My new lights is killing my coraline

HI,
My new lights is killing my coraline algae , yikes I guess it don't care for those new bulbs.
Doug

 

Hold on!!! What kind of lighting did you have and what do you have now?!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes, coralline algae will die off with no rule or reason as to why!!! I wouldn't ditch the lights as it grows back fairly quickly!
How is you calcium level? What about your other water parameters?

 

Coralline algae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

maybe its the lack of calcium

HI,
Well I took a water sample to my LPS and mentioned the coraline die off.
And he said what are you using for Calcium, so we checked it and its was very low.
:-[ it seems my beloved argonite milk has a bad habbit of preciping out when added this explains all the white stuff in the filters and the coraline bleaching and did I mention the inverts are pretty ILL. So he sold me this super calcium addedative they use in some of the reef systems its has strotium and iodine and did I mention its very fine and burns like heck if you get it on your hands.
I am only allowed to add 5 scoops every three days to bring it up slowly.
Geeze there's always somethin..
Doug

 

All my coralline bleached when I went from stock lighting to my pc lights!! It will come back in a few weeks, and will take over lol. My calcium was in the 200 range back then too. Coraline is a super tuff coral that will grow in almost any conditions!! I wouldnt worry to much about it. My coralline will still blaech alittle when I do a water change and it comes out of the water, but it comes back really fast.

 

It's very normal for Coraline to bleach out and even die off when new lights or New Bulbs are replaced. It will come back regardless of low CA. Not to worry.

But I would get your CA back to acceptable levels

J

 

You will want to get your calcium level back up 350-450mg/l or other problems will result maybe not in terms of coralline algae, though coralline algae requires calcium/strontium/light and water flow to grow.
With your calcium level being so low, check your alkalinity!!!!!Usually what happens is that if your calcium level is low, your alkalinity level is sky high!!!!You want to keep your calcium in the range I mentioned above, this way you alkalinity level should be in range as well! A two part balanced amount of alkalinity and calcium will help you to create this stable environment for your water and the success of your livestock!

 

Im would leave testing to your own devices. The visual percipitation of calcium i the water column is very rare. the dependants are far and few between. Coraline algae is dependat on stable alk, ph, and ca, not the lighting. Its photosynthesis is minimal compared to needs of stabiulity. DO research not listne to your LFS, its a point of sale with no knowledge of your systme despite you description. READ books, and stay online with advise from one source. The more q's you ask on diff sites or sources the more the anawers will vary. K I S S.....the answer to all reef tanks.

 

Its getting better

HI,
I ve learned more about that calcium, the corals are starting to recover if the CA is starting to precip or dosen't clear in the water inabout an hour ,I've noticed my PH isn't dropping much when I add vinegar so My ALK/K may be a little high. I add 45 mls of white vinegar and that stops the precip the water clears up in a hour, I measured the total ca and its was 23.6 mg/dl or 236 mg/L its was down to around 90 mg/L after the crash that killed the coraline. I check the phos its staying low .6, seeing a little coraline here and there mostly green for now little dots of purple ..
The inverts are becoming very active. My new spec grav device came from marine depot it say my water is 1.025 my good old plastic one says 1.028 , So my old plastic one is .03 high.
Things are looking up again even the skimmer is working better.
I think getting a better understanding of PH/ALK/CA++ balance versus precip is critical to keeping this system, and understanding that good calcium levels are right at that level of supersaturation, thats why it precips if the PH goes up I ve astually seen it snow or fog up if its to high and the ph is too high. Geeze its touchy..
Doug
as stated by Oonick getting your own test kilts is critical to understanding, my problems with Ca were related to corraline growth depleting Ca and eleveated Kh preventing the addition of Ca to my system.As a side note the article mentioned Mag may help prevent precip .. JEEZZEEEE
So I ordered a CA test kit and a Kh test kit..
PSPS I also needed to add MG it was way to low thats the primary reason my calcium and ALk is all messed up, so many things so easy to mess up.
Doug