Trying to grow Corraline Algae - Lighting Questions

[Jib]

Just added some of the ARC Reef Algae in a bottle to my tank, Pink and Purple. My tank is good for their other recommendations, but lighting is something I struggle with (this is is general). I'm running the BRS recommendations but customized for my tank size, which is a 14G peninsula. BRS provided recommendations for a 10G cube and a 20G cube, so I went in the middle of those.

ARC on lighting:
Lighting is key. The intensity, or “PAR” level, of your lighting shouldn’t be too high and the duration of your photo period should be somewhat close to the natural duration of the sun. Your aquarium shouldn’t receive full intensity or “noon” lighting for 10 hours because that is not natural and it will bleach out corals and the coralline will not grow. Coralline Algae LOVES Actinic and blue spectrum lighting. In the beginning we advise to lengthen the time that your actinic only lighting stays on by an additional 1-3 hours daily.

My lights are set to come on at 8:00 am, ramping up to 100% at 9:00 am , then ramp down from 6:00 pm -7:00 pm. Does this seem like reasonable lighting in general with for soft corals and some LPS, and any issues with the above for the Algae? I do plan on renting a PAR meter next month but not sure in the mean time. Also, if I wanted to run just actinic lighting for the recommended 1-3 hours, would this just be eliminating the Cool White, Red, and Green from my schedule?

My lighting is attached. Thank you for taking the time to advise.

-Jib

 

[SMSREEF]

Just added some of the ARC Reef Algae in a bottle to my tank, Pink and Purple. My tank is good for their other recommendations, but lighting is something I struggle with (this is is general). I'm running the BRS recommendations but customized for my tank size, which is a 14G peninsula. BRS provided recommendations for a 10G cube and a 20G cube, so I went in the middle of those.

ARC on lighting:
Lighting is key. The intensity, or “PAR” level, of your lighting shouldn’t be too high and the duration of your photo period should be somewhat close to the natural duration of the sun. Your aquarium shouldn’t receive full intensity or “noon” lighting for 10 hours because that is not natural and it will bleach out corals and the coralline will not grow. Coralline Algae LOVES Actinic and blue spectrum lighting. In the beginning we advise to lengthen the time that your actinic only lighting stays on by an additional 1-3 hours daily.

My lights are set to come on at 8:00 am, ramping up to 100% at 9:00 am , then ramp down from 6:00 pm -7:00 pm. Does this seem like reasonable lighting in general with for soft corals and some LPS, and any issues with the above for the Algae? I do plan on renting a PAR meter next month but not sure in the mean time. Also, if I wanted to run just actinic lighting for the recommended 1-3 hours, would this just be eliminating the Cool White, Red, and Green from my schedule?

My lighting is attached. Thank you for taking the time to advise.

-Jib

Your lighting looks good. I have a hydra on my 10 gal cube (2 pucks so it’s set 50% lower vs the prime you have 1 puck).

what I do notice with new tanks and coralline is that the rock first needs to build a biofilm before coralline grows. You will get the grey/green first, then start seeing dots of pink or purple.

Adding live rock or snails with many kinds of coralline will help.
Probably as important as light is you parameters being stable. Alk, Calcium, mag. And having some nutrients nitrate and phosphate greater than 0.

 

[Jib]

Your lighting looks good. I have a hydra on my 10 gal cube (2 pucks so it’s set 50% lower vs the prime you have 1 puck).

what I do notice with new tanks and coralline is that the rock first needs to build a biofilm before coralline grows. You will get the grey/green first, then start seeing dots of pink or purple.

Adding live rock or snails with many kinds of coralline will help.
Probably as important as light is you parameters being stable. Alk, Calcium, mag. And having some nutrients nitrate and phosphate greater than 0.

I appreciate the insights. I am going to add some more snails this week, currently only have a fighting conch.

I feel like my parameters have been pretty good (for a new guy who doesnt know what he's doing anyway). Been testing since the start of October and test every few days. Ranges over October have been:

Alk - 8.9 - 9.7
Calcium - 410 - 450
Mag - 1215 - 1380
Nitrate - 2.5 - 10 (past 2 weeks have been 2.5 - 5)
Phosphate - Just started testing this last week. between 0 - .03. I have a Salifert kit which is difficult to read though so I'm not completely confident in the 0 number.

 

[jda]

Just speaking about coralline, the lights do not hardly matter at all. It will grow under LED, T5 or T12 shop lights with bulbs from home depot. It will grow under screw-in incandescent bulbs. Some colors will be more proficient under lower lighting levels. Purple will grow under nearly any type of light.

Growing coralline is more about tank parameters and time than anything. Lower levels of N and P will grow it faster. You might hate it some day, like a lot of us do.

Bottle supplements for the stuff seem like garbage to me, but I hope that they work.

FYI - Nearly everything on that quote from the bottle seems like bunk to me. My tanks get 10 hours of on/off metal halides at full noon intensity.

Here is what I have to deal with, if you need a resume/qualification on my coralline experience. Powerhead happens about every 4-6 months where the coralline will grow and cover the grates 100% if not dealt with:

 

[Jib]

Just speaking about coralline, the lights do not hardly matter at all. It will grow under LED, T5 or T12 shop lights with bulbs from home depot. It will grow under screw-in incandescent bulbs. Some colors will be more proficient under lower lighting levels. Purple will grow under nearly any type of light.

Growing coralline is more about tank parameters and time than anything. Lower levels of N and P will grow it faster. You might hate it some day, like a lot of us do.

Bottle supplements for the stuff seem like garbage to me, but I hope that they work.

FYI - Nearly everything on that quote from the bottle seems like bunk to me. My tanks get 10 hours of on/off metal halides at full noon intensity.

Here is what I have to deal with, if you need a resume/qualification on my coralline experience. Powerhead happens about every 4-6 months where the coralline will grow and cover the grates 100% if not dealt with:

I appreciate the insights here. Based on your pictures, I agree that you have some credibility as a Coralline farmer. I'll just stick to my current lighting schedule and let the Algae grow around what I'm providing.