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AdamWhu
12-03-09, 18:09
Is there any reason why this would happen.
I thought this species of algae wasnt prone to this, im using a 6500k envirolite, for a few months it seemed to be growing ok. Ive ended up pulling it out of the sump as the ph is currently at 6.95 ish with a digital meter.
dan-the-man
12-03-09, 18:26
So why did you pull it out? If it has a light over it then it will be producing O2 which might help raise pH. I think you need to find the source of your low pH.

What makes you think it crashed? Crashing is what is refered to when caulerpa releases spores and becomes white / transparent.
aquadorge
12-03-09, 18:29
Did you regularly crop it? If not, die off becomes entangled in the good algae and can become a mess
AdamWhu
12-03-09, 18:32
ive tested mg,alk and calcium and all are in the right range, some of the Algae was a bit transparent thats why i pulled it out as i assumed the release of toxins had acidified the water somewhat.
AdamWhu
12-03-09, 18:35
Did you regularly crop it? If not, die off becomes entangled in the good algae and can become a mess

I think this may have been the problem, it used to be floating on the surface most of the time which i guess makes it harder to spot when it needs cropping.
aquadorge
12-03-09, 18:59
If it floats, any thing that gets exposed to air continuaously may then die off, fall back into the 'ball' and decompose from within. need to keep it weighted down somehow
Matt O'D
19-03-09, 22:32
are you able to post a photo showing how your sump is arranged at all?

I've had some trouble with chaeto getting coated with micro algae and dying off (not sure which was happening first).

I suspect that the container holding the chaeto was getting too hot due to the pump employed being too near the heater. I've now moved the pump close to the return pipe from the main tank & so far so good.
Haile S
20-03-09, 11:32
ive tested mg,alk and calcium and all are in the right range, some of the Algae was a bit transparent thats why i pulled it out as i assumed the release of toxins had acidified the water somewhat.

Have you callibrated the PH meter? 6.95 is extremely low.

what are your levels of kh and calc? Is the PH swinging? Are you running a calcium reactor? Are you running a skimmer or Kalk stirrer?
AdamWhu
20-03-09, 18:37
I suspect it is the ph tester ive ordered more fluids and going to re calibrate it and see how it is.