Early Stages of Coralline Algae?

[ak4890]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to saltwater tanks and setting up my first one at the moment — it's about 4 months old at the moment, and after introducing inverts, I recently introduced light for the first time. Recently, there's been a large increase in the amount of encrusting growth on the rocks (it does not scrape off very easily), and I can't tell if it is coralline algae or something else. I did seed some coralline algae spores from an established tanks onto the rocks, but I can't tell if this is coralline or not — it looks redder under the blue light.

 

[shakacuz]

diatoms. normal part of a reef and should go away on its own.

 

[Evil1]

What’s your tank parameters?

 

[FUNGI]

Early stages of Diatoms......New Tank Uglies.....

 

[ak4890]

What’s your tank parameters?

It's a 70 gallon tank, currently at 6.4 dKH alkalinity (dosing up), 8.1 pH, 330 ppm calcium (going to dose up), 1440 magnesium...the alkalinity keeps dropping despite basically nothing being in the tank (I do see copepods though). Is there a reason why the alkalinity would keep dropping? It seems to drop around 0.2 dKH a day...

 

[Not_Erick]

As others have said, diatoms, get ready to scrape the glass every day now lol

 

[ak4890]

As others have said, diatoms, get ready to scrape the glass every day now lol

Thanks! Any idea why my tank might be experiencing alkalinity dips at this stage? I do have some more copepods I'm seeing, but not sure why it would be dipping ~0.2 dKH a day..

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to saltwater tanks and setting up my first one at the moment — it's about 4 months old at the moment, and after introducing inverts, I recently introduced light for the first time. Recently, there's been a large increase in the amount of encrusting growth on the rocks (it does not scrape off very easily), and I can't tell if it is coralline algae or something else. I did seed some coralline algae spores from an established tanks onto the rocks, but I can't tell if this is coralline or not — it looks redder under the blue light.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Coralline algae does not just show up in a tank, it must be introduced into the tank on something else. A snail?, or live rock? Do you have any tank inhabitants that show coralline on them? Also, it does not start off as brown. It will start off as either green or white, most of the time.

 

[ak4890]

Coralline algae does not just show up in a tank, it must be introduced into the tank on something else. A snail?, or live rock? Do you have any tank inhabitants that show coralline on them? Also, it does not start off as brown. It will start off as either green or white, most of the time.

Got it, thanks! I introduced it by scraping off small pieces from another tank, and also purchased live rock.

 

[Badblackdog]

It's a 70 gallon tank, currently at 6.4 dKH alkalinity (dosing up), 8.1 pH, 330 ppm calcium (going to dose up), 1440 magnesium...the alkalinity keeps dropping despite basically nothing being in the tank (I do see copepods though). Is there a reason why the alkalinity would keep dropping? It seems to drop around 0.2 dKH a day...

I read in another thread about live rock vs. dry rock that dry rock will absorb minerals causing low alkalinity. I’m probably not phrasing that exactly right.