getting much light from the leds, or do u think its getting more in that area with the t5’s now?
[quote=“saltcreep, post:7, topic:5344”]
Do you monitor ph? lime is lime though you would think ::
I’d say lighting is the culprit, I had coraline die off within a week of changing out my t5’s to other spectrum bulbs (still t5’s) . after a couple weeks a diff color just grew back over it.
where is the bulk of the coraline located your talking about? was it getting much light from the leds, or do u think its getting more in that area with the t5’s now?[/quote]
pH is always between 8.0 and 8.2. The die off is mostly on the back wall and overflow chambers. Some of it’s on the rock, but not as much. The odd thing is, that there are some more shaded area’s that are toward the side of the tank that are showing die off too. But, there is no die off on the side panels of the tank…yet.
Hello, I don’t believe there is any difference from pharm graded kalk and Mrs. Wages. both are very pure. I too use Mrs. wages as a little PH booster. and arm and hammer washing soda and baking soda from pathmark for my buffer. they grow too much coraline. i cant clean it off without a chissel.
So i can see only one difference. the light spectrum. most LED lights are in the 450 nm range for blue light, and have almost no blue in the 420 nm range. most flourescent VHO and T5 tube lights are mostly 420 nm for their blue spectrum. 420 nm feeds chlorophyl A in the coraline and coral zooxanthalae. and 453 nm feeds chlorophyl B. so i suspect you had coraline adapted to high level of B, and little A. so when you changed lights to flourescent tubes at 420, the coraline starved and died off. until some will adopt A and then prosper again. I think it will come back.
one other thing is, when you do water changes, and drop the level in the tank. you will see the coraline exposed to air , die off. so if you see a clear horizontal line. it died because it was in air for 10-15 minutes. it dont like that.
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