Coralline algae question!

[foundnemo11]

Hello I have a question about coralline algae in my tank. All of my rocks lack coralline growth, all of my rock is grey. I've have good growth on all of my sps and lps corals and coralline covered on all of my power heads, overflow, and return. Yet nothing on my rocks. My tank is definately mature and I have photon 48 LEDS which are very powerful.

What could be causing this? maybe pests that eat it? Does anyone else have a problem similar

My tank is stable and healthy. No algae other than a light coating on the glass every few days.

 

[Docdiggy]

I used to have a freakish amount when I used 36 3w Leds only. Once I switched to t5 my rock has very little and a grayish white. All corals are good here too. I blame too much light.

 

[whosurcaddie]

It's definitely too much light. I bet the underside of the rock in the shade is well encrusted. Not a bad thing though don't go changing your lighting just cause you cant grow coraline. Grow corals instead.:thumbsup:

 

[foundnemo11]

That sounds about right I guess. Definately getting good coral growth

 

[whosurcaddie]

It's beautiful dude.

 

[wildman926]

That sounds about right I guess. Definately getting good coral growth

Here you go...

 

[BioCubeGuy]

Coralline grows with Actinic light. Too much white light will bleach/kill it.

 

[foundnemo11]

also have a photon 48.. i use way more blues then white

Yeah me too. I don't think lighting is the problem really because I have coralline on all everything else just not rocks

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

maybe there is a layow or coating of slime or algea on the rock that is preventing the coralline from spreading there? you could try giving the rocks a rub with your hands to wipe off any film of slime. You can then turn off your filter for an hour or so and scrape off some of the other coralline to get it to spread to new places, hopefuly on the rock. It worked for me, I have lots of spots of blood red coralline growing on my base rock now. I noticed it after a week after I did that. May or may not work for everyone.

 

[Reefer4evaa]

What's your alkalinity and calcium at?that plays a big role in the growth besides the light

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

That's true, but he said he has good coralline growth elsewhere in the tank, so I would say his alk and calcium are good.

I think I remember reading that coraline loves to grow on smooth surfaces, like glass and plastic. Maybe that has something to do with it? it may just start slower on the rock than you're unnaturaly smooth surfaces.

 

[fifthtoe]

Is your stock list current? You have no urchins right?

 

[foundnemo11]

Yeah it's current minus a mandarin dragonet.. I do have some asterina starfish.. Maybe they are eating it on the rocks? My overflow and power heads are all covered tho so why wouldn't they eat if off that

 

[foundnemo11]

What's your alkalinity and calcium at?that plays a big role in the growth besides the light

My parameters Are all stable and perfect

 

[foundnemo11]

maybe there is a layow or coating of slime or algea on the rock that is preventing the coralline from spreading there? you could try giving the rocks a rub with your hands to wipe off any film of slime. You can then turn off your filter for an hour or so and scrape off some of the other coralline to get it to spread to new places, hopefuly on the rock. It worked for me, I have lots of spots of blood red coralline growing on my base rock now. I noticed it after a week after I did that. May or may not work for everyone.

No algae on the rocks.. I have literally zero algae other than on the glass which only needs cleaning once a week

 

[foundnemo11]

That's true, but he said he has good coralline growth elsewhere in the tank, so I would say his alk and calcium are good.



I think I remember reading that coraline loves to grow on smooth surfaces, like glass and plastic. Maybe that has something to do with it? it may just start slower on the rock than you're unnaturaly smooth surfaces.

Yeah I think it grows on plastics and stuff easier.. But I used to have it on my rocks years ago. It just kind of disappeared.

 

[foundnemo11]

It's beautiful dude.

Thanks man.. I should have taken a picture with better lighting I just took it really quick the way the lights were to show that sps are doing good.. They basically were all frags.

 

[enchelycore808]

I will second that it grows better on smooth surfaces haha! After 8 months my rocks only have a few spots but if I didn't clean my glass, I'm sure it's be solid purple by now.

 

[foundnemo11]

 

[hoffmann]

You might want to check your magnesium levels!!!!!! If your ca and alk are good, I had the exact same prob. with a 15 year mature reef and still not until I started dosing Mg did I start to see and major increase in coralline, plus I was already doing two different brands of minerals/vitamins which contained Mg and iodine etc. but not enough Mg plus I added an extra powerhead turning my little 30 gallong over with now 3 power heads 11x/hr, which seemed to also help. Hope that helps..-Mike