Corraline Algae

[Reggie7]

Thanks everybody for your encouragement dealing with my live rock. I came to the realization that I haven't killed my rock. Since it is alive, I've noticed that there's very little corraline algae. I know that corraline growth is related to watre quality. I've been monitoring, changing, and treating water pretty well. I've had my 24g Nano cube running since January and I still don't see the corraline growth. Does anyone have any tips?

[lcstorc]

How do your water tests look?
Particularly calc and alk but the others play a part as well. Also what kind of lighting and flow do you have?
It probably just needs more time, but coraline does like calcium and light. I had plenty to begin with and then upgraded my lighting to mh. Now I can hardly keep the glass clean.

[Cougra]

I agree with Lynn, lighting, calcium and alk play a big part in getting the coraline to grow. However, be careful what you wish for because once it starts it spreads EVERYWHERE very quickly!

Post you waters test results including:
Salinity, temp, calcium, alk, phosphate,ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH.

We'll see if we can help you figure out how to get the plague...I mean coraline started. Also, sometimes if you play with the tank too much and keep changing the water, especially in a smaller tank the water parameters don't have time to stablize.
How often do you do water changes?
How much water do you change at a time?
Perhaps if you did larger water changes less often it'll give your tank time to stablize and the coraline will start to grow, provided all the other water parameters are in order.

[duke1231]

Not to inturrupt, but what is the % of water change for nano, averge?

[justsunnie]

I usually change about 10-15% give or take. 1-2g for my 12g every week or two (usually every two).

[sandman3467]

So long as your water quality is in the green you can speed up the development of corraline algae by directing the flow of a powerhead directly to a piece of liverock that has a substantial amount of growth on it.But in a previous topic I answered this question the same.It can take any where between 2-8 months to see any type of result in growth......but it really all depends on water quality being right through-out the time period and the amount of spores the algae release to colonize and grow some place else.

[iluvzigz]

corraline takes time to form .Dont rush ANYTHING in your saltwater tank. 3 months is very long . Give it some more time. Good luck

[cheeks69]

The most important thing for corraline growth IME is consistent cal/alk levels and low nutrient levels. What are you using to maintain these levels ? Are you dripping kalkwasser ? Do you have any macro algae problems ? What are your nitrate/phosphate levels ?

[brian_e]

now u guys always say the lights make it grow but i have a frag tank with a shop lite over it with the same bulbs that came with it 2 years ago and my frag tank is full of Corraline Algae

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by brian_e

now u guys always say the lights make it grow but i have a frag tank with a shop lite over it with the same bulbs that came with it 2 years ago and my frag tank is full of Corraline Algae

Maybe you're just lucky?

[Cougra]

I've also noticed that once you get a bit, try killing it by scraping it off the surface it's on! The harder you scrape it and the more you try to get rid of the stuff the faster it grows and spreads! Each little piece that you scrape off will settle somewhere and start growing from there. Before you realise it you'll be overrun with the stuff and your equipment will be cemented over!

[iluvzigz]

Originally Posted by brian_e

now u guys always say the lights make it grow but i have a frag tank with a shop lite over it with the same bulbs that came with it 2 years ago and my frag tank is full of Corraline Algae

i have a tank run of pc's that was loading with corraline.

[sandman3467]

Originally Posted by Cougra

I've also noticed that once you get a bit, try killing it by scraping it off the surface it's on! The harder you scrape it and the more you try to get rid of the stuff the faster it grows and spreads! Each little piece that you scrape off will settle somewhere and start growing from there. Before you realise it you'll be overrun with the stuff and your equipment will be cemented over!

Your not actually killing the corraline when you scrape it off Cougra. Your speeding up the seeding process of the spores to recolonize other areas much more quickly.

[kyrie_eleison]

Reggie,

This is what I recommend you know and eventually do:

First off, coralline algae is NOT entirely photosynthetic (BIG misunderstanding by alot of people). You don't REALLY need a powerful light source to encourage coralline growth. You need a starting point. Coralline isn't only red; it can be green too. So, you might already have it in your system and you just didn't know it. When I said starting point, the best way to begin is to find it from an outside source. Believe it or not; I got my coralline growth from a TURBO SNAIL! The coralline algae spores are FAST spreading! And, I do mean fast.

Second, I would say that water quality is important to an extent; especially since...high phosphates are bad because you need to discourage the growth of nuissance algae in exchange for good coralline. What that means is if you have a problem with hair algae in a particular area, you're not going to encourage coralline growth until you rid your tank of the hair problem. Best thing to do? Believe it or not, turbo snails, hermit crabs, a cowry, sea hare, a few emerald crabs and a sally lightfoot will solve that problem. They eat that stuff! AND? One of them is bound to have coralline growing on their shell somewhere. Well...with the exception of the sea hair of course. Once you've decimated the nuissance algae; you might start seeing a growth of coralline.

Third, a good quality salt mix matters. Seachem makes the best in my opinion. Their products are true to their price range. They have tons of the trace minerals similar to that found in ocean water and then some.

Fourth thing, IF you have a protein skimmer on your nano...get rid of it. There's nothing written in stone that says a protein skimmer is the answer to all problems. Believe it or not, if you do two things regularly...you'll never go back to a skimmer. Just change 10% every other day which is like...3 or 4 full drinking cups and top it off when it needs it, you'll be fine. Skimmers rob the water of all sorts of minerals; minerals such as calcium that encourage ALL sorts of beneficial growth. And if you have a skimmer that is way bigger than what meant for your tank, then you'll probably never see coralline growth in your tank ever. Well, that's not true but trust me...I know.

To prove this? My nano-reef has been running for so long...I don't even remember when I started it. It's only 8 gallons and has PC lights; no skimmer; just a small bag of carbon in the filter with very light water movement. That's it! I've got coralline all over my rocks and filter--both green and red. The only thing I test is the specific gravity of the water. I don't even test for pH, NH3, NO2 or NO3, Ca or Alk anymore. I just change 10% every other day and top it off when it needs it. That's it.

[BigAl07]

You make some excellent remarks here kyrie_eleison. I don't skim either one of my tanks and the one I started in January of this year is really coming along nicely with red coralline. I got mine started by placing some snails that were really covered with it along with some very nicely covered smaller pieces of LR from LFS. His LR is so expensive I have to be VERY picky about which rock to get. I chose the ones with the most potential and it looks like it's paying off. I don't do a WC as often as you but I do it weekly.

I think if water quality is up there and there isn't an outbreak of nusciance algae then we just need to introduce some additional coralline contributors to the tank (snails or coralline covered smaller rock as "Accent" pieces).

Allen