Prevent Coraline from growing on tank side?

adova

Premium Member
Part of my aquascaping in my peninsula is to make the far side appear "infinite" if possible. Allowing coraline to grow on that panel will distract from that. But, with the external overflow and the wall right there, it will be challenging to get a scraper in there.

Just trying to see if I coated the acrylic with something on that panel (like Vaseline or who knows what) could I retard or eliminate things attaching to it. I am guessing I know the answer - just scrub from the inside on a regular basis...
 
No way I know of. Some urchins will graze coraline to near extinction but that would include all areas.
 
hehe - funny that you should reply first. I had just come across a thread that you replied to in 2008 where someone was trying to eradicate Coraline from the entire tank. I guess that I just need to be vigilant with my cleaning!

Thanks!
 
In theory, you might be able to manipulate the lighting to reduce the growth, but in practice, I think you're stuck. I never found a useful approach for a situation like that. Sigh!
 
lol - well I never thought I would add mag chloride or vodka to my system when I first started this hobby either.
 
I too refuse to allow coralline to grow on any of my glass. Personally I think it takes away from that infinite depth look. Right now on my 90 against the wall I have no issue keeping it clean with a flipper; however, on my current 8 ft. build this will become a challenge. My plan is to either attack it from above and/or attach the exterior side of a flipper to a long pole and attack it from the side. Btw, I have a beautiful bright red urchin (never ID it) in my tank now and while it leaves its mark, it's no match for the growth rate of coralline algae.
 
Here's an option... I wonder if the tear away windshield like they use on NASCARs are reef safe.
 
How about applying UV flo from the edge of the glass, for a short period, like a couple of seconds, few times a day?
 
I'm not sure what you mean. I wouldn't put a bunch of UV into the tank, even for a short time period, personally, without checking on possible side effects. Too many organisms might be injured.
 
I use the Aquatic Ibot to automatically clean all my glass. It just runs continously until it needs a re-charge and then it finds it's charge base and returns there for a couple hours and then its off again cleaning algae off the glass. Works on all types of algae including Coraline and now my glass stays so clean you can't even tell there is glass. And the quality of my life has improved so! Everyone should have one of these... :jester:
 
I use the Aquatic Ibot to automatically clean all my glass. It just runs continously until it needs a re-charge and then it finds it's charge base and returns there for a couple hours and then its off again cleaning algae off the glass. Works on all types of algae including Coraline and now my glass stays so clean you can't even tell there is glass. And the quality of my life has improved so! Everyone should have one of these... :jester:

Do you have a sand bed? If so how does it keep from scratching the glass? Can it navigate to all panes?
 
Is this what you're talking about? The robo snail. Even if it didn't navigate to other panes it would cure my back pane problem.

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I like it, but I think it might distract from the "Infinity" look lol.

Lol. Yes, but for $180 that would save me a lot of neck, arm and back snapping work. I think I'm sold. Funny, I saw this thing before and wrote it off as it just being for someone who is lazy, but for an impossible or difficult to reach pane of glass it's perfect. Of course I'm sure snails and starfish on the glass would beg to differ.
 
The more I think about my original question - for my tank - I am disgusted that I was planning to be too lazy to just scrub a 20 x 24" piece of acrylic once every couple of days.

Funny how this post moved so far away from the Reef Chemistry topic - I love it, lol!!!
 
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