green coraline algae>>>HELP!!!

[fishhead999]

help...... I have a 90 gal reef with mh 10k 175's and 110vhos. I have at least 100 to 150lbs of live rock with moderate purple coraline but all Im producing is the ugly green coraline in mass quantities. I run the vhos 2hrs before and 2hrs after the 10ks I doo frequent water changes and only feed my fish every other day.......so why only green algae ????????? Please any help is appreciated thanks aaron

[fishhead999]

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[moses13]

I think greens flourish in more intense lighting, whereas purples and reds prefer more subdued lighting. I can say for sure that higher flow may help.

[impur]

When i had my 10g nano with 96w PC lighting all i got was that green coralline. Grew all over the rocks, glass, equip. After i upgraded to my 29g with 250w MH, the green is now completely gone and replaced by purple. Now the problem is it grows so freakin fast i have to scrape weekly.

[wrenchhead]

Is the green bad for a reef tank?

[Avi]

No, it isn't. All coraline algae is beneficial. In fact, the purple is not all that common in nature though it is common in our reefs and reefer's like the look of it.

[fishhead999]

so you think that I should rplace the 10ks with 12or 14ks and speed up water flow?

[Avi]

First of all, I am assuming that it's coralline algae that you're talking about and not some kind of micro-algae that's a pest in tour tank, fishhead. The reason why I say this is that I've seen tanks with green coralline algae and it, to me anyway, isn't so unpleasant to look at or reason for such concern. In fact, it's kind of nice to look at. I've never seen coralline algae, green or any other color, grow in "mass quantaties." So, the first thing to do is determine whether it is, indeed, coralline algae at all. I'm thinking that you have micro-algae growing on your rock, and not coralline algae. Can you post a photo of the problematic algae? That would help a lot.

If, in fact, it is coralline algae, and you are bothered with it because it's green, changing the spectrum of the bulbs might stop the green kind from growing, and the purple kind will, over time, take its place. I'm not certain that increasing the flow would have any effect, though, it's always a good idea to have a strong flow in the reef, IMO, and if you can up it a bit it would most likely contribute to the overall health of your reef, so go ahead with that.

If it's micro-algae rather than coralline, there are things you can do to reduce or mostly eliminate it, but let's see which kind of algae it is.

[impur]

Here are a few pics from my old nano. Notice on the rocks how green it is. It was definately coralline. Does yours look like this? It also grew on the glass but i never got a pic of it.

[squidward1320]

I kind of like the look of the green coralline alge. Nice tank by the way.

[impur]

Thanks! I didn't mind the look of it either.

[Avi]

That's what I meant about the green coralline algae. Not bad looking. And, it doesn't grow in masses. So, we'll have to wait to hear from fishhead to see if this is what he wants to stop from growing.

[Airman]

Fishead,

you could throw large number of hermit crabs in your tank to eat the coraling algea. I have about 15 in a 55 gal and they ate all of coraline. They don't care about color. I have coraline on about 30% of my LR. The hermit crabs eat the rest of the coraline. Why change your lights if everything else is going great in your tank?

[vinstr]

Fishhead
I think one of the previous posts might be correct about more intense lighting reulting in green coraline and less intense resulting in purple/pink...
I also have a 90 gallon with 2 175K 10kMH but instead of 2 110 VHO's I have 2 40 HO actinics. A little less lighting- I get good pink/purple growth and the only place I get green is up top on the rocks closest to the lights.
It might be that your more powerful lights are resulting in green all over the tank
AND I was just pricing VHO 110 retrofits to exchange for my HO's!! I am not so sure if I should now as they might be stronger than I need if this is the case...

[vinstr]

Also, are your VHO's 10k or actinics? If they are 10k also, I'll bet that is why and if you switch to actinics you will notice a big change??

[fishhead999]

I have probably 40 blue leg hermits and 25 or more astrias a sally light foot a jewel crab, bi colored blenny and a kole tang also a spiny urchant that lives in the sump and thats just the algae eaters, between all of them you would think that they would put a major damper on growth but I still find my self cleaning the glass every other day.

[fishhead999]

my mhs are 10k and the vhos are 03acitintic take a look at the pics I just was able to up load

[Avi]

I doubt that lighting would cause coralline to grow green rather than purple. There's a fish store that I go to that has almost exclusively green coralline growing in their tanks. It's growing in their tanks with PCs as well as the ones with MHs. I've asked a few times why they think that kind of coralline grows there and the only answer I ever get is that other fish stores "starve their coral." Seems that he's suggesting that it's due to something he's putting in the water that's causing green coralline to thrive there. I've always wondered.

[finneganswake]

Hate to break it to you all, but if fishhead999 has the same stuff in his tank that's in impur's photos, it's not coralline. It's a species of microalgae (can't remember the name offhand but I'll check my algae reference book when I get home) that occurs when there are high levels of phosphate in the tank. People assume it's coralline because the algae cells are so small that it doesn't take on the "hairy" look of most microalgae.

The solution to getting rid of it is pretty easy--lower your phosphate levels. I had the same stuff in a new tank of mine when I cured the rock in-tank. Obviously, curing rock in-tank leads to high phosphate levels from the rotting stuff on the rock. Once I got the phosphate levels down, the stuff went away. Personally, I'd recommend using ZeoVit, as it is great at taking down both phosphate and nitrate levels. Also, rowaphos, phosban, etc., will work. Almost every reefer I know now agrees that some sort of phosphate remover is a huge benefit to running a successful reef.

[fishhead999]

you might be on to somthing finnedanswake, now that I remember this started around the time I got 50 lbs of live rock. I cured it for over a week in a 50gal drum doing water changes everyother day and protien skimming it the whole time, I thought it was cured but I guess even then there is going to still be a certain amount of die off from the rock you recomind zeovit? how many times a week do you apply?

[Avi]

This is good advice, fishhead.....I suspected that it isn't coralline so this is likely to be the kind of algae you have there. You can get a phosphate test kit and check that out, but if it's a relatively new tank, it's a good guess that it is that kind of micro-algae. Treat the tank as though it were the issue, though IF you're running a good quality skimmer, that should remove the phosphates in a fairly short time and that algae would recede. Using a phosphate remover can't hurt and it would speed up the process though.

[finneganswake]

Originally posted by fishhead999
you might be on to somthing finnedanswake, now that I remember this started around the time I got 50 lbs of live rock. I cured it for over a week in a 50gal drum doing water changes everyother day and protien skimming it the whole time, I thought it was cured but I guess even then there is going to still be a certain amount of die off from the rock you recomind zeovit? how many times a week do you apply?

I'm at the stage right now where I dose the bacteria and bacteria food about every three days or so. The ZeoStart (a chemical that binds to nitrates and phosphates where it can be taken out by the skimmer) I dose every day. I know there's a lot of debate about ZeoVit, but I swear by the stuff--my nitrates and phosphates were completely out of control from curing the rock in-tank, and the ZeoVit now has them down to NSW levels. My corals have screaming colors and insane growth rates compared to tanks I've run without ZeoVit.

[fishhead999]

the zeovit equipment and everything that you use in it is kinda expensive wouldnt you say?

[finneganswake]

Originally posted by fishhead999
the zeovit equipment and everything that you use in it is kinda expensive wouldnt you say?

As compared to all of the other cheap equipment involved in reefing ?

The initial expense for my 50g was somewhere around $250-$300. After that, the necessary stuff is pretty cheap, and their stuff is EXTREMELY concentrated, so it doesn't need to be replaced often. If you use the optional stuff (I do), yes, it is an expensive system, but these are not necessary for the purpose you're looking at (reduction of phosphates and nitrates). The optional stuff is basically coral steroids, leading to even better coloration and growth, but I noticed a huge difference when just using the necessary stuff (they don't recommend using the optional stuff until the system has been running for a few months). Also, the optional stuff is pretty coral-specific, ie supplements for acroporas, supplements for LPS, supplements for pocillaporas, supplements for blue corals, supplements for green corals, etc., so you can pick which stuff you might want if you decide to use them.

[Avi]

finnegan....I'm interested in that Zeostart that you mentioned. Can it be used without any other gear or zeovit applications just to address nitrate issues? Can you give me a link to a vendor? I can't seem to find it.