Do I have enough lighting to grow coraline?

[babyduke]

Just set up a nano 16G about 3 weeks ago. I put some bare live rocks and put a LR (from my DT) covered with coraline on top of them but haven't seen any new coraline. I have 8 Watt SkkyeLight LED, 2 of them. Are these not enough or am I being too impatient?

[MiracleFish]

16w? I'm not a 100% on this, but I dont think its strong enough to help coraline grow. How close are the lights to the bottom of the tank?

I had my AquaticLife 24w LEDs on a 20g long but wasnt very successful of coraline, it was growing, but not very much at all and extremely slowly. Now that I put these lights on an even smaller tank, I have seen rapid Coraline algae growth without changing anything or adding anything.

[babyduke]

It's about 13". So what would be the ideal wattage and under right condition, how soon will I see coraline?

[Reeferz412]

Yes, they should grow coralline with no problem. If you want to hasten the coralline growth, you could get a piece of LR covered in it and get a scalpel or knife and scrape the rock in the tank. The spores will spread and seed it self all over the tank.

[babyduke]

Reefer, how long would it take to see some new coraline? It's been 3 weeks.

Also, can you elaborate on your Aquaclear 110 (fuge style with DIY HOB Scrubber) setup? I too have AQC 110 and am interested to see what this looks like.

[Reeferz412]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2289553

Babyduke, it take a while for coralline to actually start growing especially on glass and equipment. Should take couple months to start seeing the pink dots everyhwere.

[Reeferz412]

The HOB scrubber is still running as we speak. I clean it every 2-3 weeks.

[asylumdown]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2289553

Babyduke, it take a while for coralline to actually start growing especially on glass and equipment. Should take couple months to start seeing the pink dots everyhwere.

+1. Coralline takes a while to really get going in new systems, especially when the rock is completely dead.

Just like forests that have burnt down or been clear cut go through a successional series, so does dead rock, and it takes quite a bit of time for dead rock to become indistinguishable from the 'live' rock. In my tank it took well over a year. You're likely going to see waves of diatoms and other algae before you see coralline.

And yes that should be enough for coralline. I find coralline (well, the purple varieties anyway) don't actually like super bright light. The tops of all my rocks are bare as the day I got them, while the sides that are shaded and underneath where they only get light that's reflected from the sand are so covered it looks like the rock is made of coralline.

[babyduke]

Yeah I'm getting bunch of green algae first. Interesting how your LR is bare on top but covered with coraline more on the bottom.

BTW, should I be utilizing the blue moon light to promote coraline or would daylight only be sufficient?

[syrinx]

It should grow, judging by the illumination the fotos show. It actually takes more light to grow green algae than coraline.

[scubaprashant]

Keep in mind that calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity need to be aligned and kept at NSW for your coraline to begin growth.