coraline or problem

[FNG44601]

Hey folks- the tanks going well... just want to get some clarity on a few things goin on. First, the base rock I seeded with the live rock has this weird lime green tint to it- normal?

Second, I bought a couple of pulsating xenia frags the other week- within 2 days they'd attached and I'm already seeing one spread- had two stems now there are 3, maybe four- Did I just buy a weed??? lol But I noticed today they're not pulsing. I gave em a break from the powerheads but still same thing-

Lastly (I think) the coraline is growing steady but now I see a different maroon color- almost chocolate chip sized spots popping up. I am hoping this is just a different shade of coraline- It's hard as hell- took a shell out with one on it and couldn't scrape it off. But I do notice a light blue film on the corners of the tank- not a lot but it's still there:frustrat:

 

[reeffreak]

It's normal to get a bright green coating of algae on bare rocks.In time and in most cases it will go away being replace by actual coralline algae.

Xenia-weed-yes?Either they grow like a weed or wither away.

Coralline does come in maroon color.Strange,that color is the most dominant coralline in my system instead of the pinks and purple.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think Freak has you covered. Xenia spreads FAST. I started "farming" the xenia in my tank in a tupperware container filled with live rock rubble because it grows so quickly. The LFS will buy it from me for $5 a stalk.

The green stuff on your rocks is probably coralline, and the maroon stuff is probably coralline.

 

[Doc]

xenia is hit and miss. they tend to shrivel with the presence of phosphates.

-Doc

 

[fatman]

They grow fast enough that some commercial frag growers use them for nutrient exporters in systems tank equivalents to refugiums, that are in systems with frag grow out tanks as the principle tanks. Yes, they throw away most of them.

 

[yote]

Like everybody said,Xenia either becomes a weed and takes over,or it'll die.
Personally,I like Fatmans idea of growing xenia in a refugium.It tends to like some nitrates and phosphates,and it does a good job of using those up.

 

[fatman]

Shhh! Do not tell anybody I do that. It might tarnish my sterling reputation.

 

[IraqVeteran]

Yup, Xenia spread like a disease, nevertheless, they are attractive with water movement. Coralline algae makes a tank look amazing. There are a couple of ways to get coralline to grow in your tank. One, buy a piece of live rock with plenty on it already. Second, you can scrape some from a friends tank and put it in your tank. These options help to seed your tank with coralline so to speak. I guess you can try to use the product "purple up". http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12799
although I havent used it, but I have heard from other folks stating it works without harming your system.

I've got plenty of the hard maroon coralline in my tank as well as green and purple. I dont seem to have any pink though.

 

[fatman]

Purple up is very finely ground aragonite sand. If you have a burr grinder for coffee, like the ones that look like little hamburger grinding machines, just set it to its lowest setting and run a little aragonite sand through it a couple of times. Do it when the spouse or significant other isn't there to hear the god awful noise. Or just dissolve some aragonite sand in a little hydrochloric acid or strong white vinegar. Powder or liquid coraline booster/purple up. Simple and cheap. Don't tell Purple Up I told you.

 

[UnderwaterWorld]

fatman's full of secrets today...

 

[reeffreak]

That's what I tell everybody.Purple Up is just pulvarized aragonite sand.Throw some aragonite sand into a food processor til it comes out a fine powder-add RO water and voila!Purple Up.

Disclaimer:I cannot be responsible for damages to the food processor.

 

[IraqVeteran]

So if you use aragonite as your substrate already then there is no need for purple up? I did not know this....you always learn something new.

 

[Bifferwine]

Whatever Purple Up is... I've used it on my old 55 gallon tank and my current 240, and I believe that the stuff works. Others have used it and saw no difference. I recommend it, because I saw a HUGE spurt in growth in coralline when I started using it, and worse case scenario, you're out $20 if it doesn't work. So what, that's a drop in the bucket in this hobby.

 

[fatman]

It dissolves much easier as minute particles than in a deep sand bed. Large particles of aragonite require a lower pH than normal sea water to dissolve readily. That lower pH is achieved a few inches down in a deep sand bed. A sugar fine deep sand bed will dissolve at least twice as fast as a sand bed made up of 2 mm and larger particles. Purple up is ground and dissolved with acid, added to water and then pH balanced. The powdered aragonite would dissolve in RO water but Boy in as high of concentration as when first dissolving it in acid. The Ph balancing is not really needed as such small amounts are added that the effect on pH would be unnoticeable even to electronic monitoring. Aragonite is made up of marine life forms that extracted all the trace elements needed for their lifeforms along with the calcium that they turned into aragonite. Aragonite is a specific geometric arrangement of calcium carbonate. They actually have the same chemical equation but are structurally different. This structural difference makes aragonite dissolve in salt water aquarium deep sand bed where calcium carbonate will not. Most aragonite is old reef rock which is old coral skeletons glued together and fused together by calcium carbonate and coraline. Oolitic aragonite is a small particle of calcium carbonate coated with layers of aragonite which came from dissipation of aragonite in areas of the ocean just outside of coral lagoons. Wave action keeps the carbonate particles in motion within the aragonite allowing the gradual layers of aragonite buildup. Drop a little hydrochloric acid on some aragonite or calcium carbonate and it fizzes more than Alka Seltzer, it is said that it effervesces when exposed to an acid. Vinegar also works but not as spectacularly.