What do I do to get tank to grow coraline?

[Splach]

Hey all,

my tank has been up for 10 months (ish) and I have yet to begin growing ANY coraline algae. There is some still on my live rock so I know the stuff is in there, but no dice. There are a few things I still need to "fix" on my tank to make it just right, but which will have the most impact and turn this thing over so that I can start getting acroporas? Or to rephrase that correctly, get acroporas and not kill them.

My tank's thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=284088)

So here is what I have done recently:

I have added a Tunze stream, set to pulse blowing back right to center front (this has probably added 6x to my tank turn over versus the old penguin PHs I had in there). It took a long time to find a position in the tank that wouldn't tear up my softies but would hit the sponge with additional flow.

I have been doing a series of 25g water changes (every 2-3 days) to try to bring my nitrates down. Apparently TBS rocks tend to maintain a high level of nitrates and the nitrates in the water where these rocks are aquacultured runs 20-30 ppm. Nothing seems to be minding the nitrate level.

I have also reduced the lighting hours and feedings to keep nitrates inline (my cyano is almost all gone now).

The following seem to be doing well in my tank:
Aveapora (sp?)
Xenia
Gorgon
Sun Corals
Red tree sponge
Mushrooms and zoos

I have the following critters:
7 blue chromis (4 very small)
1 blue tang
1 long nose halk fish
1 lawnmower blennie
1 maroon clown
1 blue linka starfish
1 RBTA

TBS package animals still in the tank:
Several serpent stars (large and small)
Several porcelain crabs
A few gorilla crabs still
4 (or so) pistol shrimp
4 sea cukes
1 sea beard anemone
several medusa worms (1 very large blue one)
1 purple urchin
assorted snails, hermits, etc

Here is what I still need to do:

Build a top off system (currently I have to replace topoff water several gallons at a time, causing fluxuation in my salt levels). I purchased a float valve and was shipped the wrong thing.

Get lighting into my sump so that I can keep chaeto there (I have a small clump in my main tank but the tang keeps eating it).

Fix my calcium reactor. I have a K2R reactor but I can't seem to get good efluent. My CA levels always test high but I don't know why since my reactor has not been working (it is not even hooked up right now).

So the question is, which project should I work on first. Which will have the greatest impact on getting coraline to grow and my tank to stabilize for SPS?

Thanks,

[Cearbhaill]

I'd get my topoff act together.
If you let it go to the point that your salinity actually varies, then you need an auto topoff badly.

Second- light the refugium, and then get the calcium stabalized. IMO you need to do all of these things before you'll find any sort of success with finicky Acros.

I never heard of TBS rock causing a tank to consistently have high nitrates- I think that is pretty much bunk. I have 200 lbs of TBS and manage to run zero nitrates and so do many, many other customers.
You need to get a grip on the nitrates- by larger % water changes, more aggressive skimming, food restriction- whatever.
25 gallons of water change in a 125g tank (remember to add sump volume to total system gallons) isn't much- you're diluting nitrates not removing them.

Get a functional refugium going to export some of those nitrates.

It just sounds to me as if you need a bit of fine tuning on your stability/maintenance issues. SPS are not forgiving at all and will not tolerate inconsistencies in maintenance.

As far as coralline- you mention that your Ca always tests high but didn't mention any numbers. Coralline requires good calcium and alkalinity, adequate magnesium, lowish light, good flow, and no phosphates.
Why not post a complete set of todays test results?

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=375299&highlight=coralline

[Neptune's Nemesis]

How big is your urchin? They have a tendency to wipe it off as quick as it can grow. (Yes I know this is how coraline algae gets spread but sometimes an urchin can keep ahead of its good growth.)

[Levi_S]

fwiw,
i have tbs rock and have had coraline growing on the glass since my tank was two months old. Now the coraline has subsided, because i have two full grown urchins eating it and they keep it more or less in check.

[Cearbhaill]

Oops- I missed the part about the urchin.
That could be "Bingo!".

[Splach]

Hmmm. Well then I probably should have mentioned that until about 3 weeks ago I had 7 urchins in there... I finally broke down and got rid of 6 of the ones I had grown.

[mhart]

Ok, I've got to ask a newbie question here, what is TBS rock?

Thanks

[Neptune's Nemesis]

Tampa Bay Saltwater. It is a company that alot of people love on RC because they ship in water. IMO yes you get a lot of life but most of it you don't want.

[ab5ebdxer]

What kind of lights do you have on the tank?

[mhart]

Thanks for the advice there Nep. :-)

[Paul Pos]

mhart:

FWIW, TBS rocks is quite a bit heavier than rock from the South Pacific because it's basically mined limestone thown in the ocean vs. actually reef rubble. If you get chance, read Anthony Calfo's text, Reef Invertebrates. He has an excellent discussion about aquacultured (TBS) rock versus South Pacific (Fiji, etc.) rock. My plug nickel.

Paul