Help....No Coraline Algae to Speak Of

[beginnersluckpg]

OK here it goes, i cant seem to grow any coraline on the rock and for that matter the coraline that was once on my overflow and glass is pale and not expanding. My water parameters are temp 79, calcium 410, mag 1400 and kh is 7.5 Theres a couple of photos for you to see i apoligize for there quality still learning how to take pics........


Any help would be greatly apreciated..........

[Aquattro]

Lucky! I'd love to get rid of the pesky coralline!! :razz:

[marie]

Count you blessings, coralline algae is highly overrated :mrgreen:

[Lance]

Count you blessings, coralline algae is highly overrated :mrgreen:



+1

[dreef]

I never have a spot on my glass,darn fuzzy sticks suck the life out of my water.

[daniella3d]

I bearely have any growing, and my SPS grow super fast, so I am happy. I consider myself lucky and I don't want any. When I see it I remove it and I soak my pumps in fresh water to get rid of the tiny bit that grow on them.

So from my point of vue you are lucky :)

[Son Of Skyline]

What kind of lighting do you have? Did the coraline grow previously and then stop growing or did it never grow at all since you started the tank?

[beginnersluckpg]

It grew before I changed the lights, I have 2 250 mh and 4 t5s. The lights I purchased from a friend whose rock is covered in coraline, I'm not worried about it showing on the glass, I do get a bit of real pale stuff on the glass but nothing on rocks at all. I'm more concerned with the rock, makes me winder what I'm missing

[Aquattro]

Personally, I think excessive coralline growth on the rock could interfere with it's capacity to filter, due to interference in porosity. This is just a theory I made up, but it makes sense to me. So not having coralline on my rock is good.
I've always tried to not have it, so can't really offer any advice if you want it on purpose :)

[beginnersluckpg]

I agree with all of your posts however what I'm wondering is if my reef tank is lacking something. Everyone tries not to get it and they do, I'm doing everything the same or similar and have none. Just worried that I'm missing something or Doin something wrong.

[daniella3d]

I don't have a trace of coralline growing on my totoka rock, not even a little bit of it. I also have a fiji rock that is full of it. So my guess is that some type of rock is not really compatible with coralline?

Anyway why worry that your reef is lacking something if your parameters are good and your coral are growing well? I too beleive that having coralline on liverock can impair its property to filter and block the deep pores.

I agree with all of your posts however what I'm wondering is if my reef tank is lacking something. Everyone tries not to get it and they do, I'm doing everything the same or similar and have none. Just worried that I'm missing something or Doin something wrong.

[Madreefer]

You guys dont get the question. Maybe he wants the coralline. Some of us like it. I tried to help him and I dunno why it's not growing on his rocks. I'd like to know the answer to this as well. Had this question been about a weed like GSP or anthelia he would have had the answer right away. He has tonga rock and fiji rock. We have bought rock together and it grows great in my tank but not his. I put a rock from his tank in my display and refugium and both will be purple within a couple of weeks. And those are 5-10lb rocks.

[Aquattro]

I agree with all of your posts however what I'm wondering is if my reef tank is lacking something. Everyone tries not to get it and they do, I'm doing everything the same or similar and have none. Just worried that I'm missing something or Doin something wrong.

I guess the simple answer is yes. You're missing whatever the other tanks have. Now a better questions is " Does it matter?"
If your tank is healthy, corals growing, measurable parameters are in check, then you don't need to go looking for problems. The answer to the part about doing something wrong is then "no"
If for some reason you really do want to have that stuff on your rock, there are supplements others have claimed work well.

[Aquattro]

You guys dont get the question. Maybe he wants the coralline. Some of us like it. I tried to help him and I dunno why it's not growing on his rocks. I'd like to know the answer to this as well. Had this question been about a weed like GSP or anthelia he would have had the answer right away. He has tonga rock and fiji rock. We have bought rock together and it grows great in my tank but not his. I put a rock from his tank in my display and refugium and both will be purple within a couple of weeks. And those are 5-10lb rocks.

What I would do then, is take the rock back to his tank, scrape off all the coralline and let the spores spread through the tank. That will often help seed the rest of the surfaces.

[marie]

What everyone forgets is that coralline algae is an ALGAE. It needs what all algae needs plus it sucks up all your calcium, alk and Mg.

If you want coralline algae give it nutrients and light without competition and it will grow. You get darker reds and purples with lower or bluer light and the pale pinks and lavender with brighter yellower light

[Aquattro]

What everyone forgets is that coralline algae is an ALGAE. It needs what all algae needs plus it sucks up all your calcium, alk and Mg.



True!

[Hustler]

Well i dont have many corals at all and im using reef crystals salt and my coraline growth is pretty good....
AND... up untill this post i thought this was a good thing....?
Thats what i was told to look for when buying my live rock so ive got a good 70% of it lol now what I have to start chisling it off???

[Aquattro]

Thats what i was told to look for when buying my live rock so ive got a good 70% of it lol now what I have to start chisling it off???

lol! Like I said, it just something that I've come up with in my head, no proof at all, so don't go chiseling on my account :)
But, as Marie stated, it is algae, and creating an environment where it grows means other algae might grow well also.
Looking back, years ago my 150g had sheets upon sheets of this stuff growing everywhere. I also had very brown corals.
Current tank, not a lot of coralline, lots of coral color. Dunno, connected?

[Madreefer]

That's just their opinions. It's not bad. I run a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor, so in my case I'm not too worried about it stripping ca or mg from my tank. To each their own. I like it.

[paddyob]

I personally like Coraline. The nicest tanks out there IMO are covered in it.

Coraline is not like hair algaes and what not and should not be bulked into the same category. Everyone has opinions and overall, Coraline is found on more premium rock than not. Coincidence? Probably not.

Good luck.

Don't let some opinions scare you. To each their own.

[Aquattro]

It's not bad. I run a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor, so in my case I'm not too worried about it stripping ca or mg from my tank. To each their own. I like it.

Also, to note, when I had the most coralline in my tank, the corals also grew faster than ever. So agreed, I wouldn't worry about it stripping anything from the tank. and who knows, as an algae, it may bind nutrients and help corals grow.
Any of the bad thoughts on it are indeed just opinion...

[paddyob]

What everyone forgets is that coralline algae is an ALGAE. It needs what all algae needs plus it sucks up all your calcium, alk and Mg.

If you want coralline algae give it nutrients and light without competition and it will grow. You get darker reds and purples with lower or bluer light and the pale pinks and lavender with brighter yellower light

I have no detectable nutrients in my tank. If it requires all rhe same as hair algae etc then theoretically it should be dead in my tank cause I don't have any other algaes. Funny.

Pretty sure it's more calcium dependent and so on.

I would like to see more than an opinion on this topic since it came up. I have yet to hear anyone call it nuisance algae. Until now.

Any scientists out there. Lol.

[Aquattro]

I would like to see more than an opinion on this topic since it came up. I have yet to hear anyone call it nuisance algae. Until now.



I was just thinking the same thing. I can't recall ever seeing any articles on the topic.
I'm not sure I'd call it a nuisance algae either. If suddenly all my rocks started turning purple, I wouldn't worry about it.
I may even have some on my rock, I've just never really given it much attention..

[Hustler]

My tank is almost all purple... dont scare me like that LOL
Im not focusing on corals so I was going to keep using the reef crystals just for the coraline lol looks better than white rock to me and thats as far as i think ill think about it lol :)

[marie]

Ok, I never said it was undesirable lol.

It is the best indicator of a tank that is perfect for sps to grow.....if you have a large amount of nutrients then you get nuisance algae and cyano..... the coralline can't compete with those nutrient suckers but a small amount of nutrients means your sps are being fed and the coralline is picking up the excess

[paddyob]

I was just thinking the same thing. I can't recall ever seeing any articles on the topic.
I'm not sure I'd call it a nuisance algae either. If suddenly all my rocks started turning purple, I wouldn't worry about it.
I may even have some on my rock, I've just never really given it much attention..

I meant to say putting it in the same category with nuisance algaes.

And Marie I see what you are saying when you put it that way.

[Beverly]

I love coralline algae! To me, it's the sign of a healthy tank, but that's just my opinion.

My 10g has only been up for about 7 weeks. The rock cured quickly and is now starting to colour up. The colours I'm getting are various shades of green (not nuisance algae) and reds, pinks and purples - but only in small amounts in various places throughout the tank. But I'm thrilled to watch it grow and add colour to my tank :)

I do weekly 20% water changes, siphon out as much detritus from the bare bottom (easy to do with a 10g) and thoroughly clean the filter foam. Water is tapwater treated with Prime. I don't dose anything except for old-fashioned kalk drips (with store-bought RO) at night, but am thinking of dosing iodine and strontium for my zoas, mushrooms, LPS corals - which will probably help with the coralline too.

[marie]

This is the reason I consider coralline algae a nuisance

I bought 2 tunze powerheads at a boxing day sale a few years ago and this pic was taken in march .....3 months later

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/mariesnell/march0509026.jpg

[daniella3d]

no not really. I had tons of algae in my tank and had 0 detectible nitrates or phosphates. It simply consumed it all before I could even get enough in the water to record.

The caulerpa was growing very fast.

so depending if you have something consumming the nitrates fast, you cannot be sure that there is none just because you see none in your test.

I call it nuisance because it does incrust on pumps and it is hard to remove, plus I think it looks dirty on glass...of course it is an opinion :)


I have no detectable nutrients in my tank. If it requires all rhe same as hair algae etc then theoretically it should be dead in my tank cause I don't have any other algaes. Funny.

[beginnersluckpg]

Nice to see an actual conversation/discussion started here. My cheato in my refugium grows well. But no hair algae so it's obviously doing it's job, I think it must be calcium related as well. Did another test today 390 so it is a little low, going to slowly bring that up and maintain it at a higher level and see if that has anything to do with it. Also with the new brighter lights and some minor signs of bleaching in a few of the corals I cut my mh back an hour until colors stabilize and then I'll start to increase it again. Keep it going tho maybe well figure this out.