lighting

Just purchase a compact florescent fixture 2 bulbs 65watts 12000k, 65watts 2 actinic bulbs and 4 moonlights total 260 watts over a MH because of the cost and high electricity bill. in my 55 gallon tank i just bought fiji live rocks covered with some purple coralline algae and i want more of the purple algae to covered the entire live rocks. im adding purple up,b-ionic 1 and 2,iodine and kent marine essential elements. does anyone know if this is the right setup for purple algae growth? if so how long would it take for the purple to grow?

 

All that sounds OK but do not make the mistake I did and over dose the tank. Really all you need is good water parameters especially calcium and time. In some cases lots of time. My old 55 set up took almost 6 months before it started to put out new coralin and I have heard others that took even longer.

Also coralin algae is touchy when it comes to lighting. In my expierence it prefers lower light and you will usually see it first start growing in darker areas first then spread out.

 

reef 1 fishflyer is correct- overdosing (without the ability to test each item ) can lead to terrible results including major tank die-offs. In my expierience my tanks like 1/2 the recomended dosage on most additives and even then 1/2 to 1/4 as often as recomended- I repeat this is (in my expierience) and others may have different opinions - the 1st rule of reefing is "go slow" !- anyway good luck with your tank and send some pics as it progresses!

 

i just check the calcium on my new 55 gallon set up and reads 420. on my 30 gallon tank that i set up 3 months ago i have a MH and theres purple algae spreading. i hope the pc lighting would do the same for my 55 gallon new set up. should i only use purple up and not use b-ionic,essential elements and iodine anymore i dont want to over dose?