how to grow coraline?

[davidmaguirre]

Hello I have about 100+ lbs of liverock and I introduced purple coraline about two years ago and I have 96x4 florescents that I have jst changed the bulbs and all I seem to be growing is brown algae I use ro water and changed to red sea pro salt mix I add purple up and liquid calcium still no growth? How can I speed up the process? And y isn't any nice purple coraline growing?

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

What is your lighting specs?

 

[davidmaguirre]

It is a coralife 96x4 compact fluorescents 2 10000k and 2 actinics

 

[Mr. Quint]

This is a stupid thing to ask, maybe, but how is your water testing?

I have just recently completed about a 50% water change, over the course of a week or so, because I wanted to start adding some coral to my FOWLR (my water quality was not always the best, and I kenw that I would need to make it better, for the coral to survive).

Now, the water tests great, and the first thing that I have noticed is that my coralline algae (white and purple) is growing like crazy. Seriously, in a week or so, it has spread from 2 pieces of live rock to all of the live rock, more-or-less equally distributed around the tank.

Again, I recognize that this is probably stupid. But it's a recent triumph for me, so I figured I'd mention it. Maybe try a substantial, but gradual, water change, and see if it improves the water quality any. Might help...

 

[davidmaguirre]

Lol dats not stupid I'm totally open for ideas il try that out its just I have a 125 gallon and about 11 fish so I don't want to stress them out to much but do u use ro water and what kind of salt mix do u use?

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

I'm not too sure about this but I think CF lights have a hard time growing coraline. You may want to look in to your lighting

 

[Mr. Quint]

Yeah. I was worried about stressing the fish, too. They seem to have tolerated it ok, but I have no idea if it would be different in a tank the size of yours.

I use RO from the grocery store -- store brand. I don't recall what brand the salt mix is. I think I bought it at PetSmart. It comes in a bag, and it has a picture of a Yellow Tang on it. Not helpful, probably.

On the water change: I put the new water in gallon-sized ziplock bags, which I floated in the tank for 20 minutes or so, before opening them. I opened them 1 at a time, partially unzipped, tipped over and floating in the tank, while the water sort of oozed in. It's slow, but I wanted to be careful, and I didn't know what they could take.

 

[Flake]

My CFs neverhad a problem with coralline. Then again, I constantly check calcium levels in my tank.

 

[Emelinda76]

My CFs neverhad a problem with coralline. Then again, I constantly check calcium levels in my tank.

I want to grow Coraline Algie but it hasn't ;(. The levels are all good.. Can I buy some?

Diablito

 

[davidmaguirre]

Hmmmmm I've never really heard of anyone having problems growing coraline with compacts but who knows lol the salt mix you use is instant ocean lol I was using that mix but found out it had some phosfates so I switched to red sea pro mix.. you can buy coraline covered live rock but they charge alot... I'm still puzled on why my coraline algae isn't growing/:

 

[Wael El-Dasher]

I've had no caroline growth either, so I'm gonna follow this thread see where it leads. The odd thing about the lighting is my tank came with 10000Kelvin lights, but the manufacturer recommended to use 15000kelvin marine white and 20000kelvin blues. My lights are 4x 54W T5. I've been waiting for the dealer to get me the right size reflectors for my 1200mm long tubes as the manufacturer says it'll double the output. Perhaps once those are installed I'll start seeing an improvement.

About half of m LR came with caroline which hasn't diminished but no new growth either.

My Calcium levels are good, anywhere between 570mg/l - 600mg/l

cheers

Wael

 

[JASONinNM]

I've had no caroline growth either, so I'm gonna follow this thread see where it leads.

Wael

I too will follow this thread as I have no growth either but have only had the tank running for a GOOOD 4 months only. I too am installing a current 96w x4 36" PC fixture. Two daylights and two 420 blues.
Also, two 175w metal hilide pandants (I think they are called?)


Is this going tobe sufficant for most corals?? Or should I look into a newer t-5 fixture?

 

[davidmaguirre]

Ya u meen halide lol yes they should support most corals lol.. but yea i don't see coraline growing what am I doing wrong?

 

[JASONinNM]

Not having patients....

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Here's an old post I made a couple years ago, and recently relinked to...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f45/not-happy-108423.html#post920101

It's some photos every few months of when I started my tank. As you can see, coraline doesn't happen overnight. But once it reaches "critical mass", it will take off.

A couple comments:

Compact Fluorescent lighting will grow coraline just fine. I guarantee it. In fact, coraline doesn't really like high amounts of light. So 2x 96W will grow it just fine - it does in my tank. (And yeah... even though it looks like 4 tubes, you only have 2x 96W in a 36" fixture.)

If you don't know what your calcium and alkalinity levels are off the top of your head, that is probably a good place to start in trying to figure out why its not growing. You need a calcium level above 380, preferably above 400. Your alkalinity should be between 8 and 12 dKh. If either of these things is out of whack, that's probably your problem.

Additionally... you need coraline to grow coraline. So if your tank was started with 100% dead dry base rock, coraline just isn't going to happen. It has to come in on something.

 

[davidmaguirre]

Ok thanx I found the thread and pics helpful.. the only thing that kind of bothers me is that all my parameters are near perfect and I've had the tank with the liverock set up for about 3 years that's what's weird about it cuz I have been very patient/:

 

[davidmaguirre]

C how bad my algae is?/:

 

[Badfishofbabylon]

Here you go I found this, hope it helps!

If you are starting a new saltwater aquarium and want to transfer some of your beneficial coralline algae to the new setup, simply scrape some of it off and transfer it to the cured live rock. To ensure growth, keep calcium concentrations near 420 mg/L and maintain carbonate hardness above 8 dKH, and consider products such as Purple Up, designed to promote the growth of coralline algae.

 

[JASONinNM]

Here again I said id folllow this thread about growing coraline, this is a pretty new Aqua clear power head. No older than 4 months and I noticed LITTLE specs or purple coraline growing on it.... this is a 2 month running tank with about 40lb live rock. And adding 10lb more after it is done in quarentine.

 

[davidmaguirre]

Well if its hard and duznt come off easily then it must be coraline algae..