coraline alge

[tyrisis]

I am noticing that my coraline alge ( purple, and red) is not doing very well I have 40 lbs figi and it seems that the alge is dissapearing. Is there anyway to feed or help its growth at all?

[Mitchell]

Is it just disappearing or is it turning white?

What type of lights do you have?

Is it new Fiji?

Any chance there is an Urchin in the tank?

Give us more details on your setup please.

And Oh by the way.... In case nobody has welcomed you yet

http://www3.sympatico.ca/mitchell.b/welcomephish2.gif

Oh and P.S.

Come introduce yourself

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=77

[tyrisis]

Thanx for the welcome..

Some seems to be fading, some turning white.
I have 4 damsels, 2 hermit crabs, 7 turbo snails, 2 starfish couple of small snails that came on the rock

using NO 2 10k and 2 attinic for lighting 4' tubes

Have some hair algae growing but snails putting that under control. have got ro unit now.

was cycled rock from big als

Ty

[Mitchell]

What are your paramaters?

What type of star fish.

If snails came on the rock then look for an urchin. They like coraline.

How long has the rock been in the tank and how long has the tank been setup?

[tyrisis]

Define Paramaters???? :) Newbe here

Bristle stars ??? bout the size of my thumb nail

Urchin? would I see this moving around.. have not seen much else moving... I did find some feather dusters but they have since dissapeared.

Ty

[Daniel Schubert]

Coralline algae require calcium to grow. You may want to add a two part supplement such as B-ionic or C-balance. Your basic parameters are
Nitrate
Nitrite
Ammonia
Calcium
Alkalinity


You may want to visit www.maskcanada.org and go to the library tab, I've written a begineers guide which may help

[ryan_lalande]

do y ou use madnesium and calcium?
whtas you alk at?

my suggestion is to get a ph alkalinity and calcium test kit

use kent super buffer to up the alkalinity, and kalkwasser powder dripped slowly works the best

i am guessing your calcium is to low and same with alkalinity..magnesium is good to as it helps bring up the calcium levels.

do you do any of that?

[tyrisis]

ok I have everything exept a Calcium test kit...I have the red sea test kit.

tank temp 80deg
salt level 1.024

ph 8.0
alk high
amonia .025
no2 nitrite 0.1 - 0.2 inbetween on the chart
no3 nitrate read low 2.5 high 12.5 (both on the chart) but tells me with a nitrite of 0.1 that the value would be 0

tank was first setup on sept 7
40 lb live rock added sept 11
sept 28 6 fish 9 snails 2 hermit crabs
oct 3 2 bristle stars added

have lost 2 fish and 2 snails all with in 24h of introduction

I will see bout getting a calcium test soon..

thanx
ty

[tyrisis]

I should also add that i have a fuval 404 with 2 packs fuval max media and 2 sponge pads ....

[ryan_lalande]

i would say remove everything in the fluval and use it as a carbon container for when you wanna use carbon.

all that stuff in there really does is create mroe problems later on. those problem being nitrate and stuff.

you dont really need anything in there except the regular carbon because your live rock and skimmer do basically everything that media stuff does

[tyrisis]

What Skimmer??? :) looking in to the HOT prizim but mabey next month...

[Reef Mike]

I don't think you should be adding fish and inverts if you have detectable levels of ammonia IMO

Mike

[afss]

I agree. If the tank has only been set up on the 7th you are best to let the tank cycle completely before adding anything else. I wouldn't worry overly about the coraline just yet. Basically i suggest you sit back and relax for a bit. Do some reading and take your time. If you try to rush in this hobby you are going to spend big$$ and only get frustrated.

Scott