The Secret to Coralline

[rjjr1963]

My tank has been running a little over a year and I've been seeding with coralline for about two months. Unfortunately whatever starts growing eventually turns white and dies.

Salinity: 1.025
PH 8.1
Alk 7.9
Mg: 1,325
Ca: 425
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate .07

I run a UV Sterilizer could that be causing a problem? I've been battling Dino's but have that problem resolved.

[mb167204]

Couple years ago I lived in Florida and had a tank. Being close to the water I just used natural sea water. I had corralline everywhere in my tank within a month.

Fast forward to now. My new tank is about a month old and not a speck of coralline. Let me know if you figure it out.

[jorahx]

Following!

My tanks a few months old and I see a couple small circles of coralline. But not much.


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[tlc]

i have a uv on my system. loads of corraline in my tank so i dont think uv is the problem. what kind of lighting do you have ?

[Mozby]

I’d be keen on knowing this as well!


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[ramseynb]

I’m having the same issue and can’t seem to find why. I wonder if it’s intense lighting but I’ve used the same light before and coralline spread a lot faster IIRC. I’ve always heard that high mag will cause a coralline explosion but my mag levels are about 1500 so I dunno. I’m thinking about trying purple up or something similar even though I’ve always felt like it was snake oil.

EDIT: maybe not snake oil, but a couple tablespoons of kalk mixed with RO water and maybe some mag.

[Scott07]

I have a pretty noticeable line going across the back of my tank.... coralline grows like nuts below it, but does not grow noticeably above it. This leads me to believe lighting intensity must play a decent role. OP, if you don't have a reason not to do so.... I might try raising your light 6 inches, giving it a month or two, and see if you notice more growth.

[cilyjr]

People often say with low magnesium coraline algae has a tough time. I've also noticed that often those with led light have a slower time of it. I would guess it's due to the lack of spread.

[mcgyvr]

The secret is no one knows the secret.. But don't tell anyone..

I'm one thats happy as can be when I don't have coralline.. Its annoying from a maintenance perspective as well as unsightly to me..

If I wanted a hobby loaded with purple/pink stuff I would have just started a unicorn farm..

[RioReefr]

I had researched this and everything I had read stated you have to keep phosphates (most important)/nitrates as close to 0 as possible. That is very hard to do IMO unless you have some kind of GFO reactor. Also, If you are seeing other algae types like GHA then you will not see coralline (at least not initially). Even if you are chopping off the coralline dust, it is being out-competed by the algae and won't survive. I do not remember where I saw it, but supposedly the "ideal" dKh is 8.4 with higher calcium (430-450), higher magnesium (1350-1500). Keeping everything stable including pH, temperature, salinity, lighting were ultimately the keys to success. Basically trying to make your water like natural seawater and keeping the same parameters.

My tank is small (32G), so it is hard for me to keep everything stable. I just recently started using an ATO w/kalkwasser which has stabilized things -- for the most part my Ca/dKh are steady and I've noticed the phosphates are lower. I do not have coralline algae except on some coral frags I had purchased. It has not spread though nor turned white.

General article on coralline algae:

https://www.thespruce.com/grow-coral...uarium-2924027

[ClownNut]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

The secret is no one knows the secret.. But don't tell anyone..

I'm one thats happy as can be when I don't have coralline.. Its annoying from a maintenance perspective as well as unsightly to me..

If I wanted a hobby loaded with purple/pink stuff I would have just started a unicorn farm..

cant agreed more.
if you find a secret how not to grow coralline algae. please share.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by ClownNut

cant agreed more.
if you find a secret how not to grow coralline algae. please share.

Well.. I specifically employ an urchin in my tank as an attempt to keep coralline at bay.. seems to be working great so far..
He (or she) chomps away at it..

[crawlerman]

I have coralline in my tank, but not crazy amount on the rocks. It's more on the glass and lower rocks. In my sump under a cheap home depot grow light my rocks are completely covered. So my thought is light intensity.

[d0ughb0y]

I don't get what's the attraction to coraline.
A while back there was a thread of before and after pictures of tanks with coraline and same tank after coraline been scraped and cleaned off. and everyone's consensus is no coraline looks better.

[StinkerTinker]

I found over the years that the best method is to get frags or rocks from differing places and that gives you different types of coraline then just purple. Maybe you'll get pink, red, etc... Obvious quarantine those rocks before putting in your main. Nothing like a nasty Aiptasia outbreak. Also keeping your dkh levels up doesn't hurt either. Best of luck!

[Volcmreefer]

I run UV and have corraline growth. Bought some Arc Reef Helix about a month ago. Dosed it about 3 weeks ago and the corraline took off! Not sure how much it really worked because I started dosing Aquaforest Components 1,2,3 around the same time.

https://arcreef.com/product/coralline-algae/

[rjjr1963]

Kinda strange. I have a 20 gallon long I use to QT fish and corals. It has a HOB and the only thing I do is change water about once a month. Coralline grows like crazy and will completely cover a new rock in about 6 months. I don't even test the water.

[Tripod1404]

Originally Posted by d0ughb0y

I don't get what's the attraction to coraline.
A while back there was a thread of before and after pictures of tanks with coraline and same tank after coraline been scraped and cleaned off. and everyone's consensus is no coraline looks better.

I kinda agree. The moment it starts to grow on glass and power heads, you will lose your love for it. It is also a major alk, Ca and Mg hog.

The only major benefit it has that it reduces the growth of more nuisance algae such as GHA by competing with ot for nutrients and a place to grow on.

[mcgyvr]

I've also wondered if coralline algae is detrimental if allowed to build up over time on rocks in that it blocks the pores on the live rock and thus potentially reduces the porosity of the rock leading to a loss of bacterial surface over time as well as suffocating low oxygen areas,etc.... by completely blocking the flow of water/oxygen,etc... Those areas I believe are the key to the final stages of the denitrification process (nitrate to gas that bubbles up/out of the tank)
Can it be such a barrier?

[ramseynb]

I like the look of it on my rock. It just adds more color to the tank and I think it helps limit "ugly" algae. For example, while I'm getting some coralline growth, my rock is mostly greenish looking (tanks only been back up 3 months and I started with dry rock and a couple of seed rocks). It's not that big of a deal to scrape off the glass to me. I already have to clean the glass and I use a "Flipper" mag cleaner so it scrapes right off. Back in the day, it was a pain trying to use a hand scrapper and regular mag float. I also bought one of these guys to clean the back of the glass off:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works great and hasn't rusted so far (*fingers crossed*)! Since I use a safety razor to shave, I already have a ton of blades I can use for it. Even if I didn't wet shave, you can buy a 100 pack of double ended blades for like $10 or less.

For my power heads, a quick soak in a vinegar water solution is easy enough. Right now, mine are covered in a brown layer of algae anyway.

I will agree it'll use up the big three, but if you have a lot of LPS or SPS chances are you're going to have to supplement those anyway. Compared to everything else in the hobby, kalk or even two-part is pretty cheap. Of course, I say that with about 50G total water volume. :P

[Tripod1404]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

I've also wondered if coralline algae is detrimental if allowed to build up over time on rocks in that it blocks the pores on the live rock and thus potentially reduces the porosity of the rock leading to a loss of bacterial surface over time as well as suffocating low oxygen areas,etc.... by completely blocking the flow of water/oxygen,etc... Those areas I believe are the key to the final stages of the denitrification process (nitrate to gas that bubbles up/out of the tank)
Can it be such a barrier?

I would guess so. It would be the case at least for the light facing rocks. It might be one of the factors of the "old tank syndrome". One key sign of old tank syndrome is the drop in tanks ability to handle nutrients.

This is why I like urchins. Although they bulldoze their way and mine chewed the cable of a power head two times :/

[cody6766]

My tanks with lower light always grew coraline better than tanks with higher light. Tanks with MH and/or T5s grew it MUCH better than any tank under LEDs that I've seen. It's nice when cleaning the glass, but not as nice with respect to filling empty space on the rocks.

[ramseynb]

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

I would guess so. It would be the case at least for the light facing rocks. It might be one of the factors of the "old tank syndrome". One key sign of old tank syndrome is the drop in tanks ability to handle nutrients.

This is why I like urchins. Although they bulldoze their way and mine chewed the cable of a power head two times :/

Yeah, I had urchins that straight up ate some of the silicone in the corners of my tank. I also had a pencil urchin eat through a good sized monti cap. In it's defense, I didn't know what the hell I was doing with regards to SPS at the time and I think the cap was on it's way out. But yeah, they're like the goats of reef tanks.

EDIT: OH YEAH! And eat some plastic off of my power heads!

[jiminy_crime]

OP....I had the same issue with my tank.

I originally had a small tank half the size of my current tank and I could grow coralline algae like a weed in that tank. On this tank I used Kalkwasser.

On my new tank RSR350, it has been up and running for 14 months and could never get coralline to grow. I have been using 2 part with dosers.

In the last 4 weeks I switched back to Kalkwasser and surprise-surprise, I have pink coralline spreading all over the back of my glass. I also had a little GHA and it is slowly disappearing too.

Every time I go to my LFS he tells me Kalk is old school and to stick with dosers but so far I can’t see how you can run a tank without Kalk. I like the 2 part for corrections that need to be made by for stability Kalk is king.

I get to keep my pH around 8.2 now as before I was around a 7.9.

Might try using Kalk in your ATO and try using it to feed your Alk/Ca needs.


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[ramseynb]

Originally Posted by jiminy_crime

OP....I had the same issue with my tank.

I originally had a small tank half the size of my current tank and I could grow coralline algae like a weed in that tank. On this tank I used Kalkwasser.

On my new tank RSR350, it has been up and running for 14 months and could never get coralline to grow. I have been using 2 part with dosers.

In the last 4 weeks I switched back to Kalkwasser and surprise-surprise, I have pink coralline spreading all over the back of my glass. I also had a little GHA and it is slowly disappearing too.

Every time I go to my LFS he tells me Kalk is old school and to stick with dosers but so far I can’t see how you can run a tank without Kalk. I like the 2 part for corrections that need to be made by for stability Kalk is king.

I get to keep my pH around 8.2 now as before I was around a 7.9.

Might try using Kalk in your ATO and try using it to feed your Alk/Ca needs.


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The most success I’ve had in a tank was when I was using kalk and then dosing two-part when kalk alone was not enough. Old school or not, I’m s big fan of kalk dosing. On my new build, I’m just waiting to have the need and I’ll be adding kalk again. I already have the reactor plumbed into my ATO. My tank just needs time to mature (started with dry rock so I only have some LPS ATM) and my wallet needs more green paper to start buying some SPS frags. Currently, my alk is running at about 7dKH and calcium and magnesium are very high - over 500ppm and over 1500 ppm so I’m thinking I should hold off adding any kalk.