[yumseyo]

Hi All !!

Would anyone be able to share with me why the purple coating on my live rocks is slowly deteriorating? I just increased my lighting from 430 watts to 760 but I have decreased the time my mh's are on. I did just get a new hermit crab but I doubt if that would do it..

Thanks in advance,

Don
(beginner)

[unclejed]

Some of my hermits do get some off but that sounds like a lot of light for that size tank. I am not sure if you can "bleach" it off as what happens in the ocean reef in some areas, perhaps your answer is forth coming from someone else.

[dinor2]

What are your water parameters? I would suspect either calcium and/or iodine is a little low... let us know the results please!

[WILLIAM1]

Do you dose a 2 part for calcium???

[spanko]

Is it disappearing or is it turning white? I would suspect some bleaching from the lighting change. As long as you are maintaining proper parameters in your tank, it should come back. Don't know of anything that eats Coralline Algae besides Urchins.

[yumseyo]

yes, it is turning white. It looks like when a snail does a good job at cleaning the algae. Thanks for the reply, I will keep an eye on it.

[palmbeach2210]

Coraline grows best in low light. Decrease the time of the bright lights and increase the time on the actinics. You can actually grow coraline with just actinic lighting. Double check your alk also. It should be in the 9-11 dkh range for good coraline growth.

NORM'S CORALLINE ALGAE PROPAGATION

The increase of lighting can shock the contents of your tank. It may take a while and gradual increase in small amounts of light for it to turn purple again.

[yumseyo]

Originally Posted by WILLIAM1

Do you dose a 2 part for calcium???

I am not sure what a 2 part for calcium is (would you please explain it to me?) I do add three capfuls of calcium every week. I don't measure it though. Please advise.

[yumseyo]

Originally Posted by palmbeach2210

Coraline grows best in low light. Decrease the time of the bright lights and increase the time on the actinics. You can actually grow coraline with just actinic lighting. Double check your alk also. It should be in the 9-11 dkh range for good coraline growth.

NORM'S CORALLINE ALGAE PROPAGATION

The increase of lighting can shock the contents of your tank. It may take a while and gradual increase in small amounts of light for it to turn purple again.

I use to have the MH's on for 8 hours a day. When I got the new lights I lowered them to 5. Should I go less time? Now that I think about it. The problems all seemed to start after I got the brighter lights. What do you think? Will the rocks eventually get use to it and grow back?

[palmbeach2210]

Originally Posted by yumseyo

I am not sure what a 2 part for calcium is (would you please explain it to me?) I do add three capfuls of calcium every week. I don't measure it though. Please advise.

Dose accordingly to your parameters. I know that the bottle says to dose in equal parts, but trust your instincts and use the force, Luke!

[palmbeach2210]

Originally Posted by yumseyo

I use to have the MH's on for 8 hours a day. When I got the new lights I lowered them to 5. Should I go less time? Now that I think about it. The problems all seemed to start after I got the brighter lights. What do you think? Will the rocks eventually get use to it and grow back?

As stated above: "The increase of lighting can shock the contents of your tank. It may take a while and gradual increase in small amounts of light for it to turn purple again."

[spanko]

I am of the opinion that all of the information you are getting about dosing things, while well intentioned, you should disregard unless you can and are testing the parameters yourself. If you can't test for it, don't dose for it. To maintain proper parameters you first need to know what you current readings are, what the usage rate fro them is, what the replenishment rate from you water changes is and only then can you determine what and how much to dose.
I am also of the opinion that the whitening of your coralline is a direct result of the light intensity shift. It will come back in time.
Yes you can gradually increase your lighting back to your 6 hour schedule, but gradually is the key word.

[yumseyo]

thank you spanko ! I will definitely heed your advice. A new test kit will be on order and I will be more precise on dosages. Up until now, I've been just adding every week. How much light is the minimum I should have my mh's on daily and then increase? 2-3 3-4 hours ? Is a week at a time for each schedule ok? Again, thank you!!

[spanko]

The lighting schedule is what it is IMO. Coral needs 8-10 hours of daylight. Now adjusting your tank to a new intensity needs to be done "gently". some people use window screening to accomplish this, some change the amount of lighting the give to the tank. I don't think either way is wrong. You can do it by reducing the new lighting and slowly increasing over time, say going from 8 hours down to 5 and increasing and hour every 4 or so days. With the window screen place 3 or 4 layers of screen on the tank without decreasing you original schedule and every 3 or 4 days remove a layer of screen. I don't know what else you have in your tank as far as coral but if it is just the coralline you are seeing the problem with, it will come back with little intervention on your part.
for an example I have a 29 gallon BioCube. I took the stock top off that had 144 watts of PC lighting, and replace it with an open top and a 150 watt 14k HQI metal halide light. My coralline on the back wall was a beautiful purple color. It immediately bleached white. i did not change my light schedule or add the screen gig. the coralline over the course of a month started to turn a beautiful shade of green. Over the next few months it is turning light and dark shades of purple again.
Patience is the key in this hobby. Knee jerk reactions to get a quick result do not work.
I cannot impress upon you most that dosing is something that may need to be done but for the most part if you are not keeping a tank that is primarily SPS coral dosing will not for the most part be necessary. Regular water changes will replace most if not all chemical parameter to the needed levels to keep your tank at an optimum.

These are my opinions based on my reading and first hand experience, hopefully others will chime in with theirs and you will be able to devise a path that you can follow. Post some pics of your tank that always helps us to help you. If you are interested here is my tank thread.

http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/n...beginning.html

[dinor2]

I agree with Henry, I'm still interested to see what the levels are for ph, dkh, calcium, magnesium and iodine. Those all can and will affect coraline and coral growth. I've decided if you get into this hobby, you'll become a water chemist by default!