Coralline Algae Help

[Fishingpcola]

I have a 150g foam rock and a lot of rock from marcorocks.com
I have a few pounds of live rock from lfs. Tank has been setup for 9 months. Calcium 440, dKH 10, PH 8-8.2, mag 1250. I dose with a calcium reactor and do nothing but a weekly 5 gal water change. I do have some spotting of coralline but never on glass. I have just changed my lighting to 8 T5 bulbs from 2 250 MH (XM 15K) with 3 vho bulbs. What can I do to get coralline going? Should I only run my 4 ATI blue plus bulbs for the higher K?

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll151/fishingpcola/IMG_2788.jpg

[Sisterlimonpot]

wow, you should be fighting coralline back by now. do you have anything in your tank that eats coralline like an urchin?

[iFisch]

Increase the amount of coraline covered rock, but expect a mini-cycle.



Get some scrapings from a fellow reef member. Dump a bunch of scrapings into blender, with water from reef member, and just "sprinkle" it into your tank.

Since you have a larger tank, I would repeat this procedure once a week until you start to get some really nice spots growing.

[Marklu]

Coraline is an algae after all, and it does need some nutrients, so if your water is too clean it may be the cause. I have had this problem in my tank and it can affect your SPS corals growth as well.
And conversely, too many nutrients can also inhibit its growth, esp. P04.

[RobbyVonAwesome]

I agree with iFicsh. The best way will be to get some scrapings from a local reefer. Everyone has to scrape coraline off their glass from time to time, just ask someone to bag some up for you next time.

[therealfatman]

Keep your calcium level at least around 400 to 450 ppm, your alkalinity at least 8.5 to 10 dKH anf your magnesium between around 1150 and 1250 ppm? Most strains of coraline algae are from rock taken from fairly ddep water so they do like actinic lighting, however if you turn the other lights off and them on you are likely to just loose what ever you grew when you turned the other lights back on. The easiest way to get cot raline f growing in my opinion is to keep your acalcium, alkalinity anf magnesium at the levels o preferred by stoney corals, Rurn nitate levels that are at least readable on a test kit, a same as with phosphorus (justreadable). But n most importantly get as many coralline scrapings as you can from as many heak lthy tanks as you can (no LFS tanks) and if you do not mind UPS or FedEx rates orgder some GARF Grunge as it is loaded with coraline algae. The grunge will also supply some critters and good bacteria for your rocks and sand. It is $5 per pound though. Same price as real Florida live sand only much better. IMO

[Mr James]

by therealfatman
Keep your calcium level at least around 400 to 450 ppm, your alkalinity at least 8.5 to 10 dKH anf your magnesium between around 1150 and 1250 ppm? Most strains of coraline algae are from rock taken from fairly ddep water so they do like actinic lighting, however if you turn the other lights off and them on you are likely to just loose what ever you grew when you turned the other lights back on. The easiest way to get cot raline f growing in my opinion is to keep your acalcium, alkalinity anf magnesium at the levels o preferred by stoney corals, Rurn nitate levels that are at least readable on a test kit, a same as with phosphorus (justreadable). But n most importantly get as many coralline scrapings as you can from as many heak lthy tanks as you can (no LFS tanks) and if you do not mind UPS or FedEx rates orgder some GARF Grunge as it is loaded with coraline algae. The grunge will also supply some critters and good bacteria for your rocks and sand. It is $5 per pound though. Same price as real Florida live sand only much better. IMO

Did you cut and paste this or is this your own?? Just curious?!?

[kreef]

I have NEVER seen a tank 9 months old look like that, is there any water in it lol.
I would have thought it would be crammed with fish and corals by now.

[Fishingpcola]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15090753#post15090753 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kreef
I have NEVER seen a tank 9 months old look like that, is there any water in it lol.
I would have thought it would be crammed with fish and corals by now.

I do have just over a dozen frags, mostly sps. The wife's layoff has had an effect on the coral purchasing. If anyone is interesting in donating to the tank let me know.

[Nanz]

Try boosting your Mg up to 1400+ I had the same problem when I started my tank about 2 years ago. When I boosted my Mg my coralline grew like crazy.

Oh and skip the Garf grunge.. Your tank is better off without it.

[Fishingpcola]

Thanks to everyone!

[Bruno3047]

I had to pump my calcium up to around 500+ppm before I started to see patches of coralline start to form on my marcorock.

Don't waste your time or money on Purple-Up. It's useless. Even for boosting calcium.