coralline is fading

hello. my 55 gallon reef is just over one year old. my back glass used to be fairly covered in coralline, now it has thinned out considerably. i do weekly water changes with reef crystals and ro/di water, i know it is not my water chemistry. the biggest thing i suspect is my lighting. i have 4x 54 w t5 lighting and my bulbs are 3x ati blue plus and 1x kz fiji purple. now i was under the impression that more blue lighting favored coralline. i take care of a tank at my school that barely gets any water changes at all and the coralline grows thick and fast, unlike mine which is flaky and slow. the tank has more white light then mine. will taking out one of my blue lights and replacing it with a 12,000k white help? is 2x ati blue plus, 1x 12,000k, 1x fiji purple better? need help with this! my friend who doesnt take care of his tank at all has thicker coralline then me!

 

Whether it helps or not is hard to say but you will have a better lighting spectrum with the daylight bulb.

 

What are your Calcium levels at?

 

not sure about the tank its self, but every week i do a 5 gallon change and mix it to 1.025. it test about 470-480. plenty. i have no hard corals in the tank to consume it either.

 

Try the 12000k bulb. I have a kz Fiji purple and I don't think they are good for anything other than looks. And I too have noticed that coraline is more abundant in tanks that see less water changes.

 

What bulbs do you have? Coraline needs proper lighting also.

 

currently use 3x ati blue plus and 1x fiji purple. very blue tank. i think i may take out one of the blues and add the 12,000k. i have noticed it, but why do you all think coralline seems to flourish more with less water changes? more spores in the water? i think maybe ill try doing water changes every other week rather than every week. save some salt to!

 

You said that the back glass used to be covered... have you always had the same lighting?

If so, I'd say that's not the issue here... I would check alk/calcium/mag levels if you are that concerned with it.

It is a touchy thing sometimes, but it does tend to grow well when all parameters are in check. Just remember that if it's growing, that it's removing Alk, calcium and magnesium from your tank's water. Water changes alone will help, but may not replenish these levels over the long term, so you may be deficient in one or more areas...

It has been my experience that low Alk levels will cause coralline to recede. Also, other algae blooms seem to hinder it's growth.

 

Light bulbs can wear out to. I think T5's last from six to nine months, other opinions will vary on this of course. I think coraline prefers stable water conditions so water changes seem to disrupt this stability, just an observation I've noted over the past ten of eleven years. Alot of the tanks I see that have rare water changes definitely have more thick and abundant coraline. I'm always dumbfounded when I see a tank loaded with coraline and the owners tell me they don't change water or add any supplements.

 

no. my lighting used to be stock lighting that came with the odyssea fixture. it was 2x 12,000k and 2x actinic. i will just try to add in the 12,000k and see if it helps. even though it looks cool, i think my lighting spectrum is very limited by being so blue, although the corals seem to love it. i dont think my weekly water changes are really neccessary anymore as my tank is mature at over a year old and my coralife skimmer pulls so much out of my water. i literally watch it start to work right after a feeding.