How long... coralline algae

[TankMaid]

How long did it take for you to start seeing coralline grow in your tank? I haven’t seen any after 5 months.

 

[EakTheFreak]

Have you introduced it into you tank? From a rock, snails shell or hermit crab?

 

[littlebeard]

What did you seed it with? I bought one of those coralline algae bottles... nothing so far in about 3-4 months since I seeded it minus what came on the hermits.

 

[TankMaid]

I have, I have it on a few frag plugs and on snail shells, but not anywhere else

 

[TankMaid]

What did you seed it with? I bought one of those coralline algae bottles... nothing so far in about 3-4 months since I seeded it minus what came on the hermits.

I wondered if those worked, I was assuming the corralline on all other organisms would be enough

 

[littlebeard]

Just curious did you use dry rock or some sort of live rock?

 

[EakTheFreak]

Mine started out as small dots and now I have so much every rock is purple.

I first noticed mine was spreading to my rock at the 3 month mark. What are your water parameters and what type of lights are you using?

 

[sdreef]

How long did it take for you to start seeing coralline grow in your tank? I haven’t seen any after 5 months.

What is your tank chemistry like? Specifically alkalinity, calcium, pH

 

[TankMaid]

Alk:7.5 ish
Calc:420
pH: not sure, how do you measure yours?
nutrients: ~0 bc of my cheato

 

[TankMaid]

Just curious did you use dry rock or some sort of live rock?

Marco rock, I really hate it tho.

 

[ThatPhillyReefer]

I noticed mine at 2.5 month mark. I also added rock in my sump when starting it up that had it from a previous tank that was setup for 3 yrs.

 

[TankMaid]

Mine started out as small dots and now I have so much every rock is purple.

I first noticed mine was spreading to my rock at the 3 month mark. What are your water parameters and what type of lights are you using?

Just posted water but I run the 2XAI 32hd, it’s more than enough for my softies

 

[EakTheFreak]

Just posted water but I run the 2XAI 32hd, it’s more than enough for my softies

What about your magnesium level? What type of salt do you use as well?

 

[TankMaid]

I tested mag last week and it was a tiny bit low, but nothing major.

I run the tropic Marin reef salt

 

[EakTheFreak]

I tested mag last week and it was a tiny bit low, but nothing major.

I run the tropic Marin reef salt

What is your lighting schedule?

 

[littlebeard]

I'm going to post my params as well because I can't seem go grow any either. Hammers are thriving. Bought them maybe 2 months ago and heads have doubled in size and are about to split. Running under reefbreeders photons v2+ set at brs recommended for lps. Run HW-MARINEMIX REEFER.

Params as of last friday were:
Ca: 440
dKH:8.7
Mag: 1380
PH: 8
NO2: 0
NO3: < 5ppm

 

[TankMaid]

I run the lights at 33 watts for 4 hours with a 3 hour ramp and and ramp down. It’s on the lower side for my softies

 

[sdreef]

Alk:7.5 ish
Calc:420
pH: not sure, how do you measure yours?
nutrients: ~0 bc of my cheato

I have an apex controller and use the pH probe. Low pH can affect calcification of corals and also calciferous algae. It's just one thing that I'm currently dealing with on my own new system.

Currently, I have two tanks. My 5 year old 60 cube which is where I currently have most of my sps and then I have 330 gallon new build that's had water for a couple months. I observed that when I transferred many of the fish from the smaller system to the larger tank the pH in the smaller older system went up. The coralline algae also took off. Mind you this is a well established system. I keep the chemistry in there reasonably stable otherwise. The flow, alkalinity, calcium levels didn't change. Just the pH went up when the number of fish and respiration went down.

I routinely am scraping coralline from the smaller tank to put in the new set up in addition to having coralline encrusted rocks that I've transferred to the new tank. Still though, only a few specs in the new set up. My leading suspicion is that it's due to the pH being a little lower in the new set up since my other parameter are stable and looking good. I'm actively looking into adding a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer to address this, but there are other methods of addressing excess CO2 which is the leading cause of low pH in reef tanks. It's just one variable to consider.

 

[TankMaid]

I have an apex controller and use the pH probe. Low pH can affect calcification of corals and also calciferous algae. It's just one thing that I'm currently dealing with on my own new system.

Currently, I have two tanks. My 5 year old 60 cube which is where I currently have most of my sps and then I have 330 gallon new build that's had water for a couple months. I observed that when I transferred many of the fish from the smaller system to the larger tank the pH in the smaller older system went up. The coralline algae also took off. Mind you this is a well established system. I keep the chemistry in there reasonably stable otherwise. The flow, alkalinity, calcium levels didn't change. Just the pH went up when the number of fish and respiration went down.

I routinely am scraping coralline from the smaller tank to put in the new set up in addition to having coralline encrusted rocks that I've transferred to the new tank. Still though, only a few specs in the new set up. My leading suspicion is that it's due to the pH being a little lower in the new set up since my other parameter are stable and looking good. I'm actively looking into adding a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer to address this, but there are other methods of addressing excess CO2 which is the leading cause of low pH in reef tanks. It's just one variable to consider.

Great, I’ll look into a ph probe and get some reading, thanks!

 

[MohrReefs]

1 yr, only coraline I have is a few spots on the rock and on the frag plugs it came on.