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How to encourage Coraline Algae


MorseReef

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Hello,

I need a little advice on how to get coraline algae going in my tank.  From what I know its a beneficial part of the ecosystem.  My tank has been up for a while now and I still don't have it starting up yet.  Is there something I can do or add to get it going?  Or should I just leave things alone and not try too hard?

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OK thank you..  I am in the process of adding some T5 bulbs to my setup.  I purchased an aquaticlife hybrid to add the T5's.  but I really don't want to hang the fixture off the wall with cords.  I really like the look of the red sea light brackets.  So at this point it sits in my garage waiting for me to come up with something. I will look for some snails next time I am at the LFS.  Like today at lunch time.  LOL.

IMG_1713.JPG

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I had Coraline start going nuts when I switched to reef crystals and now that I switched back to salinity it's seems to have stopped. So salt brand can play a role. I never added anything with Coraline so it came as a hitch hiker. I've had white, purple, blue, bright red, bright pink, and bright lime green at one point.

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9 minutes ago, MorseReef said:

So is it a bad thing?  Or just more of a nuisance? 

The biggest advantage of coralline algae is that it prevents nuisance algae from growing on your rocks. After a year my rocks are now about 80% covered in coralline, and the only spots of nuisance algae I have are in those areas where the rock is bare.

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Just keep your alk and calcium at good levels and wait... I swapped over to my new acrylic about a month ago and I'm already starting to see purple specks on the back and on my pumps. You'll probably notice it first on powerheads or plastic, on my glass sometimes it would turn green first.  Just keep your levels in check give it some time then you'll be scraping it off

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Thanks.  I am testing 3 times a week at the same time per day.  At this point I am only checking ALK, CAL, and MG regularly.  I have started dosing about two weeks ago on a regular basis.  I am at about 10ml per day of ALK and CAL.  So far this is holding me at 8.2 ALK,  420 CAL, and about 1380 MG.  but I get a large variance in my MG testing and am trying to figure out if its me not doing the test the same way each time.  

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2 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

There are also a lot of "coralline seeding" products out there by Caribsea, Brightwell, and others.  I have no idea if they work, but you might want to look into them.

SuncrestReef,

Do you think I should be trying to add it or "Seed" it to the tank?  Or should I just let things be? I don't want to be chasing things that are not beneficial in some sort of way.  I wouldn't mind it covering some of my very horrible epoxy jobs on my rock.   But I don't get to choose where it grows. 

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1 minute ago, MorseReef said:

SuncrestReef,

Do you think I should be trying to add it or "Seed" it to the tank?  Or should I just let things be? I don't want to be chasing things that are not beneficial in some sort of way.  I wouldn't mind it covering some of my very horrible epoxy jobs on my rock.   But I don't get to choose where it grows. 

I never added any commercial products and don't really know if they work.  I believe most of my coralline came from snails and frag plugs that were covered in it when I introduced them to my tank.  As I go back and look at old photos of my tank, I didn't see any coralline on my rocks for the first 7 months, then it started popping up as small specks that spread slowly.  Around 11 - 12 months it just exploded and was everywhere.

7 months:
Screen Shot 2019-05-22 at 10.57.45 AM.png

9 months:
Screen Shot 2019-05-22 at 11.00.16 AM.png

13 months:
Screen Shot 2019-05-22 at 11.06.29 AM.png

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If you have snails or rocks with any corraline algae you don't need to buy anything. It will spread, I've heard of people turning off all flow in their tanks and taking shells or rocks with corraline and scraping it off, letting it settle for a few then turning on pumps to spread it around. Never tried it, imo you don't need to do anything except have a little patience lol. Just keep an eye out for tiny purple specks, and sometimes it starts as green first then turns purple.

Sent from my BLU R1 HD using Tapatalk

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As far as the benefits go, a lot of people see it as a sign of a stable growing tank , but other than making the rock prettier, I would think the whole point of “live rock” would be diminished if it was completely covered in coraline. It would defeat the purpose of reef rock being porous for bacterial colonization. And, once it starts growing, don’t get lazy with keeping your glass clean. Once it takes hold, magnetic algae scrapers won’t work. As you can see, I gave up on my side panes 😅

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31 minutes ago, parvo99 said:

As far as the benefits go, a lot of people see it as a sign of a stable growing tank , but other than making the rock prettier, I would think the whole point of “live rock” would be diminished if it was completely covered in coraline. It would defeat the purpose of reef rock being porous for bacterial colonization. And, once it starts growing, don’t get lazy with keeping your glass clean. Once it takes hold, magnetic algae scrapers won’t work. As you can see, I gave up on my side panes 😅

For areas where my magnet scraper doesn't cut it, I use this razor scraper on a long handle.  It works great!  Best $14 I've spent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074KFZF7W

5D9C1A5E-3E69-44B3-8DFA-B862A00D023C.jpeg

Edited by SuncrestReef
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