Can't grow coralline and fighting algae in a fish only tank

[Dvir]

Hi all,
Tank is running since Sep, first fish introduced in Dec. Adding fish slowly after QT, now have 5 fish and feeding them twice a day quite in abundance, they're growing nicely fat

I added coralline in a bottle 3.5 months ago and still not seeing any signs of coralline. Tank parameters seem fine to me. nuisance algae is growing, I have to clean the glass every 2-3 days but there is no sign of coralline.

1) Any idea what is missing?
2) The bottom of the tank is starting to look ugly with algae (video attached), any tips how to solve it? should I just aim a power head at it? it's a bit hard because of my aquascape.

Thanks!

Tank parameters:

Water volume: 260g
Alk: 6.1
Calcium: 405
Mag: 1260
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate: 0.02
Salinity: 1.0245
Reefbreeders 32v2 X 2 for lights
Just recently added activated carbon since water started having yellow taint
No UV, No ozone, plenty of different types of media

 

[|Frank|]

Alk, calcium, and mag seem. a little low if you want coralline. I keep alk around 11-12 kh, 450 cal, and 1350 mag

 

[iamacat]

Low Alk and likely low pH are holding it back.

 

[RZGreef]

I didn't start to get coralline algae growth (even after adding the bottled stuff) until I got my pH consistently over 8.0. I already had alk around 8.5, mag around 1400, ca around 450.

 

[Koty]

My 0.02: you are a bit low on alkalinity, Mg, and patience

 

[flashsmith]

Your tank is still young. Nothing to stress over. The only thing coralline is gonna do is suck up everything your corals need and cost you a lot more money dosing the tank to keep up.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all,
Tank is running since Sep, first fish introduced in Dec. Adding fish slowly after QT, now have 5 fish and feeding them twice a day quite in abundance, they're growing nicely fat

I added coralline in a bottle 3.5 months ago and still not seeing any signs of coralline. Tank parameters seem fine to me. nuisance algae is growing, I have to clean the glass every 2-3 days but there is no sign of coralline.

1) Any idea what is missing?
2) The bottom of the tank is starting to look ugly with algae (video attached), any tips how to solve it? should I just aim a power head at it? it's a bit hard because of my aquascape.

Thanks!

Tank parameters:

Water volume: 260g
Alk: 6.1
Calcium: 405
Mag: 1260
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate: 0.02
Salinity: 1.0245
Reefbreeders 32v2 X 2 for lights
Just recently added activated carbon since water started having yellow taint
No UV, No ozone, plenty of different types of media

Coralline in a bottle rarely works and is merely CA and ALK in a bottle. You need to maintain a balanced level of CA and ALK along with flow to encourage Coralline. It also requires good light, low phosphates and nitrates as higher amounts will digest the needed components for coralline.
Coralline growth does not happen on its own and best introduced at times with a rock that already has this growth.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

As everyone said Low Alk and CA. Also more flow is always better for coraline.

 

[Stephen8169301]

What type of salt do you use?

 

[Dvir]

Thanks for everyone who replied.
Adding a few more details:

pH - swings 8.08-8.18 daily day/night (as shown in apex)
Flow - 2 MP60s (I think I have enough of flow)
Salt - used Instant oceans aquarium systems but about a month ago it stopped being available here so switched to seachem vibrant sea. Thinking to switch to red sea blue or pro since I don't like the cloudiness of seachem's.

With no corals taking alk/calcium/mag what should I use to raise it? will all for reef be a viable option?

Also, would appreciate your feedback on how to get rid of the algae building up on the bottom of the tank (video in first message)

Thanks!

 

[rudrasreef]

I didn't start to get coralline algae growth (even after adding the bottled stuff) until I got my pH consistently over 8.0. I already had alk around 8.5, mag around 1400, ca around 450.

Agreed. Coralline will only grow consistently if PH is maintained around 8.1 and 8.3. Additionally KH should be around 7.5-8.5.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Thanks for everyone who replied.
Adding a few more details:

pH - swings 8.08-8.18 daily day/night (as shown in apex)
Flow - 2 MP60s (I think I have enough of flow)
Salt - used Instant oceans aquarium systems but about a month ago it stopped being available here so switched to seachem vibrant sea. Thinking to switch to red sea blue or pro since I don't like the cloudiness of seachem's.

With no corals taking alk/calcium/mag what should I use to raise it? will all for reef be a viable option?

Also, would appreciate your feedback on how to get rid of the algae building up on the bottom of the tank (video in first message)

Thanks!

You can raise alkalinity with baked baking soda.(food grade ). Calcium chloride for CA. I can’t see the video personally so someone else could help on that.

 

[RZGreef]

Also, would appreciate your feedback on how to get rid of the algae building up on the bottom of the tank (video in first message)

Thanks!

For the algae on the glass bottom, adding more snails should take care of that. However, it'll probably never be pristine clean glass unless you scrub it manually yourself. It honestly didn't look all that bad to me at all in your video.

 

[jda]

Did you introduce anything that has coralline in/on it? Coralline in a bottle does not count.

How about a few hundred snails or crabs? Maybe some astreas, crabs and ceriths from Florida somewhere? Some real live rock from the ocean can help too.

Alk is fine at 6.1. I keep mine close to that level. However, once the coralline starts to grow, it will fall quickly, along with calcium and magnesium. Have a method already planned and ready.

 

[Dvir]

Only things introduced are fish, snails/crabs won't survive in the tank plus i'd have to QT them first in order not to carry ich/velvet. And they still won't survive the fish

Can algae also turn the water itself brown/yellow? or is that only due to bacteria?

 

[Dburr1014]

Why can't I use my like button anymore?
I wanted to put the 'money' on jda's post.

Anyway, ph fine;
alk fine;
Cal fine;
Mag probably fine; (mine is at 1500+)
Lights fine; I use them too!
What's missing, intro to coraline. Have a reefer friend or local lfs? Take, borrow, or steal a small rock with coraline on it. You can just scrape some off if you want or just add it to your rock.

But, be careful what you wish for... Coraline can be a PITA.
Look at the back glass, I scrape the front every week too.

 

[jda]

I had a Guinea Fowl puffer and Queen Trigger that would turn heaters into fine powder (glass, plastic and metal) and they could not get at or eat Mexican Turbo snails. Tank needs to be run cooler at 72-74 for the turbos to really crush algae, but the fish do not care and you can save some coin on heating. They come covered in coralline too.

 

[Bob2bob]

bumping for content

 

[Daniel@R2R]

wk