bigcheese007
New member
I have had my reef tank established for over a year now and I have very little coraline alge growing. How can I get more to grow?
coraline growth
- Thread starter bigcheese007
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pistonfister
New member
Has anyone tried any of the specif coraline supliments ?
You don't need much light to grow coralline, in fact if your tank is very brightly lit that will inhibit the growth of coralline algae. Most species prefer lower light. You might have more growth in hard to see places like the undersides of rocks (not the parts buried in the substrate.) Just keep your Ca/KH in range. Don't waste your money on any coralline specific additives. PO4 inhibits calcification, but if you had a big PO4 problem you would be posting about non-coralline algae growth.
MH lighting, frequent water changes 10% every week and good reef salt, and a good lump of LR with coralline growth on it and your laughing!
it will take a while and you will see small specks on the glass.
make sure you have very good flow in your tank too! this helps.
keep an eye on all the levels as normal, ph, sg (1.024 - 1.036), etc
it will take a while and you will see small specks on the glass.
make sure you have very good flow in your tank too! this helps.
keep an eye on all the levels as normal, ph, sg (1.024 - 1.036), etc
Interesting ideas here
Some good information and some I'm not sure about:lol:
I think nikon meant 1.026
Pistonfisher: Basically those supplements are voodoo... They have things you can't measure for in them and can through the alk/ca balance out a whack. Better to find a ca/alk supplementation routine that works for you and use it. Quit looking at the voodoo reef products on the market, you don't need them
burris made a good points and I echo little or no light is needed to grow coraline.
It's a curse IMO you want it at first but after a year or two of scraping it, you no longer like it anywhere but on the rocks:lol:
Some good information and some I'm not sure about:lol:I think nikon meant 1.026
Pistonfisher: Basically those supplements are voodoo... They have things you can't measure for in them and can through the alk/ca balance out a whack. Better to find a ca/alk supplementation routine that works for you and use it. Quit looking at the voodoo reef products on the market, you don't need them
burris made a good points and I echo little or no light is needed to grow coraline.
It's a curse IMO you want it at first but after a year or two of scraping it, you no longer like it anywhere but on the rocks:lol:
Sepeku
New member
Yah, I doubt Metal Halide is needed at all.
My eclipse tank had just an acintic flourescent bulb in it with my negligence and I couldn't scrape the coraline off fast enough.
Now my 210 is almost solely metal halide and, suprise suprise, coraline barely grows at all unless the parameters are spot on.
My eclipse tank had just an acintic flourescent bulb in it with my negligence and I couldn't scrape the coraline off fast enough.
Now my 210 is almost solely metal halide and, suprise suprise, coraline barely grows at all unless the parameters are spot on.
Alaska_Phil
New member
I have just fluorescents over my 50 gal and the coraline is rapidly covering my glass and plastics. I'm using 2x55W 10,000k PC and 1x32W NO. Actinic. So it definitly doesn't require metal halides, but mine seems to be a more pale compared to the dark purple I've seen under metal halide. That may be related to chemistry not light though.
Soon as I got my Ca and Alk dialed in it took off, despite still having high phosphates. I was using a salt mix that resulted in very low alk, once I switched brands it started growing. Now if I could just get it to grow on the rocks now...:lol:
Phil
aquarius77
In Memoriam
When my alk fell out on me my coraline exploded. I am wondering if it likes a lower alk enviroment. I was running 11 dkh and it had dropped down below 8.
akaatomic
New member
From my experience, I'll get a lot of spotting on everything and then it suddenly stops. I check my cal and it's dropped down below 400. It seems like it uses up my calcium furiously for a few days and stops growing until I dose my cal back up around 440-460. Then it speeds up again. I would imaging that if I regulated my cal to maintain level (along with alk and mag) that I would see much steadier growth. A similar pattern might be happening to you, you're just running out of cal (or another element) faster.
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