Coralline Algae Dying

My coralline seems to be dying, or at least from what I'm told. I checked calcium and its right around 400, ph at 7.3, and other levels are zeroed out... Have no alk test ATM... but what could be causing it to die? I have it in the same spot with the same water flow as it always has been. Everything else seems to be doing fine. I have a starfish, toadstool colony, sea urchin, a couple emerald crabs, a couple clownfish, a peppermint shrimp, and a few red-leg ged hermits... Oh and anyone familiar with my previous posts (problems keeping feather dusters) I have resolved my water issue and now have 2 thriving dusters. I'm puzzled in this... Could the white spots be something else? And any suggestions of things I could try (non-consequential, of course)?

 

ph way low don't understand it with a 400 calcium should be 8.0 or higher

 

Hmm... Seems to be a more complex problem. Unless... Could it be possible I got two false readings? Two Ph tests suggested a 7.3 level.

 

I don't understand this? Ca has no direct relationship to pH. pH in our systems is purely a function of CO2 and alkalinity. Likely the alkalinity is quite low, which would certainly lead to death of coralline. Also low ph will cause coralline to dissolve, so, will also kill coralline. So, no mystery really. Get an alkalinity test kit and some alkalinity buffer. Also you ca is low, so, you may need to dose calcium as well. A two part ca/alk system would probably be good. However before dosing, what is you specific gravity. It should be around 1.026, tested with a calibrated refractometer. Just a hunch, but I am guessing you are running it much lower.


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7.3 is acidic enough to kill off coralline. Have you tried to raise you PH?

 

kalkwasser not only raises ca but also ph and you also need mag and alk to get a stable kh and ph so, when i see a low ph am thinking cal and alk and mag is not correct. i finally broke down and got a pinpoint ph meter so as not to waste anymore money on test strips. no matter what is causing the low ph i believe this is a big part of coriline algae grow 400 is not to low but you can go another 50 or more with no problem but after 400 i'm not sure the coral are benefited buy the extra cal get the ph and sal up and use a little iodine to get the purple algae back to where you want, the fish and inverts will benefit as well

 

calcium at 400 is ok, seawater calcium is 420, in aquaria it can range from 380-450 and you're still good.
however your ph is low, very low. seawater ph is 8-8.3, but in aquaria you can go from 7.8-8.5. i'lls tart dosing kalkwasser to raise the ph, or try opening a window. sometimes low ph is the cause of high carbon dioxide content in the house.

 

I have a couple of small starfish that eat coralline. Is it dying in patches of "stripes"?

 

kalk shouldnt raise your levels...people use 2 part to get their levels where they want them and then use saturated kalk water to top off with to keep their levels stable....kalk makes your calcium and alk and mag stay stable..kalk should absolutely not raise anything but ph and that should be raised .2 throughout the day, or to much is being added..

 

I beleive that elevated magnesium levels help encourage coraline algae growth.I a use Tropic Marin Bio Magnesium to reach the Mg level that I want. In addition to magnesium, it is also important to make sure that the calcium and alkalinity are all in check within the system.