Coraline algae

[jerrod]

I think I know the answer but I'm going to ask anyway. Is there any way to slow down Coraline growth without changing water chemistry. I was gone for six months and had someone else taking care of the tank, unfortunately they did not scrape anything but the front glass. I've been scraping in sections but killed my clam due to the alk spike and it seems as I scrape 6-8 inch sections at a time by the time I get halfway across the glass its already covered where I started. My parameters are all great and corals are growing well the problem is I have an eight foot long tank and I can no longer keep up with scraping all of the Coraline. iv thought of urchins but there is no way to guarantee that they will clean glass vs rocks and even then there would have to be a bunch. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Paul Sands]

ULNS typically have slower coralline growth, so you might want to try that.

 

[Dragon52]

bump

 

[madweazl]

Urchins destroy it in short order; you'd be amazed at what one can do overnight.

 

[Dragon52]

Urchins destroy it in short order; you'd be amazed at what one can do overnight.

All Urchins or certain ones & will they clean the glass as well, I've tried all the top scrapers, even got a new windshield scraper with no luck.

 

[HB AL]

Asterina star fish, they wiped out my coraline. Now there #s have dwindled to nothing and its growing back. I dont know if it's my Kessil leds but the coraline doesn't grow as fast as it did with t5s or halides, and it doesn't grow on the front glass with the Kessils just on the back glass and rocks.

 

[madweazl]

All Urchins or certain ones & will they clean the glass as well, I've tried all the top scrapers, even got a new windshield scraper with no luck.

Not sure with regard to them all but a blue tuxedo will clean house. As for the scraper, unless you're going a week plus between cleanings, the coralline is easy to keep up with.

 

[Dragon52]

Not sure with regard to them all but a blue tuxedo will clean house. As for the scraper, unless you're going a week plus between cleanings, the coralline is easy to keep up with.

Thanks for the info.
OP, sorry about hijacking the thread.

 

[jerrod]

I picked up a few asterina stars for free from a local fish store and they are thinning it down kind of taking off the top layer and I ordered two tuxedo urchins from Live Aquaria they are helping. Im still scraping it in patches and am finally making some headway but after the back not being scraped for so long it is taking awhile.