Rocks aren't turning purple :(

[Donovan Joannes]

Trust me, you gonna wish that purple thing will only grow at Mars once they start depleting your big 3 faster than a jet liner.

 

[Broadwave]

Here's what you need to do.... some may shake their heads but this has worked for me for the past 16+ plus years... find a live rock that is literally covered in Coralline algae... buy it from a place like http://www.garf.org/coralline.html from there you can scrape some of it into the water column. Also you must maintain your water parameters to the following... 8.5 dKH, 430 CA, 1450 MG and pH over 8.1. trust me, you will have a TON of Coralline in no time.

If you are running LED's as some on this threat have indicated their experience, LED's are a directional light source, meaning; they directionally point down... the reason some were experiencing more coralline on the glass and walls is because of the light spread on T5, MH, etc... vs LED. You will indeed see less on the walls with LED.

Just do the above and you will be all set.

 

[Karie]

I agree with Donovan. I used to watch daily for any sign of coralline growing in my tank and now I dread that stuff. I have only had Radions on my tank and my back wall is covered with it. Under my sand line it is trying to grow. It tries to take over your tank and it just might win!!!

I'm not sure where you got your 2 purple rocks from, but when I first started my tank I bought some seed rock with coralline on them. But I was wrong. They were rocks colored to look like corralline, similar to REAL REEF ROCK. I hope you didn't do the same thing I did. Live and Learn.

 

[jeffrey holloway]

Never could figure the need for coralline algae. My 150g DT and sump is totally encrusted. I hate the stuff, 180lbs of Pukani totally covered. The Bio system has to be impacted by this. Tank shows no negative effects. It took about eight months to take over. I daily dose BRS Two Part. Its all about keeping the ALK, Cal, and Mag levels stable good circulation.

 

[Walts O]

How about the additives like purple up? I think Kent marine makes it

 

[madweazl]

Hmm, wish I knew the recipe to make it stop. The stuff pops up on the glass over night and grows in sections of my sump that have almost no light, too. Tank has been up 11 months now and I used 50lbs of dry rock with 5-6lbs (two pieces) of Fiji live rock. The coralline has started to take off on the dry rock the past few months but it's been rapidly growing on the glass for about six of those months. I cant find any correlation between light intensity and coralline growth; it grows in intense light and almost no light just as well. I run Kessils on the DT and switched from 6500k CFLs over the refugium to Kessil yesterday.

 

[schooncw]

I switched to LED for my new 120 in January from T5 and am getting slow growth, as compared to when I had T5.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

To seed my new 75g back in February I started scraping the shells of turbo snails with my pocket knife and then letting those scraping go into the water column. I have none on the glass, but you can see tiny specs here and there on the rocks and I have a few pea sized pink coraline spots on my overflow. I'm running 2x16" SBReef lights on my tank and it's about 5 months old.

 

[Broadwave]

How about the additives like purple up? I think Kent marine makes it

That stuff is snake oil... there isn't any coralline algae in it.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How about the additives like purple up? I think Kent marine makes it

It's just a mag suppliment.

 

[madweazl]

That stuff is snake oil... there isn't any coralline algae in it.

It isn't supposed to have coralline in it. All the scraping business being talked about is completely unnecessary as well.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Hmm, wish I knew the recipe to make it stop. The stuff pops up on the glass over night and grows in sections of my sump that have almost no light, too. Tank has been up 11 months now and I used 50lbs of dry rock with 5-6lbs (two pieces) of Fiji live rock. The coralline has started to take off on the dry rock the past few months but it's been rapidly growing on the glass for about six of those months. I cant find any correlation between light intensity and coralline growth; it grows in intense light and almost no light just as well. I run Kessils on the DT and switched from 6500k CFLs over the refugium to Kessil yesterday.

Curious if your running extremely high light?
Generally it's called light shock, but it seems common for it to be blasted off like mine didnat ine point.
Also I've noticed that different dousing methods appear to effect growth.
I've run ESV two part at high alk (10) and had purple blast but remain in the shade, now running balling at 8.5 I have lots of pink coming in under the same light levels.

And yea I really didn't miss it much.

And then I have and do know folks with high light and ca reactors not growing massive corraline. Quite interesting.

Never could figure the need for coralline algae. My 150g DT and sump is totally encrusted. I hate the stuff, 180lbs of Pukani totally covered. The Bio system has to be impacted by this. Tank shows no negative effects. It took about eight months to take over. I daily dose BRS Two Part. Its all about keeping the ALK, Cal, and Mag levels stable good circulation.

I don't 100% belive there is a need. It competes as far as I know. I do think it helps with ph and a tiny amount of excess nutrint up take. Generally just a sign of health as an indicator of a balance of the big three.

I switched to LED for my new 120 in January from T5 and am getting slow growth, as compared to when I had T5.

Are you running different light levels with the led? I do kinda think there's a spectrum missing in some led the t5 have.

 

[wmo168]

you probably keep your tank too clean and on your LED, you probably need to have 80-90% white on and less blue... I had a tank with LED for 7 years and it is not adjustable and it is always white.. Coralline grow like crazy on the grass and backwall... and I do monthly 4-6 weeks water change.. thats it.. no dirty tank.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Here's what you need to do.... some may shake their heads but this has worked for me for the past 16+ plus years... find a live rock that is literally covered in Coralline algae... buy it from a place like http://www.garf.org/coralline.html from there you can scrape some of it into the water column. Also you must maintain your water parameters to the following... 8.5 dKH, 430 CA, 1450 MG and pH over 8.1. trust me, you will have a TON of Coralline in no time.

If you are running LED's as some on this threat have indicated their experience, LED's are a directional light source, meaning; they directionally point down... the reason some were experiencing more coralline on the glass and walls is because of the light spread on T5, MH, etc... vs LED. You will indeed see less on the walls with LED.

Just do the above and you will be all set.

I agree with the seeding and sourcing and levels.
But since I changed to balling I'm now getting corraline even in the front glass now and the very back top of the tank too. Same light levels. But still not quick or massive growth on the rocks. It's quite odd.

 

[madweazl]

Curious if your running extremely high light?
Generally it's called light shock, but it seems common for it to be blasted off like mine didnat ine point.
Also I've noticed that different dousing methods appear to effect growth.
I've run ESV two part at high alk (10) and had purple blast but remain in the shade, now running balling at 8.5 I have lots of pink coming in under the same light levels.

And yea I really didn't miss it much.

And then I have and do know folks with high light and ca reactors not growing massive corraline. Quite interesting.

I don't 100% belive there is a need. It competes as far as I know. I do think it helps with ph and a tiny amount of excess nutrint up take. Generally just a sign of health as an indicator of a balance of the big three.

Are you running different light levels with the led? I do kinda think there's a spectrum missing in some led the t5 have.

No, far from it really. The highest points of my rock receive just over 100 PAR. My pH is generally 8.1-8.5 depending on weather conditions (i.e. cool enough to open a window). dKH is typically 8.0. I dose baking soda for alkalinity and Preston Driveway Heat for calcium (2 part for all intent and purpose). I'm just starting to use enough Mg to require dosing that (water changes have been enough until the past couple months).

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No, far from it really. The highest points of my rock receive just over 100 PAR. My pH is generally 8.1-8.5 depending on weather conditions (i.e. cool enough to open a window). dKH is typically 8.0. I dose baking soda for alkalinity and Preston Driveway Heat for calcium (2 part for all intent and purpose). I'm just starting to use enough Mg to require dosing that (water changes have been enough until the past couple months).

yea that's a recipie for corraline success there.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

A little bit here and there is enough for me. My coralline growth is limited to my live rocks, and mostly purple plating type. I do have pink, red blood, lime green, red and pale yellow coraline at few places. So far they don't grow excessively, and I hope they won't at all.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A little bit here and there is enough for me. My coralline growth is limited to my live rocks, and mostly purple plating type. I do have pink, red blood, lime green, red and pale yellow coraline at few places. So far they don't grow excessively, and I hope they won't at all.

You live and collect wild coral too don't you?
I used the next easiest purchased type besides GARF. Fiji mud. $15 American for a small can. I had a LOT of really interesting colors show up.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

You live and collect wild coral too don't you?
I used the next easiest purchased type besides GARF. Fiji mud. $15 American for a small can. I had a LOT of really interesting colors show up.

Yes sir. I did my coral shopping once or twice a year during lowest tide, year end usually. Knee to waist deep, getting frag size specimen is fun and easy. All my CUC snails and urchins are wild caught too.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes sir. I did my coral shopping once or twice a year during lowest tide, year end usually. Knee to waist deep, getting frag size specimen is fun and easy. All my CUC snails and urchins are wild caught too.

Lol. Rub it in.

I'd imagine the corraline you get is pretty cool.