10 Months = NO Coralline?!

[dangros]

So I jumped on the kessil site and found this: We recommend mounting Kessil lights 8-12 inches above the water surface for the ideal coverage.
So, thinking mine was about that height, I decided to confirm. Turns out, it was around 6", maybe a little lower! I've just moved them to 10+" off the water. No more tinkering for a couple weeks other than to install my calc reactor this week.

Good point @Luke.Fraizer. How high off the water were your Kessils? Were they the 360we's? What intensity did you run them at? 400w is a TON of light. Why so high?! You have a deep tank?

 

[Harold Green]

I had to remove the urchins from my dt to get any Coraline growth at all. A little growing now on the back wall but none growing on the rocks under the led lighting. Meanwhile the sump has a lot of coraline growth in it. I never considered the led's to be a problem but I've never been able to grow coraline algae on my rocks under led's.

 

[fripclaksid]

i read coraline comes with consistant water considitons

 

[Oceansize]

Based on previous posts I found here, I have attempted to increase the growth of coralline by making my Kessill 360W's less intense and more blue, while also making sure my magnesium is in the proper range. My mag was in the 1100's, but now after dosing it is in the mid 1300's.

I did all of this at the same time, so I don't know which aspect has been the most effective, but it IS working. My growth rate definitely seems to have improved. I'm going to scrape some off to release it into the water column and see if that helps it spread.

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

I did have the Kessil 360WE. I like the fact it looked amazing on top of the tank but did not love the look it gave in the tank. I had a 60 cube and it set about 6 to 8 inches from the water surface. I had it set to what I though 14k looked like... turns out it was more like 22k. I had the intensity set at 80% on the Kessil controller. I moved to the 210 that is 30 inches deep and wanted to really be able to grow SPS all the way down. Unless I see major jumps in LED technology and you don't have to run 2 Radions per 400w Radium to make up the growth I wont be changing for a while. As far as coralline algae I would say just keep it stable for a while and see. I am as guilty as anyone at rushing things but nothing good happens fast in this hobby for the most part. Only bad things tend to happen quickly. Also I would try to stay at about 1400 to 1450 mag. I read from someone there is rule of portions that when you run around 9.3 DkH calcium should be around 430 to 440 and mag should be at or over 1400. Ill try and find the article and post it up here. It was a great read.

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/

 

[dangros]

I read that article. Good ole @Randy Holmes-Farley! I read so many of his things that I should name a fish after him. That article is the reason I bumped my ca from 400 to 430. I'm going to leave things alone for a couple months and hope things kick in. If not, I wont worry about it as long as the corals continue to do well.

Thanks @Luke.Fraizer and everyone. My calc reactor should come soon. That, and slowly adding some fish SHOULD be the last change I make in a while - other than water changes
HOPEFULLY things will work out nicely. I'll keep you posted!

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

Calcium reactor will make a world of difference! Enjoy the stability!

 

[NanaReefer]

So glad I started this thread.....[emoji12]

 

[chefjpaul]

You can have mine. I Hate it.

I run my 360we @ 40/80 at peak for 4 hrs.

13" off water. 20x20
I have high MG & CA and everything is stable.

Coralline is out of control.

 

[dangros]

Sorry Nana, didnt mean to hijack your thread.

 

[NanaReefer]

Sorry Nana, didnt mean to hijack your thread.

No apologies necessary, it's all good, good for all [emoji2][emoji106]

 

[dangros]

I have a slight update. I'm starting to see it growing all over. Still not convinced it's where I think it needs to be, but this is certainly an improvement. I took all my hermit crabs - one is a huge electric blue legged, and moved them and their snail buddies to the refugium. They did a great job cleaning it down there too. I also bought two 5lb uncured Manado Live Rock from @premiumaquatics. Seems to be doing the trick. I was getting a little bit of brown alg in high flow areas so I put the monster hermit back in along w/a handful of snails. They cleaned it up nicely! But I also see some white spots which makes me THINK that at least some of them are eating the pink coraline. Time will tell but for now, they stay in the sump unless needed.
My calc reactor comes online HOPEFULLY this weekend and am hoping that puts things into high gear.

 

[dangros]

I have an update to the update . The calc reactor is doing it's thing and the coraline continues to spread. One thing I also noticed was the fact that my silicates were a bit high in the tests. I had some brownish hair alg that seemed to stop growing once I addressed the Si issue. So to summarize what I think helped:
1) Keeping Ca and Alk in the right proportion to each other (once I got the reactor, this no longer became an issue. Before that I tested and dosed to get them in proportion)
2) Removing the silicates from the system using water changes and a PURA Filtration Pad
3) Removed all my hermits to the fuge - which btw, has NO corline in it and less and less Cheato as they tear it up
4) Seeded (yet again) with various sources - a) bought more live rock b) got a shell full of various colors from a local reefer c) purchased more SPS's and requested plugs w/coraline on them - placed the plugs in path of powerhead.

I dont know which of these contributed the most if at all but things seem to be comfortably normal now.

 

[NanaReefer]

I still have no Coralline growth on my LR. Glass & equipment yes.

 

[gacolt]

Im gonna blame the leds i had the same problem on my 120g did had leds.

all my halide and t5 tank have never had problems with coralline growth.

here's my 80g ati sunppower fixture over it.the whole front glass gets covered when im lazy.If i add a rock it's covered in about 2-3 weeks

 

[NanaReefer]

Yeah I think it's my LED's too. Didn't have this issues running T5's.

 

[brandon429]

Hey thats the heaviest front glass growth I've seen wow

 

[FishGuyTy]

I've only had LED lights and I have an abundance of coralline. I do see better growth with t5's in client's tanks. I think the better blending of light in t5 lights is what helps the growth more so than LEDs. About 6 months ago I bought a purple spine urchin and it was destroying more coralline. I removed it after a month or so and have since gotten growth back. I always recommend a 2 week actinic only period for clients starting a new tank to boost coralline growth. It seems to work well for their tanks. I would not do it if you already have livestock.

 

[Tahoe61]

I dose kalk daily through an ATO, Strontium once weekly, Iodine once weekly and Parts A/B daily.

My tank is under 2 months old, I run LED Hydra at 70%. The image below is not even a recent image.



Today I have the daunting task of scraping the back of the tank.

To maintain my sps I dose the above listed elements, unfortunately coalline algae is a secondary result. Uggg.