Will Himedia keep my coralline algae from growing

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

tannerhanna

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 16, 2009
Messages
2
Location
Pensacola Fl,
I just recently added a himedia plant to my 55 gallon saltwater tank and just heard that it likes to take in calcium. I was wandering if this would prohibit my coralline algae from growing. The himedia plant is about the size of a softball right now. Thanks for the help.
 
Welcome to AquariumAdvice!

Anything that drops the calcium levels below a certain level will keep coralline from growing - most likely bleaching it out. So yeah... halimeda will consume calcium and if that calcium is not replenished it could give your coralline problems.

However...

Depending on your water change schedule, the salt you're using, and what other things in your tank are consuming calcium, you may be able to replenish all the calcium by just doing water changes. If you don't do water changes often enough, even the calcium consumption by the coralline may be enough to drop the calcium levels too low, over time.

Best bet is to get yourself a calcium test kit and start testing your calcium levels on a weekly basis. Calcium levels between 380 and 420ppm are what I shoot for and will keep stuff needing calcium alive. Higher levels are OK, if that's what your salt gives you. I've found that when the calcium levels drop down below 360, you may start seeing the coralline bleach out a bit and by the time you get to 340, you'll definitely see issues with bleached coralline.

If you can't keep your calcium levels high enough with just weekly water changes, then that's a question for another post! But do some searching on "2-part solutions" and that'll give you the idea.
 
Hey Kurt Thanks for the quick reply. That was very helpful info for my question. I have only had a salt tank for about a month and a half now and it has been a blast. I am trying to soak up all the info I can. Thanks for the help.
 
Back
Top Bottom