Supplements, coralline algae and carbon follow up 9/21/04
Thank you for the quick reply. I do a 10% water change twice a month using Marin Topic salt. If I am reading your reply correctly I should do away with all those products and stick to water changes and Kalkwasser? <In my opinion, yes.  Tropic Marin salt is excellent and with your water change schedule, it will provide all you need.  Calcium and alkalinity are the only exception, and Kalk should take care of those just fine.  The bottom line rule of thumb... if you aren't testing for it, don't add it!  Best Regards.  AdamC.>

Coralline algae
Hi Bob,
<Anthony Calfo in your service>
I have a question regarding coralline algae. I have about 67lbs of Fiji live rock in a 65gal fish only tank. Much of the rock is covered w/ purple and/or pink coralline algae. How can I keep it healthy and growing? 
<needs very consistent and natural/high levels of calcium and carbonate (alkalinity). Do buy and use both test kits>
What supplements should I add? 
<Manually... Kalkwasser and SeaBuffer/bicarbonate. Or... more expensive and more convenient: ESV two part calcium (mix well with each use). Or... for hardcore reefing: calcium reactor and Kalkwasser. And finally, I'd suggest Seachem's reef calcium (sugar based calcium) in addition to any of the above mentioned Ca/ALK combos>
Is there anything I need to watch out for? What should I avoid? 
<yep... a sudden laziness or neglect on your part which allows the ca and/or alk levels to fall can cause the corallines to "bleach"/crash... erasing months or years of hard work. This will be a good husbandry primer for you if you are going to keep more challenging corals in the future>
Any advice would be a great help. 
<do also look for assistance/fellowship from a good local aquarium society. Do holler if you are not aware of one in your area>
Thanks. Andy
<best regards, Anthony>

Re: Coralline algae
Thanks for the response. Some of my beautiful rock has already started to bleach. 
<caused more often by exposure to light when out of water than as to exposure to air (as with recent transit as many suspect. Do make a habit of conducting water changes (which drops water level in tank and exposes rock to bright reef lights through air instead of refracted through water)>
Can I expect color to return? What type of time frame?
<absolutely... and likely faster than if the rock had little of no coralline to start (the bleached corallines dissolve and feed new so to speak). 2-4 months with good Ca and Alk levels>
Also, what levels of Calcium am I looking to have? How about the alkalinity?
<target 350-450 ppm calcium and 10-12 dKH would be nice. Do read up a bit on reef water chemistry... much good free information on the net, and in books. Best regards, Anthony Calfo>

Trace elements
O.K. One more question, no, not a question, I'll call this a puzzle in which I don't have all the pieces to finish myself.
I did a little experiment. I have a built in overflow chamber in my 75-gal aquarium. It also has a protein skimmer, Fluval 404 canister filter, 2 1,000-gal/hr powerheads, some live rock, aragonite substrate, and a few fish. All my fish are very healthy, including my 4 to 5-inch juvenile imperator angel. However, my coralline algae is suffering. A was digging around in a box of supplies my friend gave for the aquarium and found some mineral/trace element chalky-octangle-porous chips of about 4-inch diameter and 2 inches thick. No label was provided with the chips but I was suggested to break it in half and drop one in my overflow chamber. I did this. 
To my surprise I saw amazing coralline algae growth on the glass and bottom of the overflow chamber. It may be good to note that the chamber also contains a few bio-balls which shade the bottom of the chamber. Surprised at what I witnessed after the first chip had completely dissolved (1-2 weeks), I wedged one between two pieces of live rock that had decaying coralline algae. Nothing happened that I could see to this coralline algae. However, the algae in the overflow chamber began regressing. I then added another chip to the overflow chamber and witnessed another growth spurt.
I hypothesized that the overflow chamber allowed a local concentration of what ever was in the chips to increase, giving the algae the ability to grow by supplementing what was otherwise lacking. I thought of purchasing and adding trace elements in higher doses that may be more appropriate for my tank volume. I was previously thinking about adding Kalkwasser (too poor to buy a reactor, yet). Now, I doubt that the increased growth was a result of supplemented calcium by the chips?
Further complicating the puzzle, I contacted Aquarium Systems, and found that newly mixed Indoor Oceans salt water at 1.026 has calcium at 400 ppm and alkalinity at 3.02-3.5 meq/L. I do add baking soda at the doses recommended in your book every week. It seems that the concentrations provided by the Indoor Oceans salt mix provides an optimal condition for coralline algae growth. Of course one would expect consumption of the elements, but the 7.5% weekly water change should replenish anything lost.
Can you give your opinion on the coralline algae growth? I would love to get this effect throughout my tank. I apologize, I feel that test kits encourage me take unnecessary steps in maintaining my water quality. The fish seem to love the water and that is good enough for me. Can you make conclusions without knowing exact concentrations?
I also wondered if my skimmer may be 'over skimming' and depleting the elements? Thanks, Jeff
>>
Lots of interesting observations here.... Does seem that the "block" (alkalinity booster) did more good in your filter flow path... and the same material was probably more toxic than beneficial when/where you wedged it in between the rocks... You can buy the same mix of carbonates, bicarbonates as liquid prep.s... and do get/use a test kit at least for alkalinity and calcium to use along with them.... and get ready to study up re the interrelationships of these phenomena...
Bob Fenner

Reef Tank
I have a 90 Gallon Reef Tank. I currently use 4 - 100w VHO lights. Two URI super actinic and 2 actinic. My problem is that the algae on the rock is bleaching out. The only algae that stay red is shaded by rock or down low in the tank. Alkalinity is 3 and calcium is 450. Do you think the lights are to strong? I am using ESV additives for alkalinity and calcium.
>>
Hmm, the lighting is bright, favoring other algal forms... but you can probably recover the corallines... Try adding a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) a day... if/till you can register more than six milliequivalents per liter of alkalinity (it won't happen)... 
Bob Fenner

Reef tank (algae control)
Mr. Fenner,
I appreciate your continued help and all you do for the marine aquarium hobby. 
<Ah, everyone needs to feel important. I am glad to be so here>
I once again need your expert advice. I'm beyond frustrated with my reef tank. I currently have an outbreak of ich, and have moved my fish to a quarantine tank, and am lowering the salinity and temp to attempt to clear it out. (right track?) 
<Yes>
but the ich I can deal with. my biggest problem is algae. we finally got our live rock about 50% covered with coralline algae, then it was suddenly (in approx. 1 week) taken over by what looks like a carpet-like green and brown algae. I clean it off the glass weekly, but it comes back full strength by the end of the week. I can't figure out a way to get it off the rocks at all. any advice would be greatly appreciated. 
<Have you read through the mass of materials on algae causes/controls posted on our site? Please start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/algaeconMar.htm
See all the blue colored links above? I know they're a bunch of them. Do read through these>
one final question. have you ever heard of "Reef Vital DNA, enhanced reef life energizer" by Marc Weiss companies, inc.? we got it because it says it enhances coralline algae growth. I have been using it steadily (as directed) for over a week. could this stuff be encouraging my algae growth? any ideas?
<This product is trouble. Discontinue it, return it and demand a refund. It is helping the algae problem almost assuredly>
sorry this email was so long, but I have so many questions, and you're a fountain of knowledge on this subject. thanks again!!
Tracy
<No worries my friend. Study. Bob Fenner>

Help on Growing Coralline Algae
Hi Bob
<<Hello, JasonC here filling in while Bob is off diving.>>
I have a 6' x 2' x2' reef tank up and running (8 months) all is well but I wish to get more red/purple coralline algae on my live rock, to replace the grey look I get a lot of green on the rock/glass but want the red/purple is there a formula to grow this type of algae see attached pics <<Coralline Algae is just that, algae which means it will usually grow with very little help. The big secret, and it's not much of a secret, is that coralline needs calcium to grow. The coralline that is on your rocks now will spread, it just takes time and nutrients. Do read Bob's article on coralline algae: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corlalgfaqs.htm >>
Many thanks in advance Wayne
<<You are quite welcome. Cheers, J -- >>