Almost a year in, still no coralline

[Jl330]

Like the title says, tank has been running almost a year. I occasionally get a couple red spots and green spots. No purple.

Running reef crystals salt.

LED lights.

Corals are growing.

 

[Maggie321]

I have coraline in abundance on my glass. I have 2 urchins that chew it up off my rocks so I am still bare on them. Do you possibly have any critters that eat coraline?
I'll ask the standard... what are your parameters?
Have you introduced any coraline? I got a couple replacement crab shells that had some on it about 3 months in and after that is when I noticed it starting on my glass.
Edit: FWIW I also use reef crystals.

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

I know I had issues growing coraline, although I didn't mind it, but once I started dosing more magnesium the coraline started growing.

 

[Maggie321]

I don't know about you RC batch, but my RC batch tests about 1600 mag freshly mixed. I was looking for a way to bring it down and realized it wasn't really harming anything except the occasional snail loss and that could have been my murderous hermit crabs. I said all that to say, test before dosing mag. Reef crystals has earned a reputation in my head for high mag. Maybe other batches are better, but so far the 2 I have been into have been similar.

 

[Jl330]

I have coraline in abundance on my glass. I have 2 urchins that chew it up off my rocks so I am still bare on them. Do you possibly have any critters that eat coraline?
I'll ask the standard... what are your parameters?
Have you introduced any coraline? I got a couple replacement crab shells that had some on it about 3 months in and after that is when I noticed it starting on my glass.
Edit: FWIW I also use reef crystals.

Not sure on exact peaks, I've been moving so I haven't had much time to keep up with it. Last I checked, everything was about where you'd expect.

I have so many green corals that the purple could create nice contrast.

I've introduced crabs and corals with coralline. It all fades.

 

[Mikedawg]

You might find this interesting:

 

[Jl330]

I don't know about you RC batch, but my RC batch tests about 1600 mag freshly mixed. I was looking for a way to bring it down and realized it wasn't really harming anything except the occasional snail loss and that could have been my murderous hermit crabs. I said all that to say, test before dosing mag. Reef crystals has earned a reputation in my head for high mag. Maybe other batches are better, but so far the 2 I have been into have been similar.

My mag always tests high

 

[Maggie321]

You might find this interesting:

That is helpful! I will be doing that on my next tank before adding urchins.

 

[Mikedawg]

Good luck; it worked for me.

 

[Jl330]

I might grab a small chunk of rock today.

How important is the calcium and mag? My tank is a lot smaller than that guy's and my levels are already high. Figured I could just scrape some and dump it around.

 

[Mikedawg]

CA and Mg probably make it grow faster, but I wouldn't sacrifice water quality if you have any concerns.
Good luck; btw, I tried an expensive commercial preparation which did nothing - seeding with what is already growing makes more sense to me.

 

[Apotack]

I would think mixing in the calcium and magnesium does nothing. How much will the coralline absorb while being chopped in a blender? Adding coralline scrapings alone has been a “proven” method for a long time.

 

[Cory]

Theres a few things to try. Strontium, magnese, iodine, and ozone. I swear ozone works. No idea why.

 

[Zeal]

Whats a precursor to coraline? I THINK I have it going and ive had my first tank going for 3 months

 

[Scotty Buttons]

I took some frag plugs and empty snail shells that were covered with coraline and scraped a bunch of the coraline off into a small cup with tank water and poured it around my tank. I did that a couple times and after a couple months I had it growing everywhere

 

[Cory]

Corraline algae is a plant. It needs micronutrients like zinc, iron, maganese, molydenum. It also iirc is composed of up to 1.5% weight magnesium. It also need calcium and alkalinity. To build it needs po4 and no3. If you got those it should grow.

 

[Zeal]

Will it grow in such it way it'll "cement" rocks together?

 

[Cory]

Will it grow in such it way it'll "cement" rocks together?

Yes most of the reef is from cemeneted corralines.

 

[Jl330]

Yes most of the reef is from cemeneted corralines.

Literally none of the rocks in my tank are stuck together.

I just moved ita few days ago and everything came apart no problem.

 

[ZoWhat]

You DONT want corraline! Although it looks good on LR, it overtakes your tank and grows on power heads, areas of glass you don't want it. The only way to get rid of it on things you don't want it on is using a razor blade. More of a nuisance nightmare IMO