Green Coralline?

katlongo · 04/02/2006, 11:30 AM

Over the past three months, my tank has gone from having a back wall completely covered in pink and red coralline to being covered with a dark green algae - it appears to be coralline?! It's tough as nails to remove, feels and acts like coralline?

Any thoughts on why it's green and not pink? I thought that green was a low light coralline, but I'm running 7 80w T5s, so I don't think it's a lack of light?

Dubbin1 · 04/02/2006, 11:33 AM

It comes in many different colors.

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 06:14 AM

you're low on magnesium which is why the green took over the purple.

MrPike · 04/11/2006, 07:27 AM

Quote:

you're low on magnesium which is why the green took over the purple.

Can you elaborate on this? Im not saying your wrong, my tank is low in magnesium and I have this green corraline growing on the front which I have to razor blade off. I read these boards a lot and have never heard such a thing, good to know though =).

katlongo · 04/11/2006, 07:48 AM

Interesting - my parameters have been wacky for the past 3 or 4 months - can't seem to get alk and ca in balance at all.

For the past three weeks my alk has been pretty steady at 3.5-4, ca is high at 450-500 and my magnesium has been in the 1280-1300 range. Mag was lower (1225) for a few weeks, but has been in the normal range for about 6 weeks or so. With my ca as high as it is, I would think that the coralline should be returning, but it's not really.

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrPike
Can you elaborate on this? Im not saying your wrong, my tank is low in magnesium and I have this green corraline growing on the front which I have to razor blade off. I read these boards a lot and have never heard such a thing, good to know though =).

To be quite frank, that was the answer I got when I asked the same question, and everyone else was in agreement on why I grew more green coralline than purple. I have since then purchased a Magnesium testing kit and it was about 200ppm under normal seawater levels. Currently I'm focusing on growing the plating coralline algae, which is a deeper purple and seems to be a pretty aggressive grower.

katlongo · 04/11/2006, 07:52 AM

Besides upping your mag is there anything else that you're doing to help it grow?

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 08:08 AM

Well the funny thing is, for the first few years I could never grow coralline and I never bothered to get very hardcore into it. Then about 8 years later, I started to grow green ones and now I got purple everywhere. Coralline algae to my understanding needs fairly clean water, I'd say like SPS corals. Also, the bluer your light is, the deeper the purple gets. I've read that coralline can't grow when there's excessive phosphates. Currently my water is pretty much textbook perfect, so I guess the closer you get it to what ppl recommend, the sooner you'll grow it.

katlongo · 04/11/2006, 08:24 AM

Guess my problem is that my rocks have been in my tanks for 3+ years and up until a few months ago were TOTALLY covered in pink and dark purple coralline. Then it just started dying off and turning green (the green is only on my back glass).

Aside from my parameters being out of wack for a bit, nothing else in my system has changed. Now that they're all back to normal, I'd hoped that my coralline would return, but it's not really.

Could be a phosphate problem -- my reactor broke last month and I haven't replaced it yet. I'm in denial and haven't checked phosphate levels since.

Sheol · 04/11/2006, 08:41 AM

I dunno, but I got green patches in some areas, & purple in others in my tank. Do they compete or something?
BTW, the green is super tough on the glass, hard to remove!

Matthew

boxfishpooalot · 04/11/2006, 08:47 AM

Corraline will not grow with phosphate detectable. Phosphate inhibits the calcium.

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 12:14 PM

How's your bulb Kathy? Maybe it's time for new ones?

katlongo · 04/11/2006, 12:29 PM

2 month old T5s, 640 watts over a 150 - I did, however, change the color of bulbs - more blue this time around! I'm going to put money on the phosphate for starters

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 02:24 PM

Well, check out Purple-Up. People seem to have success with this product, it could help out. I do believe that the purple/pink coralline require different nutrients/minerals than the green. You can give your pink a helping hand by scraping off as much green as you can. I do that occassionally since I do still get a green spot here and there.

tonyscoots84 · 04/11/2006, 03:43 PM

purple up is crapola.... does absolutely nothing.... get a big skimmer and ur parimeters in check to perfect... and your on ur way to a full coralline tank...

katlongo · 04/11/2006, 06:19 PM

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I just wish I could figure out what changed to make this happen after three years! Same skimmer, same lights, same flow, same rocks, same fish, etc. etc.

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 06:20 PM

Maybe your coralline got bored and left?

miracles38 · 04/11/2006, 06:38 PM

Is that green stuff that I have to scrape and scape off my glass coraline? I mean, you need a razor almost to get it off.

XeniaMania · 04/11/2006, 06:52 PM

I've noticed that the only tanks that have a consistent lush growth of purple algae are SPS tanks, probrably because they share similar parameters. My water has gone up a tad in Nitrates I'd say about 5ppm versus 0 before and my green coralline seems to be making a comeback. My back wall has "seasons", it'll be purple, then fades to brown(diatoms), then green, then back to purple..

chucksta1 · 04/12/2006, 02:15 AM

Try Bio-diversity. Scrape and collect some from another tank (run a siphon air line while scraping) turn off your pumps for ten minutes and dump in the scrapings. I did that and I've got coraline that grows in my sump under a 23watt daytime spectrum compact flourescent in a reflector. It even grows inside my skimmer. I had a hard time getting it to grow before I borroed some starter material.

XeniaMania · 04/12/2006, 03:13 AM

Yah...I'm trying to get a chunk of Lalo rock since the rock w/ the Pulsing Sinularia's being sold..

jer77 · 04/12/2006, 04:06 AM

I had green coralline in my first tank when it was still young. It will go away, there's probably something giving out excess nutrients around that section of the tank. My anemone was next to the green coralline. This is just my guess, but I think excess nutrients or bacteria is the cause. Whats wrong with green corallin anyways, I sort of like the color.

boxfishpooalot · 04/12/2006, 04:32 AM

As much as 90% of coral and corraline algae growht is halted with as little as .10ppm of phosphate in the water.

Check your phosphate

katlongo · 04/12/2006, 06:00 AM

jer - it's kind of an ugly dark green - not very pretty to look at.

And, yes, my phosphates are pretty high. Gotta replace my phosban reactor ASAP!

sttroyiii · 04/12/2006, 10:42 AM

I use purple up on my tank. It has magnesium in it, as well as calcium. Ive definitely seen a difference in the coralline growth and color since Ive started using it. Its been about a month now.

04/02/2006, 11:30 AM	#1
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Green Coralline? Over the past three months, my tank has gone from having a back wall completely covered in pink and red coralline to being covered with a dark green algae - it appears to be coralline?! It's tough as nails to remove, feels and acts like coralline? Any thoughts on why it's green and not pink? I thought that green was a low light coralline, but I'm running 7 80w T5s, so I don't think it's a lack of light? __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 07:48 AM	#5
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Interesting - my parameters have been wacky for the past 3 or 4 months - can't seem to get alk and ca in balance at all. For the past three weeks my alk has been pretty steady at 3.5-4, ca is high at 450-500 and my magnesium has been in the 1280-1300 range. Mag was lower (1225) for a few weeks, but has been in the normal range for about 6 weeks or so. With my ca as high as it is, I would think that the coralline should be returning, but it's not really. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 07:52 AM	#7
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Besides upping your mag is there anything else that you're doing to help it grow? __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 08:24 AM	#9
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Guess my problem is that my rocks have been in my tanks for 3+ years and up until a few months ago were TOTALLY covered in pink and dark purple coralline. Then it just started dying off and turning green (the green is only on my back glass). Aside from my parameters being out of wack for a bit, nothing else in my system has changed. Now that they're all back to normal, I'd hoped that my coralline would return, but it's not really. Could be a phosphate problem -- my reactor broke last month and I haven't replaced it yet. I'm in denial and haven't checked phosphate levels since. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 08:47 AM	#11
boxfishpooalot Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: canada, Grande Praire, Ab Posts: 5,824	Corraline will not grow with phosphate detectable. Phosphate inhibits the calcium. __________________ Its a good idea to have a refrence sample for alk test kits. 1.1350 grams of baking soda in 1gallon of distilled water=10dkh. Check your alkalinity test kit! Algae is Mother Natures phosphate remover Current Tank Info: 220 galon mixed reef.

04/02/2006, 11:33 AM	#2
Dubbin1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Findlay, Ohio Posts: 11,540	It comes in many different colors.

04/11/2006, 06:14 AM	#3
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	you're low on magnesium which is why the green took over the purple.

04/11/2006, 08:08 AM	#8
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	Well the funny thing is, for the first few years I could never grow coralline and I never bothered to get very hardcore into it. Then about 8 years later, I started to grow green ones and now I got purple everywhere. Coralline algae to my understanding needs fairly clean water, I'd say like SPS corals. Also, the bluer your light is, the deeper the purple gets. I've read that coralline can't grow when there's excessive phosphates. Currently my water is pretty much textbook perfect, so I guess the closer you get it to what ppl recommend, the sooner you'll grow it.

04/11/2006, 08:41 AM	#10
Sheol Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Waxahachie, Tx. Posts: 3,610	I dunno, but I got green patches in some areas, & purple in others in my tank. Do they compete or something? BTW, the green is super tough on the glass, hard to remove! Matthew

04/11/2006, 12:14 PM	#12
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	How's your bulb Kathy? Maybe it's time for new ones?

04/11/2006, 12:29 PM	#13
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	2 month old T5s, 640 watts over a 150 - I did, however, change the color of bulbs - more blue this time around! I'm going to put money on the phosphate for starters __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 02:24 PM	#14
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	Well, check out Purple-Up. People seem to have success with this product, it could help out. I do believe that the purple/pink coralline require different nutrients/minerals than the green. You can give your pink a helping hand by scraping off as much green as you can. I do that occassionally since I do still get a green spot here and there.

04/11/2006, 03:43 PM	#15
tonyscoots84 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Howell, NJ Posts: 322	purple up is crapola.... does absolutely nothing.... get a big skimmer and ur parimeters in check to perfect... and your on ur way to a full coralline tank... __________________ 120 Gallon RR tank Sfligoi 2 x 400w radium bulbs w/4 t5's Current Tank Info: 120 gallon single overflow, Sflligoi 2x 400w radium with 4 t5's, 2 mp40's, tunze ato, skimz monster 203, eheim 1262 return, SPS all the way :)

04/11/2006, 06:19 PM	#16
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Thanks so much for the suggestions. I just wish I could figure out what changed to make this happen after three years! Same skimmer, same lights, same flow, same rocks, same fish, etc. etc. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/11/2006, 06:20 PM	#17
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	Maybe your coralline got bored and left?

04/11/2006, 06:38 PM	#18
miracles38 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,008	Is that green stuff that I have to scrape and scape off my glass coraline? I mean, you need a razor almost to get it off. __________________ Kim Current Tank Info: 180 reef

04/11/2006, 06:52 PM	#19
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	I've noticed that the only tanks that have a consistent lush growth of purple algae are SPS tanks, probrably because they share similar parameters. My water has gone up a tad in Nitrates I'd say about 5ppm versus 0 before and my green coralline seems to be making a comeback. My back wall has "seasons", it'll be purple, then fades to brown(diatoms), then green, then back to purple..

04/12/2006, 02:15 AM	#20
chucksta1 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: mississauga ont. Posts: 490	Try Bio-diversity. Scrape and collect some from another tank (run a siphon air line while scraping) turn off your pumps for ten minutes and dump in the scrapings. I did that and I've got coraline that grows in my sump under a 23watt daytime spectrum compact flourescent in a reflector. It even grows inside my skimmer. I had a hard time getting it to grow before I borroed some starter material.

04/12/2006, 03:13 AM	#21
XeniaMania Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Orange, CA Posts: 1,627	Yah...I'm trying to get a chunk of Lalo rock since the rock w/ the Pulsing Sinularia's being sold..

04/12/2006, 04:06 AM	#22
jer77 Phish Lover Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 2,642	I had green coralline in my first tank when it was still young. It will go away, there's probably something giving out excess nutrients around that section of the tank. My anemone was next to the green coralline. This is just my guess, but I think excess nutrients or bacteria is the cause. Whats wrong with green corallin anyways, I sort of like the color. __________________ - Jonny -, 120g 5 Year Old Reef w/ SPS, BTA, Zoos & some Softies. 40g Frag Tank. 40g Sump. Super Reef Octopus XP 3000 External Cone Skimmer. 250W Radiums. TaoTronics LED. PanWorld 200PS w/SQWD

04/12/2006, 04:32 AM	#23
boxfishpooalot Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: canada, Grande Praire, Ab Posts: 5,824	As much as 90% of coral and corraline algae growht is halted with as little as .10ppm of phosphate in the water. Check your phosphate __________________ Its a good idea to have a refrence sample for alk test kits. 1.1350 grams of baking soda in 1gallon of distilled water=10dkh. Check your alkalinity test kit! Algae is Mother Natures phosphate remover Current Tank Info: 220 galon mixed reef.

04/12/2006, 06:00 AM	#24
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	jer - it's kind of an ugly dark green - not very pretty to look at. And, yes, my phosphates are pretty high. Gotta replace my phosban reactor ASAP! __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

04/12/2006, 10:42 AM	#25
sttroyiii Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 378	I use purple up on my tank. It has magnesium in it, as well as calcium. Ive definitely seen a difference in the coralline growth and color since Ive started using it. Its been about a month now.