Good supplement for coralline algea growth?

[AR15 guy]

I ordered 30lbs of base rock from hirocks.com last night. I would like to try to get some good algea growth on it. I am not using fancy lighting but I have heard NO is enough for just rock. Buddy has been using stronium (pretty sure thats what it is) and he has been getting some good results.

What should I get to help growth on this rock? I plan on putting about 8lbs in my 10 gallon and the rest in my 38 gallon. And I plan on getting a 40lbs order from liverocks.com to finish off the 38gal. But I was hoping I can get some growth on the base rock.

 

[fishfreek]

As long as you maintain decent calcium and alkinity levels with ok lighting you should get good coraline growth.

Try to keep your calcium around 450ppm.

 

[AR15 guy]

I will go purchase a calcium test kit tonight if I get a chance. Probably need to buy some supplements also.

Thanks.

 

[malkore]

You'll need some coraline algae in the tank in order to seed the hirocks rock. obviously when you add the liverocks.com rock, that'll seed it, but until then you'll need a scraping of coraline, or you won't see any growth, regardless of calcium supplementation. hirocks.com is stored and shipped dry so it won't have any coraline on it to seed with.

 

[AR15 guy]

I have a few pieces of live rock in my 10 gallon with some coraline on it. That should take care of the pieces I am putting in the 10 gallon. I am going to add at least 8lbs to the 10 gallon.

We will justr have to see what happens/

 

[ellisz]

If you put dead rock in with corraline covered LR, it will seed eventually. I bought 50lbs of dead rock on Ebay awhile back and it is mostly covered now. Some went to my main tank, some to my 10 gal nano and some to my 5 gal nano. I had LR in each one to help it along. The rock in the display would cover up a lot faster but it has alot more water and seed rock.

Patience...

 

[Jonathan G.]

i use aragamilk as a calcium and trace buffer and i have noticed my coralline spreading rather quickly, but i also have heard up people using "purple up" andhaving good success with that

 

[AR15 guy]

Thanks for the replies. With 5lbs of live rock and 20lbs of live sand how long do you think it will take about 8-10lbs of dead rock to become live? Once the tank gets going good with the extra rock I may take off my filters and add a small powerhead instead.

 

[RMPD109]

Like you said in the first post here. Dont forget the strontium as it will help it spread quickly. I use seachem reef complete and it is a calcium and strontium additive for good growth.