coraline..

[Chelsea22]

i bought some rocks that had some really nice purple and reds on them and some larger rocks that didnt... so how long until the coraline will spread around? its been like 2 months im growing impatient.. lol..
thanks

[mattsummers]

it depends alot on you lighting and water condition. it takes about 2 months in my tank, i run 1150 watts of light in a 150 gal VHO and metal Halide, what are you running?

[KeMo]

depends on water parameters. are you testing ? need abit more info but its all about water parameters. you could have a piece of rock that is just covered in it but get no seeding anywhere else in the tank if your parameters are not at par.

[Chelsea22]

i have no corals so all i have is some crappy light to get me by.. and no i dont test.. all i check is salinity.. which is .026.. its a 20 gal hexagon... fish are happy though :) when i cleaned the tank there were these little white things stuck on the filter tube.. and i picked a few off.. would those be seeds?

[danno23]

Good water params, as well as a proper balance of calcium 420 - 450 and Alk (varies by hobbiest but should be between 8 - 12).

[Tuscaquatics]

Not really gonna happen until you start dosing calcium and alkalinity. I keep my calcium at 450-500, alk at 10-12, magnesium at 1400 or so. Actinic light helps a lot, but I'm sure isn't absolutely necessary as it grows like crazy in my fuge with CFLs, though the colors that grow down there aren't as nice as in the display.

[Sisterlimonpot]

Good water params, as well as a proper balance of calcium 420 - 450 and Alk (varies by hobbiest but should be between 8 - 12).not to mention you need to get your magnesium up to 1200-1400 Or at least 3 times the calcium.

[brucoh]

I do a 10% water each week using Reef Crystals salt and I'm getting good coralline growth. I don't dose anything extra. My levels stay up to par with just the water changes.

[reeftanknewbie]

I used purple up in my tank to jump start it. you can also have a pump facing one of your rocks with coralline on it so that the spores of the algae spread around the tank. I only have CF lighting for now until I mount my t5's and it's growing like crazy. but you do need to keep an eye on you DKH and Cal levels so they don't get too high an precipitate in the water. weekly water changes with a good salt like reef crystals also works well.

[James605]

i had about half base and half live rocks and about 3 months into it its almost all turned purple

[Palting]

i bought some rocks that had some really nice purple and reds on them and some larger rocks that didnt... so how long until the coraline will spread around? its been like 2 months im growing impatient.. lol..
thanks

2 months seems a bit long if you are not seeing any new coraline. What are your parameters? What salt are you using? Are you dosing anything?

[Chris27]

Coraline requires the same chemistry as hard corals, so read some books or Randy's articles in Reefkeeping Mag and get testing. Once you have an idea of what your water looks like now (Cal, Alk and Mag) you'll have your starting point to move forward.

Coraline grows best under crappy lights, so if you get your water parameters in line, I'm sure it will take off in your tank. Chances are that in a few months you'll hate coraline as much as the rest of us!

[fishrule]

Why would anyone hate coraline?

[Chris27]

Why would anyone hate coraline?

Because it grows on everything!

[Palting]

Why would anyone hate coraline?

LOL!! Some people like a pristine looking tank. Some people like their overflows and powerheads encrusted in it. It's a matter of taste, and a little maintenance.

[celano]

When I first set my tank a couple years ago my coraline algae took off really well. It started covering the back glass, powerheads, ect.. Then about a year or two in it suddenly started to die back until it was gone.
I got a TLF reactor for Christmas this year and started running some phosguard to help with PO3 and within weeks I started seeing it growing again on the rocks and glass.

I guess my point is do some tests even basic ones for nitrates and phosphates to see where your levels are at.

[mthomp]

Not really gonna happen until you start dosing calcium and alkalinity. I keep my calcium at 450-500, alk at 10-12, magnesium at 1400 or so. Actinic light helps a lot, but I'm sure isn't absolutely necessary as it grows like crazy in my fuge with CFLs, though the colors that grow down there aren't as nice as in the display.


i dont dose anything nor do i have actinic lighting, coraline every everywhere.
it seems to of started taking off around the 4 month period of my tank which is about 6 months old. 55 gal sumpless.

[domb54]

just takes time low lighting makes it go faster but brighter lighting brighter color and slower growth for some reason. purple up or calcium addition would quicken the process.

[Chris27]

Provided a good piece of encrusted live rock was added, a proper Mag, Calcium, and Alk ratio is all that's needed for it to grow like mad, things like purple up or whatever else don't really help.

[DustinB]

I got a TLF reactor for Christmas this year and started running some phosguard to help with PO3 and within weeks I started seeing it growing again on the rocks and glass.

I guess my point is do some tests even basic ones for nitrates and phosphates to see where your levels are at.

This is probably it. You likely have high nitrates and phosphates. This will slow coraline and coral growth.

How often do you do water changes? How much/often and of what do you feed? Have you tested nitrate and phosphate?

[Chelsea22]

ive just done my first water change.. and i buy the water premade from this really awesome guy who runs this aquarium store a town over.. hes got one of the only exotic fishing licenses around.. anyway.. i feed every other day.. the frozen ocean nutrition stuff.. formula 2 and sometimes the brine shrimp.. im just so new at this i feel like an idoit compared to you guys lol.. so im guessing more often water changes? i was told i could go 4 to 6 weeks before a water change? i mean.. the water was still clear when i did the change? i did wait two extra weeks tho cuz i had some work done on my sleeve and didnt want to get it all fish watery lol.. but i have these white specks on the back panel of glass and on the filter tube... u thinks that may be the beginning of it growing?

[Tuscaquatics]

The specks could be coralline beginning. I would get some test kits and start testing the most important parameters it you really want coralline.

Aside from having as close to zero as possible on nitrates and phosphates, you really want to keep your calcium at 450 or above and your alkalinity at 10-12. Magnesium is another thing that needs to stay up, but if you use decent reef salt and do water changes pretty regularly, it's doubtful you'll ever get it low enough to be a problem.

As others were saying, you don't necessarily have to go out of your way to get a ton of coralline. Some people have luck and, by virtue of just the way they do their husbandry, they get tons of coralline. Others dose and do all kinds of things and can't get it to take off.

I never got any good coverage until I started dosing calcium and alkalinity. And I have always used Reef Crystals. Another factor, I believe, was getting new T5s and new, high quality bulbs. Coralline loves actinic light, and these helped a lot.

So, at the minimum, if you really want coralline, you need to test nitrates, phosphates, calcium and alkalinity.