How to grow Coraline

[JMorris271]

Hi RC
I have a tank that I cycled using mostly dry rock with about 20 lbs of live rock.
After 4 months of finished cycling, I still have no coraline I can see.
Is there anything I can do to get some going? It would be nice to see some nice color on thisrock.
Thanks

[DamonG]

Hi RC
I have a tank that I cycled using mostly dry rock with about 20 lbs of live rock.
After 4 months of finished cycling, I still have no coraline I can see.
Is there anything I can do to get some going? It would be nice to see some nice color on thisrock.
Thanks
Just give it time honestly.. It will come, and then it will be an annoyance..

From note 5.. rip note 7

[Emma1234]

Hi. I'm having the same issue. And I went to the search box at the top of the webpage and typed in coraline algea and found a number of ideas. Mostly they said all the parameters have to be good, CA, MG and Alk. Good husbandry.

I've had my tank up for about 4 years and have coraline in the sump but not in the display. I made three big rocks when I set up my tank. I wanted a "reef wall". The rocks I made are about 15 to 30 pounds each in a 50 gallon tank and are not very porous. I've never been able to get rid of the green algea or grow coraline algea in the display and I think its because I have too much rocks and too many dead spots. So too many rocks I think can hurt coraline algea growth.

[Shaummy]

Was there coraline on the live rock that you started with? You need some source in the tank to start with.

If you did have some on those live pieces, it can take a while for things to take off. You'll want to make sure you have adequate parameters for Alk/Calcium/Mag too.

In my tank, it actually grew better in areas that weren't as light intensive like undersides of rocks, back wall, and strangely enough it seems to grow best on my powerheads.

I've heard of people taking existing rocks with it and scraping them in front of power heads to help spread it around the tank...but I don' t really know if that works.

As Damon said...it just takes time...

[snorvich]

Keep water parameters where they should be.

[Ztous]

I wish I didn't have any. I wanted it at first but honestly it's a hassle to keep off the glass.

[toothybugs]

Keep water parameters where they should be.

I only get coralline when my parameters are stable. I seem to get a bloom with high Mg (1400-1500) but stability is key. Not quite SPS levels of stability but stability.

I also didn't seem any growing in the last few new tanks for the first 4-6 months. Just wait. Let your rocks age a bit. When they start turning bright green it's right around the corner.

[BlackTip]

With all parameters within good range, it took 8 months for the coraline to show up. 13 months, and they are not covering all of the rocks yet.

[Sk8r]

Get to the parameters in my sig line, have just one smidge of coralline on a rock in that tank, and you'll be up to your eyeballs in coralline.

[LarryZ]

How much of an issue is light? I have a tank that was set up 6 months now and while I had some coralline on the plastics, it was nowhere else. In fact the coralline and the coralline on the seed rocks (15 lbs) turned from purple to white except in the shady spots.

It looked like it was starting to come in and the rocks were at that green stage with a few purple spots when I got Ich in the tank. Had to take a lot of the rocks out to catch the fish to put in hospital tank. I turned the temp up to 83 for a month and let the tank run fallow with just hermits and shrimp for 8 weeks. After treatment I returned the fish and lowered the Temperature to 77 degrees but now the rocks actually have a reddish/brown rust looking coating on places.

Is this normal or did the disruption ruin things?

My parameters are Alk = 9.9 dkh, Mg = 1300, Ca = 400. My first batch of salt was only 7 dkh and I supplemented it to get it to 9.9. Now the 2nd batch of salt measures 11 dkh (Red Sea). But I've only done a few water changes so Alk is still 9.9. Oh and the tank is 55G (36 X 18 X 20)

Appreciate the input.

PS I've learned the importance and benefit of quarantine that's for sure! :)

[Potatohead]

My tank is five months since cycled (dry rock with a couple small live rocks) and just starting to get some purple coralline growth on the rocks a couple weeks ago. The rocks have had green coralline for months.

[A sea K]

When I was running MH lighting the coralline growth was nearly out of control. With my new systems and LED lighting, not so much. Don't know the significance in the lighting differences and how they actually affect coralline growth but I do know the MH lighting with the same parameters really seemed to make a difference in my experience.

[DamonG]

How much of an issue is light? I have a tank that was set up 6 months now and while I had some coralline on the plastics, it was nowhere else. In fact the coralline and the coralline on the seed rocks (15 lbs) turned from purple to white except in the shady spots.

It looked like it was starting to come in and the rocks were at that green stage with a few purple spots when I got Ich in the tank. Had to take a lot of the rocks out to catch the fish to put in hospital tank. I turned the temp up to 83 for a month and let the tank run fallow with just hermits and shrimp for 8 weeks. After treatment I returned the fish and lowered the Temperature to 77 degrees but now the rocks actually have a reddish/brown rust looking coating on places.

Is this normal or did the disruption ruin things?

My parameters are Alk = 9.9 dkh, Mg = 1300, Ca = 400. My first batch of salt was only 7 dkh and I supplemented it to get it to 9.9. Now the 2nd batch of salt measures 11 dkh (Red Sea). But I've only done a few water changes so Alk is still 9.9. Oh and the tank is 55G (36 X 18 X 20)

Appreciate the input.

PS I've learned the importance and benefit of quarantine that's for sure! :)
it can be a pretty big factor.. It doesn't seem(at least in my systems previously) to want to grow in extremely high lights areas "at first".. But that's only the first couple months.. Keeping parameters as stable as possible helps anything (i keep sps, and the corraline now just comes, but I remember those days when I used to struggle to get it to grow). If you give it time, it will indeed and for sure grow..

The most interesting strain I have run across is the rose bud.. Absolutely beautiful, and grows much like montipora cap..

But normal corraline usually comes in phases. First the green, and then, the purple, pink, and sometimes Orange. The pink I have had grow in higher light up front, while the purple tends to just grow everywhere..

The first place to look are on your plastic parts.. You will see tiny little specs of it.. If you see that, honestly "anywhere" your already there, and just have to give it time.. That's if you want it.

After it begins to grow, as stated, you will find that, while it can be very pretty(I'm trying to grow it on my bare bottom tank for the first time), it is the right thing to scrape off in large patches.. And you have to stay on top of it.. Not only that, but it competes with your coral for elements.. Maybe not much, or a lot. I'm not sure to be honest, but it for sure does. But it's the maintenance of it that is a pain once you have it.

Ultra much like xenia and gsp when you first begin. You want it, and it's cool, then you find out how much of a pain it can be and is.. That's just my opinion though, and it is cool, even to me, to "see" a tank covered in thick corraline.. Now do I want my tank like that? No.. But it's still cool and brings back memories..

But you really don't need to do anything honestly. As long as the conditions are favorable, it will grow.. I use it as an indicator of the almost passing of the initial stage of setting up a system..

From note 5.. rip note 7

[Betaktical]

Lots of good replies. Keep your trace nutrients good and it will be over running your tank in no time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bugboy2020]

Get rid of Asterina starfish as well. I had some green coralline, until I added a frag with asterinas on it. Now I have nice grey rocks.

[LarryZ]

I agree, a lot of good info. One of the reasons I started a saltwater tank because I loved how the live rock looked with the purple coralline. I remember reading a past thread about aquarists who were having trouble getting coralline to grow with LED vs other lights. I went to the LFS in town and he said my UV setting was too high which is why so much of my rock was getting bleached. I bought some nice purple live rock that turned white except on the underneath parts that the light did not hit.

He said coralline likes the blues but UV tends to burn it. He had an LED lit tank with a lot of nice purple coralline. So I lowered my UV setting on my LEDs. It'll be interesting to see if that makes a difference over the next several months. And I will definitely avoid those Asterina starfish. ;)

[2smokes]

If you want to grow coralline then most important is to have no phosphates and expecially phosphates that are leaching from the rocks.For this you have to mantain a higher ph.At low ph the rocks start to melt a litle and they release phosphates that are not compatible with corraline growth.Blue lights for pink coraline and more warmer spectrum for green coraline.I would also dose iodine for the purple coraline.

[2smokes]

I agree, a lot of good info. One of the reasons I started a saltwater tank because I loved how the live rock looked with the purple coralline. I remember reading a past thread about aquarists who were having trouble getting coralline to grow with LED vs other lights. I went to the LFS in town and he said my UV setting was too high which is why so much of my rock was getting bleached. I bought some nice purple live rock that turned white except on the underneath parts that the light did not hit.

He said coralline likes the blues but UV tends to burn it. He had an LED lit tank with a lot of nice purple coralline. So I lowered my UV setting on my LEDs. It'll be interesting to see if that makes a difference over the next several months. And I will definitely avoid those Asterina starfish. ;)

Leds dont have UV at all.UV is 0 on the smd leds and theyr just pink color sold as UV .You cant burn nothing with them.When coraline turns white and dies is most probably due to the phosphates.

[LarryZ]

I'll have to double check the phosphates again but they always measured 0.0.

I have a Redsea Max260 that came with adjustable LEDs. It has an app to allow you to adjust the UV, purple, blue, violet, red, green, and cool white intensity setting as well as the length of time the lights are on.

The default setting was 60% intensity on all colors. I lowered the UV, red, and green settings to 20% intensity and the cool white to 45%. The purple, blue, and violet I raised to 100% based on the advice I received.

Hopefully that is what was causing my issues. I'll double check my phosphates though.

[jlmawp]

I'll have to double check the phosphates again but they always measured 0.0.

I have a Redsea Max260 that came with adjustable LEDs. It has an app to allow you to adjust the UV, purple, blue, violet, red, green, and cool white intensity setting as well as the length of time the lights are on.

The default setting was 60% intensity on all colors. I lowered the UV, red, and green settings to 20% intensity and the cool white to 45%. The purple, blue, and violet I raised to 100% based on the advice I received.

Hopefully that is what was causing my issues. I'll double check my phosphates though.

I noticed this when I first started my tank as well. Some coralline reacted negatively to their placement, but eventually another took its place that was more suited to that light intensity. I think there are many more varieties than we give them credit for, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses.

Being the purist biology person I am, I decided that diversity would solve my problems of coralline growth/coverage, and found some videos on creating a coralline soup.

I went to the LFS and got some snails and small pieces of LR that had several different varieties of coralline on them. I took a knife and scraped all of the different types, and put all of the scrapings into a small bowl. I let the particles settle, drained most of the water, and then ground them up with a mortar/pestle. Then I poured that "soup" back into my tank, right in front of the powerhead.

That seeded the crap out of my tank, and now I have different varieties growing everywhere. They compete for space, light, and are growing in places that never had coralline anywhere near them before. I highly recommend this if you are looking for good variety in color, and overall long-term health of the coralline itself. Instead of changing parameters and factors to get them to survive, they do that themselves by sorting out who thrives best in what space.

Now I'm with everyone else, cursing myself about having to scrape it off the sides every month.

[Sk8r]

It requires a decent magnesium level. Abt 1350.

[CrayolaViolence]

For me coralline took off after I switched from Kessil lights back to T5s. Then within about 3 weeks the purple plague began. I'm not complaining, cause I really do love the stuff. But every tank I have taken back to t5s the coralline has exploded when it was 'meh' or nonexistent, before.

[Flaring Afro]

I was using instant ocean and after a year in a half, had no noticeable coraline even though I had nothing that is known for eating it (like urchins). Switched to reef crystals and got a lot of growth. Later I went back to instant ocean and just dosed calcium.

[CrayolaViolence]

Leds dont have UV at all.UV is 0 on the smd leds and theyr just pink color sold as UV .You cant burn nothing with them.When coraline turns white and dies is most probably due to the phosphates.

Are you sure LEDs have no UV? I mean, if they don't have UV then how do the corals fluoresce under them?

[2smokes]

Are you sure LEDs have no UV? I mean, if they don't have UV then how do the corals fluoresce under them?

Led have pink or blue light but zero UV.Its because UV light damages plastic and the leds lens are made of plastic.Only bulbs that are made of glass like T5 and MH have the UV spectrum.There are somme UV leds thogh that are made of glass and metal but they arent used in the hobby and altough they are leds they only last 1000 hours(as much as an old incandescent bulb and much lesse than T5 and MH).This is how the experimental uv led looks like https://s22.postimg.org/gx9f9yua9/images_2.jpg And this is the light spectrum.Leds make pink or blue light but it isnt UV just color.I not only got my informations on the internet,i really measured the UV leds with a sensitive uv meter.https://s16.postimg.org/v9yyn6w51/Image_For_Article_1087_1.png