How long does coralline take to start growing

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KMyers18

Aquarium Advice Freak
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central florida
While preping for hurricane jeane this weekend i set up a 20gal. reef tank with 20lbs of live sand and about 8lbs of LR but i know i need more LR.I have 130watt orbit light but there is no live stock in the tank as far as snails or fish or corals but i have some coralline stimulator and i was wondering how long it takes to start getting coralline growth? and i have a hang on filter that pumps 280 per hour. Does this set up sound fine??
 
Do you have some in the tank to seed it? You have more than enough light for Coralline, as it grows better in lower light. It will spread slowly over months. What do you have as an accelerator? I hear the calcium polygluconate which is in Seachems Reef Calcium is the best. It usually spreads faster if in the flow of a PH.
 
Not sure how that stuff works.. They say if you scrape the coralline to loose some up it will spread/seed other areas of the tank. I use B-ionic 2 part calcuim and alkilinity and it took aobut 6 months in my 125 with no CA to start. My 55 fowlr had some so it took less time 6-8 months. If your looking for total coverage of rocks and back of tank it could take up to a year to reach that goal in a tank that size. My 55 has 65% rock coverage and 5% glass. I do not add anything to my fowlr... If that stuff works it could be less....
 
I may try that scraping idea i dont see how it would hurt anything. This is my first reef so im not sure how it works either. My LFS says it works good and there tanks look good so who knows :)
 
Spots of coraline can be seen as quickly as within a week of setting a tank up if conditions are correct. The more light you have over the tank the slower it will appear. The more actinic you have the faster it will come. The lower your overall calcium levels the slower it will grow.

An example of this is below from my personal tanks.

I had a 20 gal setup with 2X55W PC over the tank and it would grow coraline like it was going out of style. If I didnt scrape the front the entire front would be covered in a few weeks time. Now on my 75 with 4X110W VHO thats been up for 9 months now I hardly have any coraline growth on the glass. Just a few spots here and there. The same slow growth is apparent on my 80 gal thats been setup for over 3 years. The 80 has 4X96W PC over it. All tanks had a 1:1 ratio of 10K and actinic bulbs.
 
I thought you were suposed to leave the light on like 12hrs per day. There is nothing in the tank but 18lbs of uncured rock so.........
 
Yes a 12 hour on and 12 hour off schedule is what will most simulate the natural tropical reef lighting.
 
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