Coraline Algae

[TREXRC]

Of late I am getting a lot of coraline algae build up everywhere - back glass, heater, powerhead.. I mean everywhere.

Is this good or bad? Is this normal or abnormal? Is there a fix to reduce this? I have reef with soft corals.

Thanks.

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

It's a good sign that your water is relatively nutrient-free, and probably good that the beautiful purple is going to grace your tank. It's a bad sign that you will soon need a beefier CA/ALK supplementation scheme (check your ALK constantly during massive coraline growth), and that you will now be a glass scraper in addition to a water changer. The only way to stop it is to let phosphate and nitrate into your water -- that's definitely worse. Urchins will eat it, but in doing so usually spread the spores enough that it comes back stronger.

All things equal, I wish the stuff didn't grow personally.

 

[PoukieBear]

This is totaly normal. You should feel lucky that the stuff is starting to spread. Most people have a hard time getting it to spread of cover thier rocks.

If you have it on your glass, you can take a razor blade, or an old credit card (for the more clumsy people) and scrape it off if you don't want it.

 

[TREXRC]

Will scraping it off create a problem for my fish and corals? Will it contaminate the water since it will get cloudy? Or should I do a 4" square inch at a time in my 46 gal tank?

 

[coogarts]

It's just my personal thing, but I can't wait for my tank walls to get overrun by coraline algae. I get very excited every time I see a new patch starting to spread out.

 

[RLMainers]

We have it all over our glass and rocks, and it grows like crazy. I scrape the front & 1/2 back on the side glass and leave it growing everywhere else. It hides the walls behind the tank and looks more natural to me. It's not harmful for your tank if you scrape it off, though. Just a personal preference if you want it or not. It is a good sign, though!

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

It's not going to harm your tank to scrape it all at once. The only precaution is when it gets heavy and caked you can scrape pieces that will clog plumbing. I've done that once.

Keep doing what you're doing, coraline growth indicates that you've got a good handle on exporting nutrients...

Also, can't tell if your tank is glass or acrylic. If glass, razor blade is the king, just be careful around your silicone. If acrylic, even a credit card can scratch it so go sloooooooooooooowly.

 

[LonelyAlgae]

feel good, also means your CA level is high/good as well

 

[chuckdickson]

My tank seems to get really clear in the few days after I scrape my front glass. I would suggest keeping up with it, if you let it go to long It can be a lot harder to get off.