Juiceman Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Just making an observation but with the same live rock I have and same tank, under halides and vhos I had coraline everywhere! Ever since I switch to majority led, I have little to no coraline in my tank. I can see a few specs but nothing like the scraping I used to do every week with my 90 gal. Thoughts and experiences from other led users? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnmreef Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 (edited) Yes we have had the same happen, it used to be everywhere and now just specks here and there. It is sustaining on my live rock but not so much on the glass as before Edited January 6, 2013 by mnmreef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I don't have a frame of reference, as I started my tank with LEDs, but I have coralline on the back edge of the tank and the rocks. Maybe your SPS are leaching out the calcium that the coralline used to have in excess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 I don't go through much calcium. I was running 600 according to when my Hanna checker first came in. I turned off my doser until it went back down to 400, which took about 3-4 months. But I wasn't getting a whole lot if growth at my apartment. I'm getting a lot more now. Idk As far as coraline, I wonder if it doesn't grow on the glass as much because LEDs are a lot more directional than most lights and there isn't much spill over onto the glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I only run leds and all my rocks are purple, except the few new ones I put in. there's some growing on the back glass too, but I notice it doesn't seem to like the glass much. I'm not complaining lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 +1 Juiceman I'm not an expert, but I believe due to the combination of spectrum and optics, coraline will be slower growing under LED. Unless you have a wider optic range and at least 30% of your spectrum in the 6700k range. Although I will add even under power compacts and t5's, my coraline growth took almost 6 months to reach noticeable growth patterns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 From my perspective I see these MH tanks and they seem to have almost a problem with coralline algae. I've had my LEDs since 2008 and have more coralline in my sump under a homedepot 6700k light. So it does seem LEDs are slower to grow the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I don't go through much calcium. I was running 600 according to when my Hanna checker first came in. I turned off my doser until it went back down to 400, which took about 3-4 months. But I wasn't getting a whole lot if growth at my apartment. I'm getting a lot more now. Idk As far as coraline, I wonder if it doesn't grow on the glass as much because LEDs are a lot more directional than most lights and there isn't much spill over onto the glass. You gotta be real careful with that checker Google the "klondike" method, and you'll get much better results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Coraline is growing like gang busters in my tanks and I have LED on them. I'd say at the same rate as it did with T5, maybe more so.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hey Grog, Could you describe your LED setup? Spectrums... wattage... etc.? -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I had very little coraline growth with my LEDs and then after about a year the coraline exploded and started growing all over the glass. I'm not sure what triggered the change? Maybe I adjusted the dimmers on the LEDs to a ratio it liked or maybe it was a change in the water chemistry? I don't know, but now my glass is covered in it where I never had that problem when I first added the LEDs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 My coraline also slowed down when i changed to LED. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Keep in mind that most experience pretty good growth under led's and that growth, sucks up additional element's. Coralline needs/utilizes a fair amount of magnesium so make sure you are still at NSW levels for mg. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I just upgraded to the Kessil 350w led light and have never had such a problem with coralline. Not sure if mine is the same as most led's or something is different in my tank but its actually Starting to become a pain scraping it off everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I have used LEDs for more than 2 years now and I have coraline all over my rocks, backwall, and sump partition walls. I don't really believe that lighting has anything to do with coraline growth. I think it has to do with your levels since all I have in my sump is a standard daylight bulb for my fuge. If your not doing water changes and really want coraline I would suggest buying purple up. Thats what really got my tank going. I think it pretty much just dolled up iodine but its so cheap and definately worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 I dose essential elements, Iodine, potassium, and mg weekly so I doubt that there's an issue with those. IDK I'm not worried about not having a bunch of coraline, I just thought it was interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 There are several different types of coralline algae, some are lower light types and others require medium/moderate light level's. Having elevated phosphate level's can also hinder coralline algae growth. If you seed your tank with a variety of coralline algae species, you will more likely introduce the types that may be better suited for your lighting and water chemistry. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 FWIW: To relate to the last few comments: I do a 20% water change and dose iodine once a month, or when I remember, so lets say every 4-6 weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 I had metal halides for a year on my 120 and my rock was covered in pink, red and purple. I had beautiful coraline covered rock. I switched to 2 hydra 52 about 6 months ago and my rock is bland, some coraline but my rock is not pretty anymore. now that I notice this in my tank I haven't seen a tank using leds have much coraline, rock looks bland like mine. super disappointed and thinking about going back to my halides. Sucks to spend 1200 on something that I won't use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I'm a little late to the party, but I have had the same experience with my LEDs. My rocks have never been full blown purple under LEDs like they were under T-5. On one hand my Ca/Alk usage is less, I don't have to clean the glass as much, and the coral colors are much more noticeable. On the other hand, the rocks don't have much color and algae attaches more readily. I don't keep a tank for pretty rocks anyway! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 In my experience there seems to be two factors with lighting retard coraline algae. First is intensity, somewhere around 100-150 PAR coraline will start having problems irregardless of the lighting technology. Second is UV and shorter wavelengths of blue light seem to burn coraline. But it certainly will grow under LEDs. Now here's a puzzle for you all: This 2nd tank shares the same refugium and sump as the 1st and has very similar lighting conditions with the same LEDs but has very little coraline algae growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 In my experience high flow areas also help to aide growing coralline so is there a different flow rate in the two tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Rebirth of this post.... I started this in 2013! HahaSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 14 hours ago, Juiceman said: Rebirth of this post.... I started this in 2013! Haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk And...what was your experience in all of that time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 And...what was your experience in all of that time?It never really grew when I had all LED. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.