Coralline Success

[usaco]

Hi everyone,

Just wanting to know all successors story on how long it took for their coralline algae's to grow, how they achieved it, was it a rapid growth etc.

thanks

 

[Devilishturtles]

I used to have a lot of coraline algae, till my urchins got larger..they keep it well at bay. A good chunk of liverock that is covered with it is a good idea. Good water quality and sufficient lighting will make it grow well. You also should have a calcium level over 400ish to help it spread. Some people add trace elements such as strontium...and others I can't think of off the top of my head...but IMO its not needed. HTH.

 

[hcuellart]

Just keep your ALK and CA levels in the upper limits and in three months you might have pretty decent coralline growth. Of course you can speed up this process a bit by using several additives of which calcium gluconate is the one I am most fond of. This will not mess your inorganic calcium levels which corals need.
HTH

 

[zenn]

how long after adding live rock with coraline on it, can one expect to see it start growing on the tanks walls and such?

I recently put some new live rock in and it has significant coraline on it. It's only been about a week so i knowi haven't given it enough time just yet....but i have started seeing green algae for the first time on the sides of the tank the last couple of days. My calcium level is at 345ppm. I've been dosing with Kent's Liquid Calcium additive every couple of days. I'm trying to get it at or above the 400ppm mark. I hope the coraline starts growing soon.

 

[luntiz]

IME coraline algae grows on the tank first over growing on the rocks. I dose a 2part cal+alk to keep its growth up. Its finally getting somewhere!!

 

[jaiden]

It helps if you scratch off a bit of your existing coraline... this spreads it around.

 

[seaham358]

Do a search on the site and you will find tons of posts on this.
No one can say when it will grow, every tank is different. It could take several months or it may take a year to get good growth.
Buy test kits for calcium and alkalinity and test and dose your tank with addidtves to keep the levels up.
I use B-Ionic 2 part system and it is great stuff and easy to use..

 

[boardsurfer]

Mine started off really slow. A lot of people here will tell you that lighting or wpg has nothing to do with it, but I had a FOWLR tank at first and had less than 1 wpg. I had no coraline growing on the tank and PH's (I did have a lot of purple coraline on the LR, though). Then I upgraded my FOWLR to a reef tank a year later and got new lighting over 4 wpg and the coraline is now growing all on the front a back glass, and anything that is plastic. That's all I changed.

HTH...

 

[zenn]

well, i have 3.5wpg of PC lighting. I'm testing and dosing kent's liquid calcium. I'm moving about 1050 gallons of water per hour so that tank is turning over approx. 14 times per hour. I use ro/di water, and besides my ammonia being about .25ppm right now from new LR dieoff, the nitrates and nitrites are 0.

So hopefully i'll get coraline to grow soon. I'm doing a pwc this weekend and am working on getting the calcium levels up.

I do think i need another ph or two. I've only got two...both of which are on opposite ends of the tank directed at aggitating the surface. I think i need something moving the water at the bottom of the tank more.

Also, i'm a little worried that the turbo snails are eating some of the coraline. While i don't think they are eating much of it, it still seems to get a little eaten up after the turbo snail visits. The one of my turbo snails btw....has gotten huge....he's noticably larger just inside of the last month.

 

[mykpoz]

mine started to appear everywhere @ 1.5 month after tank was set up

 

[Guest]

Mine just started after 4 years of having my tank set up. I know sounds strange, but since I am broke, I decided about 6 months ago to try to get more color in my tank by getting some coralline to grow on the rock and walls (FOWLR). What has finally worked for me is I have dialed in my skimmer with a boost from an additional air pump, changed out the bulbs on my double strip (Just 80 watts over a 75 gal), stepped up the water changes to every week using reef crystals. It is stating to get real crusty on the back of the tank and I see white paint flecks on the back as well. I am really excited because I have never had any luck with getting coralline to grow in 15 years.

 

[ZoozFishMaster]

Just wanted to add something that wasn't mentioned above...make sure that your phosphate levels stay under control because phosphate inhibits the growth of all calcifiers (including coralline algae). HTH

 

[usaco]

Even though Calc & Alk levels are high, but you have high phosphate levels.. No Coralline Algae will grow.

Is that right?

Calc - 500
Alk - 160
PO4 - 3.0

I think I'm losing all hope.

 

[BillyZ]

usaco, i'm not sure if i'm translating your alk reading properly, but it seems a little off balance with your calcium. Balance with alk/ca is pretty important. For good coraline growth, some good lighting will help as well. My tank had minimal growth after the first few months. As soon as I upgraded my lighting (4x65PC on a 55 gallon) my coraline really started to show.

Check out this article that goes into great depths of explaining the ca/alk relationship and how to adjust the levels in your tank accordingly.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

it even has an in-depth explanation of Alkalinity
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2002/chemistry.htm
and calcium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2002/chem.htm

HTH. be patient. it takes time. i think it was a few months before I got noticible coraline growth.

 

[Guest]

Wow, is that really you?

KG

 

[Guest]

Mine started after about six months of being setup. It takes very good water quality and decent calcium levels.

KG

 

[ellisz]

It is tought to be patient but you must. When I started out, I used IO and did not dose anything. Once the tank matures a bit, the corraline will grow. Then you will ahet it when you have to get the razor out once month or more to clean the glass

I moved my tank and lost my back corraline wall. That sucked but it is coming back.

 

[tooldini]

Hello,, I am new to the salterwater game had my tank set up just over 6 months. I Bought two large pieces of live rock that had a good amount of coraline algae on them to start my reef. The other rocks or corals had hardly any on them. I have a total of 75lbs in my 30 gal with 198 watt PC's lighting. After about a month I seen new growth on things and it has been spreading ever since. My calcium only reads about 370 at last check. Now after 6 months it is on most everything that isn't brand new.It may have not even been a month LOL.

Jeff

 

[zenn]

yeah, i originally posted a reply to this thread when it was new.....and since i've gotten coralline to start growing and it's only been maybe a month tops since i added LR with coraline to the tank. I bought a calcium test kit and some Kent's Liquid Calcium. I started dosing and testing to see if i could get my levels up. Well, a month into doing this and my calcium levels are around the high 300's and i've had a little bit of success.

Problem is, i have since found two urchins that are growing like mad. They are starting to dominate the Coraline on some of the rocks...so i'm going to have to move them to the fuge soon.