cesar6261
Active Member
Just wanted to share my coralline algae transformation from saltwater to fresh water. How it looked and survived in my freshwater tanks. The Rocks were picked from my local mountains and placed in a 75 gallon saltwater FOWLR I has just broken down. I drained the tank left the sand and equipment intact filled with dechlorinated tap water. Cycling the tank for about two weeks and doing a 50% water change every week to remove the excess salt in the tank before adding cichlids. After a few weeks I noticed the power heads that were covered in coralline algae started to turn brown/ red color Abs have a moss like appearance. The cichlids really never cared to eat it but my plecos loved it. After they consumed the algae the rocks would be left clean with a light burgundy color to them and a few weeks later it would regrow. I finally decided to upgrade to a 200 Gallon tank. I removed some of the rocks placed them in buckets to dry, a few weeks later I got to see the real color of the algae which looked pretty cool. That’s when I realized it was the coralline algae from the saltwater tank and it had spread from the pumps to the rocks. I placed the dried rocks with the existing coralline algae rocks in the new tank a few weeks later the moss like algae was back and thriving on the rocks. Did the coralline algae survive from the previous saltwater tank to the newly converted freshwater tank? Pics below in order.
