Coralline Algae Poll

[jc061471]

Ok so just what is the most important factor in getting coralline algae to grow and propagate after introducing it into a tank? Reading all the different answers is driving me NUTS. I've read everything; lighting, flow, low nitrates/phosphates, calcium, alkalinity, etc. Then there's the guy with higher than normal nitrates and phosphates but still getting crazy coralline growth. So please, just what is the holy grail in getting coralline to grow.

[joshky]

Mature stable tank. Light, alk/cal/mag, and no3/po4 all have something to do with it, flow not so much.

Be careful what you wish for, as far as I'm concerned it's just as bad as green hair algae, can't stand the stuff.

[jda]

Be careful not to necessarily think that the guy with the high N and P has massive coraline growth - it is more likely that the coraline grew under lower N and P and is just in there now.

Time, patience and reef-quality water will get you more coraline than you will ever need. When N and P elevate, the growth will slow or stop, but what already grew will still be there.

Purple, green and brown will grow under any light. I mean any. Just a regular HO tube or even a daylight bulb. Black, pink, yellow, red, etc. need higher quality and intensity light and then often only will grow in the shadows - you mostly see these in MH lit tanks. I have never had any blue, but I have seen it.

[organism]

The thing to keep in mind with coralline algae is that only new hobbyists stress over coralline algae. Keep alk/calc/mag in check, do your weekly water changes, and eventually it'll be everywhere.

There should only be one thing on your poll because it's the one thing new hobbyists don't have: patience. The reason it takes a while to start in new tanks is because it's starting from tiny areas and growing out from there which takes time. All of the things you want to throw at it to speed it up are probably going to destabilize your tank and slow it down.

[Homestead_Dad]

Where do you get it? None of the snails or live rock I have seen in stores have it. I got one snail shell that has what I thought was coralline on it but it's kind of red and doesn't seam to be spreading at all. Is it dead or just something the vendors put on there to sell them?


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[organism]

I'd recommend looking a lot closer at the rocks in stores. Chances are 99.999999999999999999% it's already in your tank and you just need patience.

If you currently don't have any in your tank then doubling or even tripling the amount of patience you're adding to your tank will dramatically increase its growth.

[gmlee]

When I first set up my tanks my parameters were all over the place up and down. As long as u have rocks, snails, whatever your going to get it.

[bwhit1406]

You should add time to the poll

[stelliofleondis]

I think it involves having the right strain of coralline for the conditions in your tank.

[bice0004]

Mature stable tank. Light, alk/cal/mag, and no3/po4 all have something to do with it, flow not so much.

Be careful what you wish for, as far as I'm concerned it's just as bad as green hair algae, can't stand the stuff.

I agree with all of this except the flow comment. In my experience, it usually grows the most in areas of high flow. Areas like the overflow where it gets both light and high flow. Or next to areas that get blasted by powerheads. Yes it grows everywhere, but I've seen it do extremely well in areas of high flow where it starts to grow 3D and actually start plating off the surface in a 3D fashion.

[crawlerman]

Oddly my coralline grows better in my sump under the cheap clip on light than it does in my display under Reefbrite LED lighting. Less scraping so I am fine with it.

[Dmorty217]

Oddly my coralline grows better in my sump under the cheap clip on light than it does in my display under Reefbrite LED lighting. Less scraping so I am fine with it.

This, and it seems to prefer higher flow areas. You have to introduce it to your tank some how too.

[DarkSkyForever]

Coraline in higher flow areas might just be because a greater volume of spores are passing in that area. It might not actually prefer or care about flow at all.

[organism]

I think it involves having the right strain of coralline for the conditions in your tank.

It doesn't, there are no super strains of coralline it's just an algae that uses calcium to grow. There are different colors, but as was posted already it'll grow very well in a sump with no flow that has a regular incandescent bulb over it. People get stuck on flow and light, it barely needs either.

[Sk8r]

Mg and enough cal in the system for it to use. Maintain the params in my sig line with some coralline already in the tank and you'll be scraping pink dots off the glass with the old-timers.

[jlmawp]

Mg and enough cal in the system for it to use. Maintain the params in my sig line with some coralline already in the tank and you'll be scraping pink dots off the glass with the old-timers.

+1 for Mg

I just got my Mg levels stable about a month ago, and I my coralline is exploding now. It was growing fine before, but boy is it spreading quickly now.

[ReefsandGeeks]

I've never had luck with mine growing in my 3 years in the hobby. I have a small amount that come in on LR, but it hasn't spread at all. I've never had more than a tiny spot grow on the glass, and it hasn't spread on my rocks at all. All of my coral grow just fine, so I think I'm just unlucky. I wouldn't mind routinely scraping my glass if I got more growth.

[jc061471]

Holy crap just measured my MG with the salifert kit I got the other day and found that it is 1080! No wonder I can't get any coralline growth. Time to start dosing it right away!

[joshky]

I agree with all of this except the flow comment. In my experience, it usually grows the most in areas of high flow. Areas like the overflow where it gets both light and high flow. Or next to areas that get blasted by powerheads. Yes it grows everywhere, but I've seen it do extremely well in areas of high flow where it starts to grow 3D and actually start plating off the surface in a 3D fashion.

Interesting. I've personally never made that connection, perhaps I haven't paid enough attention to it to notice.

I wish I were as lucky as those posting they can't get the stuff to grow. :sad2:

[jda]

It won't grow in too high of N or P, either. I really does need near-reef quality water.

[organism]

Holy crap just measured my MG with the salifert kit I got the other day and found that it is 1080! No wonder I can't get any coralline growth. Time to start dosing it right away!

Wow that's low, that'll do it! Make sure to check alk and calcium after the magnesium is stable since they might be out of balance as well.

[jmf305]

I think ALK/CAL/MAG need to be in line for it to grow.

[oceanfan913]

Nothing, just take care of the tank like you should and it will come along normally. Also, it can be a pain at times when it takes over the walls or places that are hard to get to if you don't want it on everything.

[Scrubber_steve]

Polls closed.

Low n & p for me.

[npierce1015]

Just seeded my tank so hopefully soon I'll start to see coralline on my then just the snails

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