Algae won't grow on live rock

[saltsavage]

Hey guys. I can't get algae to grow on my dry rock. Thinking about getting another piece of live rock to seed it and get it going. The water tests fine and everything checks out. Fish are going well and lively...I'll post some pictures here.

Any hints or ideas!?

 

[zaekor]

You need to have something to get the algae started if you're talking about coralline. If not, I don't know what other kind of Algae you would WANT to grow.
A coral frag, a snail or hermit shell, a piece of rock, anything with some coralline algae will get it started and in a couple months with the right parameters it should start to grow.

 

[AlexDm]

If you want Coralline algae to grow I'd suggest adding Calcium and frequent water changes

 

[Broadfield]

I assume you are talking about the rocks "coloring" up!?!... and not being so white. Just give it time... it can take months for that to occur.

Here's mine 11 months ago when I first put my Marco Rocks dry rock in... white like yours:

IMG_5307 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

And here it is 8 months later:

IMG_4278 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[jcdeng]

you need to seed it like above said, also you need higher cal and alk levels and a good light. FOWLR setups usually don't get much coraline, unless the fowlr set up is actually on par with a full reef set up

 

[macnets]

If you want to speed it up, you can buy a frag of coralline algae and then PurpleUp to speed up the process
http://www.ebay.com/itm/262706839576

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

you've got some live rock in there, itll grow. how old is the tank?
just feed well. use good water.

 

[Gomery12]

This isn't a magical overnight hobby, takes time to get it to going. Frags just dont go to colonies in a day, week or month! Patience and it will work its course.

 

[saltsavage]

Thanks everyone I just want to make sure everything is rolling well. Appreciate it!!

 

[Dragonreef202]

With the live rock you have in your tank it'll just take some time to spread. With your water changes over time you'll see the rocks get coraline algae growth