Coralline in a bottle?

[michaelabellz]

Currently I’m adding microbactor7 in my tank, it’s been 3 weeks and I wanted to start using my light. But I read that it’s not good to turn on the light until you see coralline growth on your rocks, but I started with live sand instead of live rock and used dry rock instead so that process could take a long time. Would you suggest using the coralline in a bottle mixture to speed up the process or no?
I will wait if it’s the best thing to do for my tank.

 

[WIReefer]

You definitely can turn your lights on before you see coralline growth. I didn’t see it in my tank until the one year mark. Personally I wouldn’t waste your money on the coralline in a bottle stuff it will get introduced on cuc or frag plugs.

 

[cshouston]

Coralline algae needs light, so definitely don’t wait or you’ll be waiting... well, forever. You can use coralline in a bottle from ARC if you want to jump start the process, but be careful what you wish for. Some people think coralline is a big headache. Personally, I added the stuff and saw coralline start growing on my rocks within a month.

 

[michaelabellz]

You definitely can turn your lights on before you see coralline growth. I didn’t see it in my tank until the one year mark. Personally I wouldn’t waste your money on the coralline in a bottle stuff it will get introduced on cuc or frag plugs.

So turning on my lights with out coralline growth won’t create a huge ugly stage in my tank?

 

[jimc40]

Just get a snail or crab or piece of rock with coralline on it. Bottled coralline is a gimmick

 

[michaelabellz]

Coralline algae needs light, so definitely don’t wait or you’ll be waiting... well, forever. You can use coralline in a bottle from ARC if you want to jump start the process, but be careful what you wish for. Some people think coralline is a big headache. Personally, I added the stuff and saw coralline start growing on my rocks within a month.

Okayyy thank you.

 

[WIReefer]

So turning on my lights with out coralline growth won’t create a huge ugly stage in my tank?

You will most likely see an ugly stage but so does everyone else really no way around it. People call it new tank syndrome

 

[michaelabellz]

Just get a snail or crab or piece of rock with coralline on it. Bottled coralline is a gimmick

My LFS said not to add any live invertebrates until my tank is completely cycled.

 

[cshouston]

It’s not a gimmick. I don’t understand the haters that always pop up on threads about the bottled coralline spores. You can add a plug or snail with coralline on it and wait a year or so for growth, or you can add the bottled spores and have it in a month. Nothing gimmicky about that.

 

[michaelabellz]

You will most likely see an ugly stage but so does everyone else really no way around it. People call it new tank syndrome

Okay, I will work with it thank you.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

Just get a snail or crab or piece of rock with coralline on it. Bottled coralline is a gimmick

Coralline from ARC is not a gimmick. I introduced it as the only source of coralline in a new dry rock start up and it began to grow before anything was added to the tank. Other sources I can’t speak for but ARCs worked as described.

 

[jimc40]

My LFS said not to add any live invertebrates until my tank is completely cycled.

Yes that is probably a good idea but I would pick up a small rock with coralline on it if that’s what you want it will help seed your tank. I would not spend money on bottled coralline as it is going to eventually make it into your tank if you are creating a reef tank

 

[jimc40]

Coralline from ARC is not a gimmick. I introduced it as the only source of coralline in a new dry rock start up and it began to grow before anything was added to the tank. Other sources I can’t speak for but ARCs worked as described.

I am sure it works if that’s how you want to spend money but coralline is going to hitchhike into your tank. I just don’t see the value

 

[cshouston]

Coralline from ARC is not a gimmick. I introduced it as the only source of coralline in a new dry rock start up and it began to grow before anything was added to the tank. Other sources I can’t speak for but ARCs worked as described.

Exactly. And it avoids the risk, however great or slight, of introducing a pest with a coralline-covered live rock or other organism.

 

[ScubaFish802]

It would be interesting to see an unbiased test with two empty established tanks. One with a frag plug and one with added spores. I can’t imagine the time difference is that great between the two. If anything, established coraline on a plug would spread + produce spores right away I would think, as apposed to solely spores trying to take hold and grow before being able to continue/start the reproduction cycle

 

[cshouston]

It would be interesting to see an unbiased test with two empty established tanks. One with a frag plug and one with added spores. I can’t imagine the time difference is that great between the two. If anything, established coraline on a plug would spread + produce spores right away I would think, as apposed to solely spores trying to take hold and grow before being able to continue/start the reproduction cycle

I agree, but anecdotally, I have had one tank which didn’t get the spores, but had turbos with coralline on their shells, and it took longer than my latest tank which got the ARC spores.

 

[rmurken]

Coralline is such a mystery. I don’t recall any anecdotes of the bottled stuff not working, which amazes me. My tank grew so much garbage the first year, I can’t imagine coralline would have taken hold. The best was the pink pompom algae. Tank looked like a plush toy that washed up on the beach.

 

[flampton]

True bottled coralline from ARC should work fine if fresh, however if something is advertised as super coralline or whatever, like purple up, there is no actual coralline in the bottle. They're just calcium supplements

 

[Cv111]

Coralline from ARC is not a gimmick. I introduced it as the only source of coralline in a new dry rock start up and it began to grow before anything was added to the tank. Other sources I can’t speak for but ARCs worked as described.

Same. I actually got corraline pupping up before the green algae that usually starts to cover rocks had fully spread. You can physically see lots of corraline material in rhe bottom of the bottles

 

[Cwentz758]

Well reading the bottles they all say the bottle itself doesn’t contain coralline. It’s just the spores that help promote the growth of coralline. I used ARC once and didn’t see any change after two months. Eventually found an outdated “Purple Up” bottle did a little of that. I now have coralline growing on everything. BUT I don’t think it was because the bottles. I stabilized my tank got rid of Dinos and now it’s back on the rise. My tank has been established for a few years, I had a coralline die off from moving is why I did all this.