coraline bleaching

[John1983]

i am posting this because i dont want people to make the same mistake that i did... Most of the back of my glass is covered with coraline algea along with the rocks and snails. So i was doing a regular water change and i needed to move around some rocks - so i left the lights on while i was doing a water change so i could see what i was doing. Everthing went fine but the problem i found out the next day. all the coraline algea that was exposed to the air and the intense lighting was completly bleached. i dont think it was just because it was exposed to air though, it is because there was direct light on it with no water to deintensify the light a little. so just remember this the next time you do a water change.

hope this helps
john

[Travis]

That stinks but good info John.

[John1983]

what do you think i should do? should i just scrape off the bleached part. it doesnt look that bad- the worst part is on my powerhead

[Mike O'Brien]

I would leave it. The new coralline will regrow on it in a few weeks, and should grow faster on the dead stuff than on the glass. When I clean my powerheads it will sometimes do that from the fresh water, but in a few weeks it's colorful again.

[John1983]

thanks- i think i will just leve it