Coralline Algae Help!!!!!!!!

[prow]

hello guys and girls.

i have some questions about growing coralline algae. let me give you the low down on my tank. it is a 72x18x20H tank.(approx. 115gal) have a 45gal sump. (total water volume is 150gal measure at startup). useing mericle mud. just added red gracilaria about a week or 2 ago. had 100lbs of fully cured rock during the last 2 months just added 65lbs of fresh live rock not cured with mostly green coralline and some red coralline.(hate the green). the new rock had been packaged and sent from indonesia i think maybe else where has been sitting about 2 weeks in the box all wraaped an still little damp(its tonga rock). placed the rock work so water flow moves through/within all the rock work. i have two pumps for my sump return a 1200gph and a 600gph(plus one 145gph powerhead in the refugium with a streamer bar to keep the gracilaria tumbling). in the main tank i have 3-300gph powerheads placed all around the tank(set up to grow coralline not looks will change once coralline is extablished).
the only animals in the tank are: 1 blue damsel, 4 green chromis, 1 eletric blue herrmit, 2 zebra hermits and 1 mex. red leg hermit.(plus many pods and thing) i am useing 2-40watt t12 lights atinics only. i did the tooth brush scrubbing thing on the red algae to spread it. my Ca+ is 410 and my Dkh is 11 currently will add more ca+ chlorinde to raise the Ca+ to 460 will let ride till dkh and Ca+ are at 430/8-9dkh. all other stuff is at correct levels.(temp 79)

my question is since the new rock was out of the water for 2 weeks, given a freshwater wash down and light brush scub to remove noticeable dead things, did the coralline live through all that.

will the crabs eat the new coralline growing.(i just found out about the mex. hermit loving new coralline). worried about it turnning grey. if i ever see the mex. red leg hermit i will remove him.

how long, about, will it take for coralline to establish some good growth on the old rock. will be doing 10gal water changes every 3-5days for next month. not useing a protien skimmer. will use carbon for 10 hours a week for 1 month. i think the coraline needs more light for faster growth. i am getting what will be the tank lights in about 4 months. in the meantime will the current lighting be good enough to allow some good growth in during the next 4 months time.

what can i do to get the red coralline to out grow the green

[Woodstock]

The freshly shipped rock should have been 'cured' in a tank/container for a few weeks BEFORE adding it to your main aquarium. There will be critter die offs on it that will cause a cycle.

Continue to keep the ca & alk at good levels and the coralline will grow....be patient. Remember that phospates inhibit coralline growth so keep the levels down! Are you using ro/di water?

Also, I would invest in a skimmer ASAP if i were you. IMO, a good skimmer is the best filtration for a marine tank.

[mojoreef]

Best thing to promote corraline is to have something that eats it. Urchins are great for that. The eating of it makes the corraline spore, once the urchin poops the spores are released into the tank.


Mike

[Woodstock]

I have an urchin in my sump..the coralline grows faster than it can eat it!

[mojoreef]

thats why, lol


Mike

[Woodstock]

hehehe... well, it needs a hair cut before it goes into the main tank

[prow]

interesting. maybe i will put an urchin in my sump. dont like them in the main tank they always knock my rocks over. and yup my tank started a big cycle. everything is all over. my Ca+=468, dkh=12, ph=8.0, NO3=10, NO2=0.5, NH3=was off the chart yesterday now 0.8ish(dose with ammolock). started doing 10gal water changes daily. o and yes i am using RO/DI water. salinity is 1.025. the fish are not showing any signs of distress yet. i decided to take out a few peices of rock and put it in a small tank with a powerhead and heater and leave it outside in the sun till my tank finishes cycling(tanks 2 months old should be a quick cycle) and i get my lights in 4 months. so at least if the cycling kills all of it i will have a few pieces to seed later. F.Y.I. i added the CaCl2 just to balance the dkh and Ca. which it is now balanced. its only been a week but i have seen some of the green coraline start to grow. the red is slowly going away. at first i did not want the green but seeing it in the tank wow it is really bright green(lime flourescent). i wonder how it will look with a bunch of corals. i have never seen this bright green coraline before. thanks for the help.

[prow]

just a update on my tank. cycling fast. ph=8.1, NH3=0, NO3=0.3, NO2=20. F.Y.I. i do all my testing right before water changes. today will be last day for 10gal water change reduce to 5gal for next couple of days then weekly 5gal forever. the green coralline is still alive and doing good in the big tank. decide not to set up the tank out sie even though it was a good idea. instead i put a couple pieces in the sump have 18watt T5 light in refugium and put couple pieces where the pumps are with a i8watt T8 light. hope i grow different kind in each see what light grows what. well until next time cya.

[Woodstock]

Upload some pics when you get a chance

Uploading Photos to RS

[prow]

will be uploading some pics as soon as i find or replace my flash disk. have many pics from start of project everything is DIY almost. stand, sump modified the tank overflow cant wait to show you guys and girls. have another question on the tank. water stuff is as follows: temp=78, sal=1.024, dkh=11, ph=8.1, Nh3=0, No2=0, No3=less than 10. Ca+444 (did raise it to 460 as noted in original post actually it was 468 with dkh close to 14) my question is about the ph. it is my understanding that because the Ca+ and dkh are both high a ph of 8.0 is excpected. i think i should just let it run. or should i use something to bring up the ph? any thoughts on this. by they way the coraline (the green) is starting to take hold red is almost gone from sight there is a little tiny bit here and there.

[Newt]

You should record your progress in the Chronicle section, and post lots of pictures, we all love pictures!

[gussy]

If you don't have enough coralline to start with I think the urchin will wipe them totally out. It did on my 24G tank. Make sure the urchin is really small.

Another way to get multi-colored coralline is to buy some garf grunge from garf. You can read more about it at their website.

[prow]

i know about garf but have heard that their products are not all that good. not going with the urchin just dont like them. the coraline i have has grown a lot. but it only the green stuff. getting another atinic light next week hope it will help with the red coraline. i like the green and red mix look but starting to think i can not have both because of lighting needs for each type. green might be good have never seen a tank with it before (as the dominate coraline). i think i just dont like it because it reminds me of the bad green algaes out there. although much much more bright green. i think if i use the grundge i will end up with all purple, have you seen any different results with the garf stuff.(long term results)

[prow]

just updating. thanks for the help everyone. i have coraline starting to really grow now. many colors. purple real dark and a lighter kind , orange, pink, darker red, lime green, flourescent green and turquoise. all these are growing with the 2 40watt T12 lights, one atinic and one 20000k day light, both are coralife bulbs. never did add Mg. just keeping the Ca+ at 430ish and dkh at 9-10. still have not yet got the flash disk to up load pic. but well be soon.

[Jiddy]

This is what i did, since i bought LR that was full of brown nasty algae, i used 2 big mexican turbo snails, they eat the brown algae at incredible speeds, this leaves the space for coralline that the snails dont eat, and yes calcium levels and light is what is goin to keep it growin