Lights too strong for Coralline Algae?!?!

jdiaz

So here is my situation, I have an 8 bulb T5 HO fixture with 4 ATI Blue (+'s) / 2 Aquablue Spcial ATI / 2 Mid Days. All are 24 watts and give of high Par from what I have read.

I had to mess around with my tank a bit since I got an SPS, IDK what kind it is, and some GPS. I noticed that I had quite a bit of healthy amount of Coralline on my live rock but it was under the rocks. I even noticed that there is several diff. kinds like green, orange, purple, pink. But nun on top of the rocks, just a little that was bearlly noticeable growth on them. I want the tank to be over-run by it ( I Know I will have to Clean the glass more often but I already do) and I think it has to do with my light.

If I only run 1 Aquablue Special and 1 Mid Day and 2 Blue (+'s) will it be able to support the SPS and GSP?

onefish2fish

what are your alk, cal and mag levels?

i dont know how big your tank is, but the light sounds fine.

Reefing Madness

Agreed.

jdiaz

I have not gotten a new test kit since my last one was destroyed soo I don't know. It seems odd that almost all of the live rock has a lot of coralline growth on the bottom of them but not on top.


Ooohh and the tank is a 29 gallon.

Tazman

My live rock that I had when I had a 29 gallon tank had only a very small amount of coralline algae on it until I got a piece with more.

I got mine to spread by scrapping a bit off, on a plate, then adding the fragments to the tank in front of a powerhead. I also dosed this which am sure helped as well.

If you want to see the coralline more then, can you turn the rocks over?

jdiaz

I have not dosed, test kit I need to buy. I have tons of coralline but it tends to thrive under the rocks where there is less light, there is one rock that has a bit of coralline on it that is visible but I want more!! haha. My rocks doo have coralline just not as much as I want that is visible, I want my tank to be purple.

Reefing Madness

Keep that Mag and ALK up there, you'll be screamning in no time, trying to get it outta your tank.

wseidl515

I know the tank size is different since I'm running a 90 gallon, I'm running an 8 bulb t5HO fixture and my coralline didn't start to thrive until I started dosing with the Bionic. Now I'm over run with it.
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onefish2fish

purple up is just an over priced alk supplement IMO, but testing first before dosing is whats most important. test and get your alk, cal and mag levels right and there shouldnt be a problem growing coraline or corals for that matter with your light for SPS.

jdiaz

Yeah I know, I read the back and all it is is a mix of alk, cal, mag, ect. I did think about buying it at some point, but like I say I don't have a test kit for it and right now my coralline seems to be thriving in my tank (under the rocks, lol).