Growing coraline algae...

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

I have a 10 gal. nano reef up since June...beginning to get some small spots of coraline on the rock...not much, however....on the back wall there are round spots of what I assume is coraline, they are cream colored...not too attractive...my calcium is in the 400+ range and I do dose a little bit now and then to keep it up...

Any advise on how to increase its growth...especially the red, pink and more colorful varieties...or is it just a matter of time and patience...Thanks

reef lover · Feb 7, 2016

I've found it grows fastest where the flow is so if u want to grow it on the back panel then point a powerhead toward it.

pondman · Feb 7, 2016

Keep you call and alk levels up and in time it will come

jdpeters · Feb 7, 2016

Yes, i once wanted coraline algae bad myself. It takes time, and your tank is still very young. My LFS has tanks caked in it and im jealous. They even have frags growing on chunks of broken off coraline.

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

Why is the coraline whitish on the back panel...I want pink and red...is it the light that reaches it?

NanaReefer · Feb 7, 2016

Congaken said:
Why is the coraline whitish on the back panel...I want pink and red...is it the light that reaches it?

White Coralline is dead Coralline. Could be several causes. Exposure to air during water changes, lack of proper lighting or a reaction to something chemical that was added. In my case it was h2o2.

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

NanaReefer said:
White Coralline is dead Coralline. Could be several causes. Exposure to air during water changes, lack of proper lighting or a reaction to something chemical that was added. In my case it was h2o2.

During water changes, how not to have air exposure?...besides calcium, the only thing going in the tank is less than a ml of No3/PO4-X...

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

Congaken said:
During water changes, how not to have air exposure?...besides calcium, the only thing going in the tank is less than a ml of No3/PO4-X...

actually...the white patches are toward the bottom of the tank and I don't change water that low...

cougareyes · Feb 7, 2016

get some loose Coraline and spread it around, i've scraped it off heavy patches turned my pumps off and dusted it over my rocks. If you have proper ca, alk, and lighting it will take off. Ask you lfs if you can have a chunk to seed your tank.

Pete polyp · Feb 7, 2016

You need to be dosing alkalinity in balance with your calcium. Using kalkwasser in your topoff will promote coralline growth. If you have any inverts that consume coralline algae they will keep the rocks cleared of coralline.

NanaReefer · Feb 7, 2016

Congaken said:
actually...the white patches are toward the bottom of the tank and I don't change water that low...

Like I said...several causes. Not just 1.

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

Pete polyp said:
You need to be dosing alkalinity in balance with your calcium. Using kalkwasser in your topoff will promote coralline growth. If you have any inverts that consume coralline algae they will keep the rocks cleared of coralline.

I don't use Kalkwasser because its not recommended for a 10gal nanos...I use Seachem's Reef Calcium...both are in a good range...no invert eating c....

Pete polyp · Feb 7, 2016

You need to be dosing alkalinity in balance along with the calcium. I'm not exactly sure where you got the information that kalk isn't recommenced because of tank size. If it's used correctly it shouldnt matter the size of the tank.

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

Pete polyp said:
You need to be dosing alkalinity in balance along with the calcium. I'm not exactly sure where you got the information that kalk isn't recommenced because of tank size. If it's used correctly it shouldnt matter the size of the tank.

I got the info from Chris Brightwell's The Nano Reef Handbook... "K is a poor choice of calcium supplementation in a nano reef owing to the danger of killing all livestock by making even the smallest error in dosing...this is a calcium supp suited to a larger aquarium..."More detail is there if you want to check it out...

kimba · Feb 7, 2016

Dosing in such a small tank can be tricky. I use Kent Marine Nano parts A&B. My 12 gal was covered with coraline, I was scraping it off the glass, it was crazy. I recently purchased a new tank in Dec and it's just starting to grow on the back wall.

Congaken · Feb 7, 2016

kimba said:
Dosing in such a small tank can be tricky. I use Kent Marine Nano parts A&B. My 12 gal was covered with coraline, I was scraping it off the glass, it was crazy. I recently purchased a new tank in Dec and it's just starting to grow on the back wall.

good tip...thanks

Pete polyp · Feb 7, 2016

That is true in the case in making an error, but is true no matter the size of the system.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 7, 2016

To chime in on color diversity. You'll need a seed for different variety. I used Fiji mud on my last builds and got colors I'd never seen in my tanks before. Fortunately the green went away. It was really hard to scrape off the glass.
A little mud is 15 bucks ant there's way to much in the jar. It's also a bacterial supplement

Velcro · Feb 7, 2016

My coralline growth (and SPS growth) skyrocketed when I started adding kalk to my topoff. My numbers always were in range with just 10% weekly water changes but I wanted to see what would happen by starting to add a small amount of kalk to topoff. As I added 1/2 tsp per gallon the demand went up weekly it seems. It's like I kickstarted something... the beast has been woken up!

Pete polyp · Feb 7, 2016

Velcro said:
My coralline growth (and SPS growth) skyrocketed when I started adding kalk to my topoff. My numbers always were in range with just 10% weekly water changes but I wanted to see what would happen by starting to add a small amount of kalk to topoff. As I added 1/2 tsp per gallon the demand went up weekly it seems. It's like I kickstarted something... the beast has been woken up!

This is what I'm trying to imply