Is it possible to have a Coralline-free tank?

[xtm]

If I start a system from the ground up using dead sand, dead rocks, and not introduce anything from another tank except live fish... would this turn out to be a coralline-free system?

Is it correct to assume that coralline is introduced, rather than naturally produced? OR will this system still produce coralline no matter what... as long as there is Mg, Ca, Lighting..etc?

 

[davenia7]

I would say that there will always be coralline if your elements are kept up. The fish could have eaten some and then poo it out. Or it could have just a smidge on their slime coat. Even if you bleach the LR, which would surely lead to an ammonia spike in the tank and probably kill your fish, you won't get everything in every pore of the rock.

So, really, the question is, why wouldn't you want coralline? Coralline is an algae that helps reduce bad things in your water, and helps to stabilize the tank. Also, it reduces other "bad" algaes. Furthermore, it's a sign of a healthy system.

 

[musty baby]

I don't think it's possible to not introduce coralline back into the system with fish, corals, inverts, etc.

 

[rj ripetide]

Why would you NOT want coraline ???
If you keep your calcium levels low it will grow very little...Just my experience.

 

[xtm]

I never said that I don't want coralline.

Coralline is super easy to grow in a typical setup.. the real challenge is how not to grow coralline.

Any ideas?

 

[twon8]

i think if you kept your alk and ca real low you could keep it from growing

 

[JNye]

ive been told high phosphates and some even don't like high light?

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11653315#post11653315 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by poo-tang
ive been told high phosphates and some even don't like high light?

Poo.......right on there as I have phos.+0.5 AND hi trates and having a hard time growing coralline, even introtuced a couple of coralline rocks...still very very slow to grow:mad2: :mad2:
Wish I had that problem " stopping the grow of coralline"
Just my thoughts

 

[xtm]

ok thanks for the replies guys

On the other hand, why are people so obsessed with Coralline? 1. They take Calcium, 2. They're hard to scrape, 3. They clog pumps, and 4. Coralline looks so unnatural. When you go diving, you rarely see rocks that are encrusted with purple coralline...

 

[MSU Fan]

I am not sure how my friend does it, but he runs a 40g breeder with no skimmer, and no coralline. None. Not on the rocks, not on the glass. I have no idea what he does though, so maybe it's worth pm'ing him (name's Aquabucket).

 

[eskymick]

In my reef, coraline grows fast on all of the glass surfaces, but not at all on the rocks. I keep my alk and calc at above average levels.

 

[DrBegalke]

You could do it in a FO with rock... In a reef, I think it would be challenging to stop it completely in the long term.

 

[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

 

[rhino509]

ahullsb,this also happens in my tank,i only have 150 watt halides with 130 watt acinic powercompacts.the coralline doesnt grow in the upper half of the tank.was pretty suprised by this.

 

[glassbox-design]

cal ~400 alk ~7 dkh and it has a difficult time growing.

 

[shred5]

Here are some interesting things on coraline :


Coralline algae will suffer as oceans acidify
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1521

More Acidic Ocean Hurts Reef Algae as Well as Corals
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/science/earth/08obalga.html

xtm that is so incorrect it is not funny... You see corline everywhere. Do you realise that coraline is the glue that holds the reef together. I am sure there are areas on algae covered dieing reefs or sediment covered areas or even shallow barren areas but a healthy reef will have lots.

ahullsb you are right, most Coraline aglae does not like high light. there are some that due like it but seem to grow allot slower. If you want coraline algae in a highly lit tank try and get some live rock from shallower water and not the deeper water live rock and vise versa. You want less coraline get the deeper water live rock, it will come in with more coraline coverage in most casses but it will die off. I have observed Tanks low in magnesium with little coraline growth too....

Why do people want it in their tanks. Well several reasons: it can hold back other types of algae and uses up some nutreints. The colors look nice too. I like it on my live rock but not on my glass. One negative is it uses up allot of calcium, alkalinity and magnesium.



Dave

 

[anyuser]

To answer the original question, yes, coralline algae must be introduced into a system. It won't just naturally occur in your tank.

 

[liveforphysics]

I absolutely hate coraline.

I struggle with bigger calcium reactors and doseing to try to keep Ca and Alk up for my corals. Coraline algae uses up my abilable minerals for the purpose of blocking off the glass of my tank, and covering all my equipement. I absolutely hate it, and I've been looking for a way to get rid of it.

The closest thing I've heard of for relief was fellow who caught something called coraline blight (or something similar). It had no effect on his corals, yet caused white patches to creep across the coraline in the tank until it was all dead. I've been wanting to find whatever this "blight" is for years now, and culture it and grow it so I could always have some alive to kill my coraline when needed.

If anyone comes out with a solution for killing coraline, I'm all ears.

Best Wishes,
-Luke

 

[MCsaxmaster]

Yes, coralline algae, like any organism, must be introduced. It will not spontaneously form from thin air It would take some pretty stellar quarantine procedures to keep from introducing it into a tank with corals and other invertebrates though. If it were a fish only I think you could do it, but it would be a fairly pointless exercise IMO.

Ha, as a note on the NYTimes article: they show a photo of a colonial tunicate, some Dictyota (fleshy brown algae), and gorgonians in the background--I don't see any coralline in the photo at all. The media reporting science--oye vey.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A recipe for no coralline would also be like a recipe for no hard corals , but it could read something like:

low pH, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium
high phosphate and organics
in many cases, very high or low lighting deters it


Just the opposite is in order if one wants it to thrive.