How long till coraline algae?

[G Santana]

In my case 9 months that's how long lol
A few weeks ago or so I spotted a tiny little bit of coraline algae and was stoked, well today 9 months 4 days in I have about 10 spots of coraline algae on my glass bottom.
I was taking a close look at a bite in the backside of my flame angel (purple tang suspected) when I looked down at the obvious signs of coraline algae forming on my BB.
Now I have been dosing AFR for 5 weeks now, my numbers are all where they should be and I truly believe that the tank is finally matured. 9 months, like incubating a baby lol

There's no rushing coraline algae, a mature tank and this hobby
Now I know that coraline algae is a double edged sword but I'd rather have it and have to feed it than not have it and wonder why.
Yes, little things excite me lol

 

[blaxsun]

Be happy with the 9 months of being relatively "coraline free". Once the stuff takes off it coats *everything*. The water that I cleaned a pair of ReefWaves in yesterday was maroon...

 

[G Santana]

Be happy with the 9 months of being relatively "coraline free". Once the stuff takes off it coats *everything*. The water that I cleaned a pair of ReefWaves in yesterday was maroon...

Lol I know but it does look nice but will challenge your equipment and suck in your calcium/Alk

 

[blaxsun]

Lol I know but it does look nice but will challenge your equipment and suck in your calcium/Alk

Looks nice, quadruples your equipment maintenance. I've had to significantly increase my EzeClean budget this year!

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Hey at least it showed up! Fashionably late or not.
keep that Mag in check to keep it around. Mine normally dips after a water change if I don’t supplement the new water

 

[Dkmoo]

Don't worry about it, it's a good thing. One tuxedo urchin will make sure you never gets too much coraline algae - whatever it can't finish eating it'll make fashionable cloth out of them

 

[G Santana]

Don't worry about it, it's a good thing. One tuxedo urchin will make sure you never gets too much coraline algae - whatever it can't finish eating it'll make fashionable cloth out of them

That's hysterical lol

 

[JGT]

Don't worry about it, it's a good thing. One tuxedo urchin will make sure you never gets too much coraline algae - whatever it can't finish eating it'll make fashionable cloth out of them

I’ll take the #3 coralline algae value pack, to go.

 

[Gedxin]

Took me roughly 3-4 weeks until I started noticing coralline algae on my power head. I added a bunch of empty coralline covered snail shells from my mature LFS' tank at the 1 week mark. Stuff is everywhere now nearly 3 months in.

 

[G Santana]

Took me roughly 3-4 weeks until I started noticing coralline algae on my power head. I added a bunch of empty coralline covered snail shells from my mature LFS' tank at the 1 week mark. Stuff is everywhere now nearly 3 months in.

That's awesome, were you dosing from the beginning?

 

[Gedxin]

That's awesome, were you dosing from the beginning?

Sort of. I started manually dosing liquid soda ash around 10 days in, wanted higher Alk than mixed weekly water changes with Tropic Marin Pro gave me (7.5.)

 

[SauceyReef]

I am also near 9 months in and see barely any Coraline algae. Params stable and I have LPS, SPS, clam, but Coraline never seems to want to grow..

 

[Dkmoo]

What is your current ph, alk and ca level?

 

[G Santana]

I am also near 9 months in and see barely any Coraline algae. Params stable and I have LPS, SPS, clam, but Coraline never seems to want to grow..

I only got there I believe once my bare bottom became stable and I started dosing AFR. Before that, I had very little in the way of corals and had no real need to dose. But once I started 5 weeks ago it has really taken off. Earlier today I found big patches on one of my rocks and I attributed all to dosing.

My big 3 prior to dosing
Alk. 7.2
Mag. 1410
Cal. 420

After 5 weeks
Alk. 9.3
Mag. 1440
Cal. 434

 

[Rmckoy]

In my case 9 months that's how long lol
A few weeks ago or so I spotted a tiny little bit of coraline algae and was stoked, well today 9 months 4 days in I have about 10 spots of coraline algae on my glass bottom.
I was taking a close look at a bite in the backside of my flame angel (purple tang suspected) when I looked down at the obvious signs of coraline algae forming on my BB.
Now I have been dosing AFR for 5 weeks now, my numbers are all where they should be and I truly believe that the tank is finally matured. 9 months, like incubating a baby lol

There's no rushing coraline algae, a mature tank and this hobby
Now I know that coraline algae is a double edged sword but I'd rather have it and have to feed it than not have it and wonder why.
Yes, little things excite me lol

Scrape the few spots …. It will multiply and spread .

 

[SauceyReef]

Scrape the few spots …. It will multiply and spread .

I have done this a few times already and it never did anything.

 

[WheatToast]

Placing a Coralline covered snail shell onto some of my "deader" live rock produced "spots" after three weeks.

 

[Uncle99]

Coralline loves white light.

 

[Dkmoo]

IME, the best thing you can do for coraline algae is to make calcification as easy as possible, and for that to happen alk and ca levels alone is only half the battle. PH is the secret sauce bc alk is a total concentration of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate. Calcification needs carbonate, which exist in higher concentrations in higher pH.

My tank had always maintained alk between 8 to 9 and calcium north of 425. However for years I struggled with getting any coralline. Turns out my pH was always at 7.7 and it wasn't until I switched to soda ash and added co2 scrubber to boost my pH to 8.2 that my coraline exploded. Entire tank turned purple within 2 months

 

[WheatToast]

Coralline loves white light.

Well I used a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 (a freshwater light) on my marine planted system, so that partially explains the rapid growth of my Coralline.