Coralline Algae Bleaching?

Question

I have 29 gallon tank and how tons of live rock in it. The coralline algae is red, purple and green and has been doing ok since I got it, but not great.

I recently installed a Dual Sateillite power compact, total 130 Watts, and the live rock looks like it's dying.

What is happening to my rock and how can I stop this? I want to maintain a reef tank but my rock is starting to look horrible.

Any advice??

Answer 1

How long has your tank been up and running? Is it cycling? Using live rock while cycling your tank will result in die off where a lot of the coraline will turn completely white. If this is the case don't worry it will grow back. Typically with just live rock regular water changes will keep the nitrates and phosphates under control and the calcium high enough for coralline growth. Give it some time with good water quality and it will grow. Keeping your calcium up around 400 is your best bet and keeping your bad algae in check will also help as they will compete for food with your coralline.

It sounds like you have a very new tank that is cycling. If so you can't really stop it. You just have to wait it out. After the cycle is done seeding it with a small rock with some coralline on it will greatly increase the growth. You can also scrape off the coralline from the rock to help it spread faster. It takes a few months for the coralline to really start growing in a new tank. Patience and water changes are your friend when dealing with saltwater.

I would recommend for starting up a reef tank reading some of the articles on www.reefcentral.com and other places on the web. They are very informative and will help you out a lot.

Answer 2

This definitely does not sound like a lighting issue. Coralline algae requires light to seede and grow. In fact, turn off your lights for a couple of weeks and the rock will bleach.

This sounds more like a chemical problem. Coralline algae will not grow in high phosphate conditions. First of all, check your nitrate levels and get them back to as close to zero as possible (water changes, substrate cleaning etc.) You want them as close to zero as posibble for corals anyway.

Do a phosphate check & add phosphate scrubbers if necessary to remove any trace of phosphates. A good protein skimmer will also help keep phosphate levels in check.

The 2 key elements for coralline propogation are Calcium and Strontium. If you want maximum growth keep the tank dosed with calcium at a level of 400mg/liter.

The easiest way to keep Calcium / Strontium levels in check is to use an additive such as Seachem's Reefbuilder or Reef Advantage. Watch the dosage though as these products also contain many other necessary elements including Iodine which can upset some invertaebrates when overdosed.

If you want to increase growth rate even more, leave lighting on for up to 14 hours daily. Unfortunately this will also dramaticallyb increase green algal growth, so keep that glass clean and keep the nitrates very low throuh more frequent water changes & substrate cleaning.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

I had a problem similar to this when I moved and the new tapwater wouldn't let my pH get above 7.8 (it had been 8.3 before the move). Check the pH to be sure it's high enough (I like 8.4) and that there's enough calcium. I needed to use kalkwasser to maintain my pH (which also adds calcium), and the live rock recovered.

You can also try a phosphate pad (I like polyfilter as it removes other chemicals as well) if the problem is phosphastes as guyblom suggests. This can be found in tap water as an additive, so water changes may not help with its removal. You can also use reverse osmosis water if you're using tapwater, but the RO process also removes calcium, magnesium, and other beneficial chemicals.