noob here

[smendrix]

I am a noob to the site - and about a one year noob to the hobby. I've enjoyed "lurking" on this site for about a month now - seems like a lot of you guys, gals are real pro's. Needless to say i've been trying to soak in your knowledge all the while, but finally i have a question of my own to ask.

Kind of a 2 prong question on the algae's in my 75 gal fowlr. The parameters in my tank are about ideal;

ammonia, trites, trates, and phosphates undetectable (phosphates might be .05ppm or 0 my test kit is kind of hard to distinguish.)

Calcium is at 420 ppm
alkalinity at 6
dkh ph at 8.2
temp 80 degrees
salinity 1.022

lighting 4x65 watt pc two day light two actinics brand new coralife bulbs ( i know maybe a bit underlit for the reef im building towards)

30 lbs roughly of bali live rock half covered in really nice pinks purples reds and greens.

75 gallon sump with built in skimmer-

My first problem - I haven't noticed my coraline algea spreading like most healthy tanks do. I've kept a pretty close eye on my parameters all in hopes of seeing some nice color on a piece of base rock i put in there. However, i do have one sign of spreading and that is two small specs on my powerheads and one spec on my spillover box. Could this be the start of it spreading to other parts or is something wrong here?

On the flip side of that problem - since I've changed bulbs and started dosing lime water I've noticed a new kind of algae forming in my tank. Its the light green color that I was used to getting before but now im not able to remove it with my mag float and im having to remove it as if it were coraline.

My god i just caught a glimpse of the length of this post - Im very sorry.
Any help will be soooo appreciated.

regards

 

[Brenden]

The light green coralline is usually followed by purple/pink. Your Alk is low. You could dose some super buffer to help bring it up. If your PH has been stable at 8.2 you could dose some baking soda to raise it. Once Alk is up you should see a difference in coralline growth rate.

 

[dicjones]

I know this really has nothing to do with your question but you might want some more live rock. 30 pounds for a 75 gallon aquarium is low...especially with all the fish you will probably have in a FOWLR. I have about 93 pounds plus a Tidepool II, which has a huge Bio-wheel in it. Plus more live rock looks better...IMPO.

 

[dicjones]

Oh by the way...your logon name is from The Last Unicorn is it not? Smendrix was the wizards name.

 

[smendrix]

Yea I should have mentioned im building still - if it were up to me and not my wallet i'd be sitting on a pile of LR. The name is from a mad magazine that i read back in like grade school and i don't remember the context but if i were to guess they were probably making fun of the movie you mentioned being thats the way that mag works - however i always got a kick out of the name so there ya have it.

Thanx for the input I've started dosing some Seachem reefbuilder opposite my kalkwasser and its raised it to 8 dkm - another question what should the floor and ceiling of your alk reading be? From what ive gathered should be between 8 and 14 dkm or maybe 8 and 12?
thx

regards