Coralline is no joke...

92Miata · Jul 7, 2020

sfin52 said:
Not only does it grow like a weed but it sucks up alk and calcium

And Nitrogen and Phosphate. It's one of the major reasons mature, properly filtered tanks stop having green/etc algae problems.

Nubomb said:
Don’t waste your money. Frags and snails will bring it along. I’m at the 6 month mark with my tank and it’s exploding. Starting to show around 4 months.

I added a bottle of ARC corraline spores to my latest tank at 3 weeks (all dry rock) and at about 6 weeks I've got significant spotting on the back panel (hundreds of spots, probably 40% total coverage). Jumping 10 weeks ahead for $22 is a pretty good value in reefing.

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef · Jul 7, 2020

Quick question, if coraline covers the rocks, how does that affect the bacteria that live in the rocks?

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef · Jul 7, 2020

Nubomb said:
Don’t waste your money. Frags and snails will bring it along. I’m at the 6 month mark with my tank and it’s exploding. Starting to show around 4 months.

Interesting that you mention snails being a source of seeding coraline in a tank. I'm currently finishing up my 30 day cycle and debating to add snails first or fish. The intent was to follow the BRS/WWC hybrid method 4 month cycle before adding corals.

Marc2952 · Jul 7, 2020

Yea its hard to remove and for some reason it loves geowing on my mp40s and frag racks then on my rocks.

Huenemedoe · Jul 7, 2020

sebaseau said:
I only have a GSP urchin

That's so rad! Would get GSP just for that lol

sfin52 · Jul 7, 2020

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef said:
Interesting that you mention snails being a source of seeding coraline in a tank. I'm currently finishing up my 30 day cycle and debating to add snails first or fish. The intent was to follow the BRS/WWC hybrid method 4 month cycle before adding corals.

Just take scraping but in blender with a little sw and pour in high flow. Bam instant coraline in a bottle

Sailingeric · Jul 7, 2020

WIReefer · Jul 8, 2020

Just cleaned these two days ago and starting all around already!

MartinWaite · Jul 9, 2020

I've never been bothered by it much in over 35 years, once I start to see spots of it starting I get a tuxedo urchin or two and they keep it in check but I will let it grow on the back of the tank. The one place I hate it growing is on the liverock as it covers it which it turn prevents the liverock from doing its job which is pulling water through itself and filtering it. In my latest tank newly started with the new year I have
put plenty of filter media in the sump so that I intend to only have the coraline on the rocks in this tank but we'll see who wins the critters who keep the liverock working or the coraline. I know I'll beat the coraline on the glass as I swapped over from a flipper to a Tunze glass magnetic cleaner and it soon removes any spots that start on the sides and front of the tank.

92Miata · Jul 9, 2020

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef said:
Quick question, if coraline covers the rocks, how does that affect the bacteria that live in the rocks?

I'm sure it reduces surface area - but its also a consumer of ammonia/nitrates and phosphates (like corals) - and you don't need the bacteria in your rocks to process nitrogen/phosphorus if the coraline is incorporating it into its biomass.

(TLDR: don't worry about it)

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef · Jul 9, 2020

92Miata said:
I'm sure it reduces surface area - but its also a consumer of ammonia/nitrates and phosphates (like corals) - and you don't need the bacteria in your rocks to process nitrogen/phosphorus if the coraline is incorporating it into its biomass.

(TLDR: don't worry about it)

Thank you for the clarification, so if it consumes all of the above, then I guess bacteria is only required to get to nitrates, then coraline can take over.

Whats tdlr? Sorry I'm not very familiar with all the abbreviations

swiss1939 · Jul 9, 2020

I believe the bacteria grow along any surface it can attach to, especially calcified surfaces. This means the bacteria is still there doing its thing on the rock. Maybe not as porous as before coralline, but there are probably enough spaces for water transfer to still feed the internal bacteria that populated it before coralline started to cover the surface. The growth of coralline just means the bacteria grows back over the coralline as it forms.

92Miata · Jul 9, 2020

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef said:
Thank you for the clarification, so if it consumes all of the above, then I guess bacteria is only required to get to nitrates, then coraline can take over.

Whats tdlr? Sorry I'm not very familiar with all the abbreviations

Too Long Didn't Read - basically a summary.

Reefs move through a bunch of stages where your primary consumers of nitrogen change from bacteria to algae to corals. In a mature reef tank, the bacterial nitrogen cycle is still happening, but most of the ammonia produced by your fish/food/etc is being used by corals as food (or chaeto).

Corraline is great because its one of the few algaes that doesn't seem to irritate corals - and it doesn't collect detritus. I'm sure its creating its own little micro-environments like other algae do - but they don't seem to be a problem for corals.

WIReefer · Jul 9, 2020

Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef said:
Interesting that you mention snails being a source of seeding coraline in a tank. I'm currently finishing up my 30 day cycle and debating to add snails first or fish. The intent was to follow the BRS/WWC hybrid method 4 month cycle before adding corals.

All my snails and crabs have a nice chunk on them now.

jarjor1982 · Jul 9, 2020

Redfoxtang said:
What helps keep mine under control are urchins. They are very good coralline cleaners!!

I have 2 tuxedo urchins in a 60 cube and they help me constantly clean the glass.

The hitchhiker chitons help, too, surprisingly.

Heabel7 · Jul 10, 2020

Wish I could get coraline to grow consistently. Goes great for weeks or months On the rocks and then dies off. Viscous cycle in my tank that I don’t understand. I’d rather have purple crusties that I can get off pumps with a simple citric acid bath then green rocks

LeftyReefer · Jul 10, 2020

FYI, there is a guy on ebay selling bottles of coralline algae for much less than ARC is charging.
ARC is charging $22 a bottle for pink and $22 for purple, or both together for $40 give or take.
The guy on ebay says his bottle contains both pink and purple coralline algae and it's under $20 shipped.
its a clear bottle and you can see algae scrapings, along with some additional sand/gravel. The guy says he scrapes the coralline algae off established live rock before bottling it.

WIReefer · Jul 10, 2020

LeftyReefer said:
FYI, there is a guy on ebay selling bottles of coralline algae for much less than ARC is charging.
ARC is charging $22 a bottle for pink and $22 for purple, or both together for $40 give or take.
The guy on ebay says his bottle contains both pink and purple coralline algae and it's under $20 shipped.
its a clear bottle and you can see algae scrapings, along with some additional sand/gravel. The guy says he scrapes the coralline algae off established live rock before bottling it.

I don’t ever see the need on buying the coralline in a bottle, it will be introduced on something. Save the money buy a frag.