ZERO coralline algae?

[ToadstoolCoral155]

It's only now that this thought hit me, because I kind of forgot what coralline was. I put live rock and live sand in my tank when I first purchased, and as of now except for the coralline my tank biologically speaking is quite established. But when I say ZERO coralline algae, I mean I have never seen coralline algae ever in my tank, not once.

And I find it strange because the amount of plankton/biological stuff in my water column has been enough to sustain my flame scallop for months.

What could I do to fix this?

Livestock: Flame Scallop, Yellow Sea Cucumber, Tuxedo Urchin, Two Clownfish, Toadstool, GSP, two Zoanthid frags, a sea slug, macroalgae, 4 nassarius snails, 10-12 hermits, 4 astria snails, peppermint shrimp.



Water chemistry:
PH: 8.3
Calcium:450 PPM
Nitrates: 3-4
Nitrites & Phosphates: 0
Ammonia: about zero, not entirely zero though.

 

[jdpeters]

It's only now that this thought hit me, because I kind of forgot what coralline was. I put live rock and live sand in my tank when I first purchased, and as of now except for the coralline my tank biologically speaking is quite established. But when I say ZERO coralline algae, I mean I have never seen coralline algae ever in my tank, not once.

And I find it strange because the amount of plankton/biological stuff in my water column has been enough to sustain my flame scallop for months.

What could I do to fix this?

Livestock: Flame Scallop, Yellow Sea Cucumber, Tuxedo Urchin, Two Clownfish, Toadstool, GSP, two Zoanthid frags, a sea slug, macroalgae, 4 nassarius snails, 10-12 hermits, 4 astria snails, peppermint shrimp.



Water chemistry:
PH: 8.3
Calcium:450 PPM
Nitrates: 3-4
Nitrites & Phosphates: 0
Ammonia: about zero, not entirely zero though.

How old is the tank

 

[ToadstoolCoral155]

How old is the tank

Been up since may. Be sure to read the whole post- this tank by all means now other than coralline is established and the chemistry is just fine.

TBH I think now that there literally just never was any coralline algae spores introduces.

 

[WV Reefer]

It's only now that this thought hit me, because I kind of forgot what coralline was. I put live rock and live sand in my tank when I first purchased, and as of now except for the coralline my tank biologically speaking is quite established. But when I say ZERO coralline algae, I mean I have never seen coralline algae ever in my tank, not once.

And I find it strange because the amount of plankton/biological stuff in my water column has been enough to sustain my flame scallop for months.

What could I do to fix this?

Livestock: Flame Scallop, Yellow Sea Cucumber, Tuxedo Urchin, Two Clownfish, Toadstool, GSP, two Zoanthid frags, a sea slug, macroalgae, 4 nassarius snails, 10-12 hermits, 4 astria snails, peppermint shrimp.



Water chemistry:
PH: 8.3
Calcium:450 PPM
Nitrates: 3-4
Nitrites & Phosphates: 0
Ammonia: about zero, not entirely zero though.

Have you introduced it into your tank? It doesn’t just “show up”.

 

[ToadstoolCoral155]

Have you introduced it into your tank? It doesn’t just “show up”.

Most reefers have told me it's "Guaranteed if you buy live rock."
And no I have not purposely done that yet. Should i buy a bottle of it?

 

[jdpeters]

Been up since may. Be sure to read the whole post- this tank by all means now other than coralline is established and the chemistry is just fine.

TBH I think now that there literally just never was any coralline algae spores introduces.

It takes a long time in most cases. My tanks just started to take off in the last week or two and it’s 2.5 years old. You also have to introduce it from another source like live rock or a snail with it on it

 

[ToadstoolCoral155]

It takes a long time in most cases. My tanks just started to take off in the last week or two and it’s 2.5 years old. You also have to introduce it from another source like live rock or a snail with it on it

Alright, thanks

 

[WV Reefer]

Most reefers have told me it's "Guaranteed if you buy live rock."
And no I have not purposely done that yet. Should i buy a bottle of it?

I have no idea if the bottled stuff is legit. Mine has always came in on frags and such. Some stores sell coralline starter kits. Do you have any Reefer friends close by that could give you some scrapings from their tank?

 

[ToadstoolCoral155]

I have no idea if the bottled stuff is legit. Mine has always came in on frags and such. Some stores sell coralline starter kits. Do you have any Reefer friends close by that could give you some scrapings from their tank?

Oh right, I do...huh.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It’s a baby tank. Be patient.
Using warmer spectrums will also help.
Coraline also comes in on frags.

 

[Sallstrom]

The tuxedo urchin graze on coralline algae. I'm sure you I'll have some coralline algae anyway soon, but they do keep the rocks quite clean.

 

[Captain Quint]

It’s a baby tank. Be patient.
Using warmer spectrums will also help.
Coraline also comes in on frags.

+1 with my friend above. Make sure if you get a frag or anything encrusted with Coralline Algae that it is not exposed to air as it will die off. Release it from the container in its water. It would hurt to scrape some of the C.A. off submerged in the water of the DT allowing it to spread through the water column and attach to rocks, glass and such.

'Purple Up' will not produce Coralline Algae and I intentionally experimented with it with no results whatsoever. I've heard another brand (don't recall the name) but know nothing on that brand.

 

[Oshengems]

Even some shells of hermits and snails when ever you see any at your LFS snatch them up and if you like scrape a bit off let it go on your water Column. Took about 3-4 months for my coraline to pop up but once it does it takes over everything! I find tuxedo urchin good to clean the back of the glass from coraline

 

[Oshengems]

Oh you have a tuxedo already you will never see coraline they will strip the rocks from it when I saw strip I mean it in all scene of the word I have a ton of LR about 120lb in a 75g (some in my ) but most in the display and I had bought a long spine and tuxedo urchin these 2 guys were literally cleaning my rocks white I could clearly see their track and they are very fast and efficient at this

 

[User]

Purple up doesn’t supply spores, just a mix of essential nutrients thatvthe algae needs. If your parameters and lights are good, it’s a waste of money.

This stuff has spores- and gets good reviews. I’m planning on adding the pink and purple to my tank once it’s stable

 

[reefwiser]

Coralline algae is very light dependent. They dealers treat live rock now days. Most LFS keep their live rock in tubs that are un light and never check alk levels on the tub. So in the process the kill a vast majority of it on the rock you buy there. The best source of live rock is fresh from the ocean rock. Which is a great benefit to your tank.

Indo pacific coral farms sells cultured coral one algae on plastic sheets. Place them in your tank with light getting to the plastic plates and keep you levels up and you will start to see coralline Algae start to grow. The bottled stuff just basically another from of alk booster. If you are not already using a two part cal and alk dosing to keep your levels up.

https://www.ipsf.com/corallinebooster.html

 

[ToadstoolCoral155]

Now that I look harder at my tank, I think I can see some but it's hard to tell because unfortunately my rock is about the same color.
What does coraline algae feel like? Is it rock hard?

 

[Rjukan]

I've heard that a good way to get coraline to spread is once you start getting small circles of it on your glass to scrape it off. The bits that come off then seed other areas of rock and glass. Or if you have a small rock or plug that's encrusted with coraline to scrape that into the tank.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

be careful what you wish for.... my tank is 9 months old and 3-4 months in I was just dying to have coraline growth. well, its EVERYWHERE now. I have a purple frag tank that is for sure and I scrape scrape scrape 3x a week to keep it off the glass.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im coralline free and strive to maintain that.