How long till coraline algae?

[James_O]

Congrats!

Mine kinda took off after around 4 months of being setup. (I believe it was introduced from some frags I bough in a live sale)

 

[Rmckoy]

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

Nothing good happens right away .
Essentially you’re waiting for the spores or algae to take in another location .

Once it happens , you will wish you never had coralline algae .

 

[Hermie]

I grow more coralline with alkalinity above 7, gotta be supplementing the tank

 

[G Santana]

Nothing good happens right away .
Essentially you’re waiting for the spores or algae to take in another location .

Once it happens , you will wish you never had coralline algae .

Oh I agree 100%

 

[WheatToast]

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

The spots:

The shell:

 

[Sebastiancrab]

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

This is too cute! It makes me want one. I have noticed the first spots of coraline algae this week. I wish you had a video of his eating the "stored" food on his back. Do you attach nori when he doesn't have any?

 

[SauceyReef]

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

This actually helped explain a lot to me. This makes sense because I have stopped testing pH after maintaining stability for a while and assume it could be on the slightly lower end. Regardless my tank has been finding some amazing balance so I dont want to change anything for corrallines sake. Great info though!

 

[flashsmith]

I work diligently to not have it...

 

[Dkmoo]

This is too cute! It makes me want one. I have noticed the first spots of coraline algae this week. I wish you had a video of his eating the "stored" food on his back. Do you attach nori when he doesn't have any?

Coraline grows back super fast in my tank - rocks that he strips clean turn back purple in about 1 week. I also leave the back glass dirty with algae to feed him and my snails.

I also feed a ton for a 30G so he will never run out of food.

Bought him 3 years ago about the size of a quarter. Now he's about 2-3 inches across.

 

[Hermie]

This is too cute! It makes me want one. I have noticed the first spots of coraline algae this week. I wish you had a video of his eating the "stored" food on his back. Do you attach nori when he doesn't have any?

Urchins use debris as camoflauge from my understanding not necessarily to eat at a later time. It's possibly used to shield from UV rays or for blending into the rockscape (anti-predatory).

 

[aggrofish]

coralline usually appears 3-5 months in for me. I've used the spores from ARC to try to get pink in there but it's all purple. Maybe the pink strains aren't as strong?

 

[Paul B]

I don't know how long it takes. My tank after fifty years still has no coraline algae. Maybe in another year. ;Bookworm

 

[Glenner’sreef]

I don't know how long it takes. My tank after fifty years still has no coraline algae. Maybe in another year. ;Bookworm

So I transferred half of my stuff from my 137g to a new 180g a year ago. Easy process, no cycle. But still no Coralline. If you can wait 51 years!!!!!!!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Took my reef 3 months using cook llive rock from tank break downs.

 

[Baneston]

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 think this is my problem!!!! He turbo cleans everything… we refer to ours as uncle fester!

 

[snorklr]

10 years ago in new york i had a wet dry, power compact lighting and used tap water ....tons of coraline needed to be scraped off the glass...moved the tank down here ...different glass box ,same rock, ro/di, radion...virtually no coraline for the last10 yrs...

 

[Tim McLellan]

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

Love my tuxedo urchin.