CORALLINE ALGAE IN A BOTTLE

[cpalminteri]

Has anyone used this before?

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Yes, I think many have used this in new tank setups.

 

[cpalminteri]

I’m starting to get brown algae though, wonder if it would still take hold

 

[LeftyReefer]

I did. But I would never buy it ever again.

When my tank was new, I added this stuff, and never saw any coralline algae until a few months later.
By then, I had purchased several coral frags that had coralline algae encrusted on the plugs, along with several snails that had coralline algae encrusted on their shells. so did my coralline algae come from the bottle or my snails and plugs? I'm betting it came from the snails and plugs since I never saw any for months after adding the bottle stuff.

Would never pay for this stuff again, as I don't think it actually worked and there are plenty of other means of getting coralline algae for free.

I'm a hard pass on this stuff now.

 

[jmoneyyy703]

I used it on my 100g system. Added 6-8 bottles. I would say successful in getting purple and pink coraline. However, it took 2-3+ months minimum for me to see results. Now I have pink and purple growth. I would say use it if money is not an issue.

 

[Iinux]

See I’m on the other end. Went with a full dry/dead set up.

fishless cycled with dr tims for 90 days
Turned on lights at that point and added this stuff along with my 2 baby clowns.

took a few months but SURE ENOUGH it eventually showed up. Now I’ve been scraping off my front glass and seeding my new tanks along with friends.

 

[Miami Reef]

There’s much cheaper and easier ways to get coralline algae. And maintaining proper parameters for stony corals will grow it crazy fast.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

..... It sounds like everybody who has used it so far, Got Coraline at about the time you would naturally expect, Even when not using it....

 

[Miami Reef]

..... It sounds like everybody who has used it so far, Got Coraline at about the time you would naturally expect, Even when not using it....

This exactly!

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

I’m starting to get brown algae though, wonder if it would still take hold

There are very specific parameters (Ca, alk, pH) required for coralline algae growth. If you can maintain the stable parameters required, it will grow despite other nuisance algae being present. I also have algae on the back wall of my tank and now coralline has started to take over. The company is very clear about the time frame it takes for you to see results which is about 5 weeks and they explain that if your pH drops too low, then this 5 weeks starts over. This is why people correlate coralline algae growth with a stable "mature" system because this is the only environment it grows well in.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I'd just go the natural route...don't see many if any benefits in buying that stuff...

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

..... It sounds like everybody who has used it so far, Got Coraline at about the time you would naturally expect, Even when not using it....

But would they get it with dry rock, dry sand, etc.? The coralline spores have to come from somewhere, right?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

But would they get it with dry rock, dry sand, etc.? The coralline spores have to come from somewhere, right?

When you have a SW, tank, you will have cuc. That's a given. That is a perfectly good vector to bringing in spores.

 

[cpalminteri]

Hmmmmm lol very conflicting sides haha

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hmmmmm lol very conflicting sides haha

If you don't care about spending them money then I guess there aren't really any downsides...it just probably won't benefit you much...maybe a better question would be "who regrets not adding this stuff"

 

[LeftyReefer]

I'm guessing all the reefers who are saying it worked, months after adding it, were also adding other things that contained coralline algae, like CUC shells, frag plugs, etc... so how do you know it was the bottle that worked?

This stuff is a waste of money in my opinion, as it is completely unnecessary.

coralline algae is coming to your saltwater tank whether you want it or not. ZERO reason to spend money on it and I question whether the bottled stuff actually works. I don't think it does. At least no better than adding a frag plug or snail. so just buy a cheap $5 frag at your LFS that has coralline algae on it and save $25.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

When you have a SW, tank, you will have cuc. That's a given. That is a perfectly good vector to bringing in spores.

Yeah, thats true but in theory it would take a lot longer for that to grow than seeding your tank with a bottle full of spores. I mean I guess I think of it in the same way as seeding your tank with bacteria to cycle it. If the conditions are right, the bottle bac will cycle your tank much faster than other methods. I haven't seen any hard evidence to say it works faster than other methods but in theory it just seems to make sense.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Hmmmmm lol very conflicting sides haha

This is with everything in this hobby I think whatever method you choose, coralline growth will be most successful when you have water quality sufficient for growing stony corals like @Miami Reef said.

maintaining proper parameters for stony corals will grow it crazy fast.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Yeah, thats true but in theory it would take a lot longer for that to grow than seeding your tank with a bottle full of spores. I mean I guess I think of it in the same way as seeding your tank with bacteria to cycle it. If the conditions are right, the bottle bac will cycle your tank much faster than other methods. I haven't seen any hard evidence to say it works faster than other methods but in theory it just seems to make sense.

No. That's just not right. Your tank is not going to grow Coraline before It's biologically ready. I know you hate this term but Coraline shows up in "matureing tanks"... It requires it.. it's one of the arrows that Point, to your tank maturing.

You can start with dry rock today and fill the entire tank with that Coraline juice, And you aren't going to see Coraline actually growing until the tank is ready....

A TINY flake if pink on One snail shell is enough to seed the entire system.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

No. That's just not right. Your tank is not going to grow Coraline before It's biologically ready. I know you hate this term but Coraline shows up in "matureing tanks"... It requires it.. it's one of the arrows that Point, to your tank maturing.

You can start with dry rock today and fill the entire tank with that Coraline juice, And you aren't going to see Coraline actually growing until the tank is ready....

A TINY flake if pink on One snail shell is enough to seed the entire system.

This is why people correlate coralline algae growth with a stable "mature" system because this is the only environment it grows well in.

Yeah I'm not disagreeing with this point, in fact I mentioned this above. My analogy to bottle bac is under the assumption that your tank has the parameters necessary for its growth. I'm also not saying that a spec on a CUC shell won't seed the tank with coralline but in theory if you have 2 tanks with the same water quality and one you add a bottle full of coralline spores and the other you just add 1 shell with a dot of coralline on it, the tank with bottled coralline (if it is the same species) should have much more coverage much quicker just because of the abundance of spores and their ability to make contact with surfaces.

You can seed a tank with nitrifying bacteria using a small pebble from a cycled tank but it might take 3 months to completely cycle, but if you add a bottle of the nitrifying bacteria you might have a cycled tank in a week or two. It's not the best analogy because bacteria can grow under a variety of conditions whereas coralline algae has some more specific requirements for growth.