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Corlline alagae bleeching?? HelpšŸ˜


FISHnChix

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Coraline is algae is very sensitive to calcium bicarb levels in a tank, and this is very difficult to directly control without a reactor, or having a big tank with huge amounts of substrate surface area and a lot of gas exchange. Done a lot of experiments with coraline growth and SPS in small tanks, and everything keeps pointing to sustained carbonate / bicarbonate levels.Ā 

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Right now I have two shallow frag tanks that started with the same live rock and are identical in terms of bio load, age, water changesĀ and salt mix. The only difference is one tank has 1" of crushed coral and the other doesn't because I wanted to see if CC indeed actsĀ as a pH buffer.

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The crushed coral tank grows coraline like a boss. The bare tank doesn't..it just turns slowly white. If I move rocks between the two coraline bleaches or thickens depending on what tank it's in. Water paramsĀ are identical. Lighting in icentical.Ā 

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Reef stores that use those mult tiered frag rack stands where water cascades from one compartment to the next always seem to grow massive coraline under garbage lighting and water conditions I don't want to think about. That frag tank at the reef store tank has more in common with a SPS tank running a reactor chemistry wiseĀ  than our boutique tanks crammed full of calcium chlorideĀ (sidewalk de-icer) and low gas exchange levels. Just took me a decade to figure it out.

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