Coraline Algae Disappearing ?

427HISS · Mar 31, 2017

I checked all paramatures and are fine, so I have no idea what is happening ?
The only thing different that we noticed was orange colored spots here and there on several rocks.

Yesterday as we were doing a water change, I scrubed the orange off with a small stainless brush. Even on the old coraline covered powerheads, has turned white !

The corals and fish are fine. So what do you think is happening ?

ReefQueen · Mar 31, 2017

Do you have an urchin? Mine destroys my coraline before anything else.

427HISS · Mar 31, 2017

Nope. (at least I don't think so) lol.....

ReefQueen · Mar 31, 2017

427HISS said:
Nope. (at least I don't think so) lol.....

Mine poops out orange pellets, so I was sure that'd be your culprit lol.

427HISS · Mar 31, 2017

Really,....orange !
Too pretty to clean up ? lol

BlueCursor · Mar 31, 2017

Something has changed, and this is definitely a bad sign unless it is caused by somebody eating it.

I had a bunch bleach a year ago. I did some carbon dosing and it all bounced back. It isn't that my nitrates or phosphates were high (they were low), but apparently carbon was too low in my aquarium and the carbon dosing fixed that.

Do you have SPS, LPS? Do they seem fine?

427HISS · Mar 31, 2017

In this tank, we only have a few corals, as the plan has always been to transfer all corals, fish and rock to our other tanks, including the 125g in wall we're setting up. All the corals and fish are fine and eating.

I've never done carbon dosing. If you can give me a quick lesson, how and what did you do ? Learn me......

nervousmonkey · Mar 31, 2017

google "vinegar dosing reef tank" or "vodka dosing reef tank" and you'll get enough reading on it for hours.

427HISS · Mar 31, 2017

But,....but...I hate reading !

427HISS · Apr 1, 2017

Any other ideas ?

DarkSky · Apr 1, 2017

Coraline tends to turn orange when it is dying. Are your big three (Ca, Alk, Mag) ok? How are your PO4, NO3? Too low might be starving them?

427HISS · Apr 3, 2017

The big three are good, with the nitrates around 10-20 and phos below 2, so not bad.
I was dosing calcium carb, but moving corals to other tanks, I stopped, moved onto limewater then just using water changes, to keep calcium and alk up.

With this tank not being drilled, I'm not using a skimmer, but there's not a load on the system, so with a lot of seasoned 15 year old rock, it's doing a great job.

This is why I don't understand what happened ?

DarkSky · Apr 3, 2017

10-20ppm NO3 and 2ppm PO4 seem really high, no?

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 3, 2017

427HISS said:
Any other ideas ?

How much light do you have?

427HISS · Apr 3, 2017

DarkSky said:
10-20ppm NO3 and 2ppm PO4 seem really high, no?

That's not really high, for mainly a fish tank and no LPS's.

The lighting are two Maxspect Razors.

I wonder if high carbon dioxide levels could be the issue, with no sump, skimmer and has glass lids ?

esolo16 · Apr 3, 2017

10 - 20 ppm nitrates is a bit high but probably fine if its stable, plenty of tanks are successful within that range. What does phos below 2 mean? 2ppm? 2ppb?

What is your pH? The glass lids could be preventing gas exchange, but as long as you are above 7.8 you should be fine.

If I had to guess, I would say an alk or pH swing could be the culprit. Are you dosing limewater throughout the day or adding a bunch all at once?

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 3, 2017

427HISS said:
The lighting are two Maxspect Razors.

do you know the par or lux? ot height over the tank and %. Poss LIght shock.

427HISS · Apr 3, 2017

Light shock on coraline ?

I have the lights suspended at 10" and run the lights at 65%.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 3, 2017

427HISS said:
Light shock on coraline ?

I have the lights suspended at 10" and run the lights at 65%.

Yea I nuked mine last year. Common. But I hit the top of my tank with 1000 par. I don't think your there.

427HISS · Apr 4, 2017

esolo16 said:
10 - 20 ppm nitrates is a bit high but probably fine if its stable, plenty of tanks are successful within that range. What does phos below 2 mean? 2ppm? 2ppb?

Nitrates of even 100 ppm at public aquariums fish survive, not healthy, and home aquariums 40-50ppm are high, but long term can cause issues. If I can find the video by Sanjay (spelling) that up to 50ppm is common in some tanks.

But, high amounts of nitrates and phosphates are very hard on corals/reef tanks. In my tanks, I like to keep nitrates below 20ppm in the fish tanks and below 2ppm in the reefs. 0 and below, does not feed the corals well.

What is your pH? The glass lids could be preventing gas exchange, but as long as you are above 7.8 you should be fine.

pH run from 7.8 to 8.4.

If I had to guess, I would say an alk or pH swing could be the culprit. Are you dosing limewater throughout the day or adding a bunch all at once?