Is it possible to have a Coralline-free tank?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11674406#post11674406 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ahullsb
I have to say that I can grow coraline absolutely everywhere, except in high lighting areas. I would like to know how many other people experience this? Areas getting pounded by my mh's have stayed bare for over a year now. Everywhere else has a THICK coat
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The exact opposite is true for me. The only area of my tank not completely covered within 6 months is the area on the corners that get shaded from the overflows. Lights are 400w MH's.

Personally while it is a pain to scrape the front glass every few weeks I get a good feeling that my water param's are good above and beyond the test kit results.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11682635#post11682635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by anyuser
To answer the original question, yes, coralline algae must be introduced into a system. It won't just naturally occur in your tank.
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11682867#post11682867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCsaxmaster
Yes, coralline algae, like any organism, must be introduced. It will not spontaneously form from thin air
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Thank you both for answering the original question ;)

Now a better question would be (albeit slightly off topic).. Why does everyone use Coralline growth as a gauge for measuring good parameters, and most importantly tank success???

I see this line being thrown around all the time: "Coralline growth is a good sign" or "Coralline growth means that your tank has matured and now you can add corals". I can't tell you how many times I've seen tanks with thick Coralline and bleached corals :p

And to think some people even buy certain additives to encourage Coralline growth! :eek2:

Discuss..
 
Just because you have coraline growth doesn't mean their isn't anything else wrong. Their could be disease, territory issues etc. I for one believe that if you have strong coraline growth that it gives you one good indicator that water quality is good. Could there be 10 other things wrong? Sure. Would I coraline as an indicator instead of good testing kits? Nope. But I will say in only one persons experience. My first tank I had much the same equipment / lighting etc but for some reason I had very little coraline growth. I also couldn't get any Acro's to grow. My new tank I focused much more on the water chemistry from day one, Coraline has taken off and so has the growth of my Acro colonies and Caps.
Does that prove anything? Nope just one persons experience.
Happy Reefing!
Bob
 
I absolutely hate coraline
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That is one of the reasons why I went with an all black acrylic tank with no viewable sides except the top. I think a tank that has it growing all over the front, sides and back is annoying. IMHO
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11688964#post11688964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geoxman
That is why I went with an all black acrylic tank with no viewable sides except the top. I think a tank that has it growing all over the front, sides and back is annoying. IMHO
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First - I love that quote by Zappa.
Second - Do you really have a tank that is only viewable from the top and it is you display tank? I've never heard of that before :) If so why buy an acrylic tank and not just a Rubbermaid container or somethine like that and save yourself some money?
Just curious
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11687993#post11687993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtm
Thank you both for answering the original question ;)

Now a better question would be (albeit slightly off topic).. Why does everyone use Coralline growth as a gauge for measuring good parameters, and most importantly tank success???

I see this line being thrown around all the time: "Coralline growth is a good sign" or "Coralline growth means that your tank has matured and now you can add corals". I can't tell you how many times I've seen tanks with thick Coralline and bleached corals :p

And to think some people even buy certain additives to encourage Coralline growth! :eek2:

Discuss..
Click to expand...

Coralline growth is a biotic indicator of the sorts of conditions that promote the well-being of many reef organisms, such as corals. As with any indicator it alone is not the whole story about what's going on in the tank and cannot be taken as such. 95 times out of 100 though if conditions are allowing for rapid, luxuriant coralline algae growth they will also promote rapid, luxuriant coral growth. By the same token, if conditions in the tank are not allowing for healthy and successful growth of coralline algae they probably will not favor corals and other organisms either.

You wouldn't take just a salinity measurment and nothing else and conclude a tank is or is not healthy, or just a temperature measurment, or just an alkalinity measurement, etc. Likewise, the growth or lack thereof of coralline algae in a tank is not an absolute predictor of good conditions, but it is almost unheard of to find a tank where corallines grow well that does not also support many species of corals. The lack of significant coralline growth doesn't necesarily mean the corals are doomed, but conditions that are good for corals over the long term almost inevitably lead to a lot of coralline algae.

As for "special additives" to encourage coralline growth (beyond calcium and alkalinity supplements that is, and magnesium if necesessary), well...people will buy most anything won't they ;)
 
keep calcium at 380... I read this in a japanese reef thread. The tank owner had no corraline but amazing SPS growth. He said that keeping Ca at 380 stops corraline from growing, corals max out at Ca consumption at 380 and corraline absorbs the rest.

But these are not facts... keeping Ca low may impare coral growth. I was just reading some of Adeys work and he stated that he kept his Ca levels at 380 for over a year by just an aragonite sand bed and had good SPS growth but when a Kalk reactor was added and Ca was raised to 420 growth icreased. He had some good pictures fro a years growth of Ca at 380 and then a years growth of Ca at 420 ... 420 ppm made a big difference in growth.
 
keep calcium at 380... I read this in a japanese reef thread. The tank owner had no corraline but amazing SPS growth. He said that keeping Ca at 380 stops corraline from growing, corals max out at Ca consumption at 380 and corraline absorbs the rest.

But these are not facts... keeping Ca low may impare coral growth. I was just reading some of Adeys work and he stated that he kept his Ca levels at 380 for over a year by just an aragonite sand bed and had good SPS growth but when a Kalk reactor was added and Ca was raised to 420 growth icreased. He had some good pictures fro a years growth of Ca at 380 and then a years growth of Ca at 420 ... 420 ppm made a big difference in growth.
 
I set up my office tank to be coraline free all dead rock and sand. One snail put an end to that, and I have no clue what the water params are but they cant be good. Its been up for 5 months without a water change or water test.

Don
 
Everyone, including Mr. Holmes-Farley... thanks for your replies.

"Introduced" is the word I was looking for..

Any other opinions, please feel free to discuss. ;)
 
like Donw said.. its easy to get a coraline free tank.. even with corals. 1) use dead/dried rocks & sand.
2) when you get the corals cut it off of the rock its attached to and put it on a fresh dead rock/plug.
3) snails/hermits will undoubtedly add coraline, so don't get them, they aren't necessary.
4) fish/shrimp wont add coraline.


if you don't like coraline you dont like coraline.. i wont argue it.. I've had a tank without it and i like the look of the coraline better.
 
I wonder if you could somehow set it up with dead rock, then quarantine everything that is being added to the tank. I could see setting up a quarantine tank with something as simple as just a UV sterilizer for organizms like fish where there's no place for the coralline to be growing on the fish, but maybe like someone else said there's a corraline spore in its slime coat for a little while.

For other stuff like corals maybe you could get some sort of chemical that wouldn't kill the corals but it would kill the coralline. It's tough to see this being possible though since what makes a coral is the symbiotic relationship between it and its own algae. But who knows.
 
Bean, I have diademia urchins. 3 of them. They gnaw squiggly tracks through it, but it hardly removes the coraline as an eye sore, and doesn't slow the growth rate. The growth rate wasting my Ca and Alk that I'm trying to supply for the corals is my main objection with the awful stuff.

I also think all the chunks that don't get in there mouths fly all over the tank and spread the plauge. I hate the stuff with a passion.
 
Some sea urchins love to eat coraline too. Start a system with a few of those on the CUC and I doubt youll see much coraline
 
Some sea urchins love to eat coraline too. Start a system with a few of those on the CUC and I doubt youll see much coraline
 
Some sea urchins love to eat coraline too. Start a system with a few of those on the CUC and I doubt youll see much coraline
 
I have an urchin and I only have coraline where he can't reach it also he beats all else when it comes to hair/bubble algae removal. It's not a diadema but it's a local fla/caribean variety, it's white with pink/purple tips.
 
I've seen pencil/slate urchins strip coraline off of everything. They like to rearrange your rockwork too. They're like coraline eating spikey large zebra turbo snails.
 
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