NEED HELP GROWING CORALINE ALGAE!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It can be a long process in any tank...but if you are starting from scratch, yes...months.

I had rock in my first tank that had been sitting in buckets with no flow or light for 3 months or so...it took awhile for me to get coraline.
 
I have the opposite problem. Coraline is quite predominate on all my rocks. All different shades of purples. I don't even have very good parameters conducive to coraline growth.
temp 80
spg 1.024
PH 8.1
Dkh 6
Am 0
Ni 0
Na 15
Ca 430
Phos .35
Mag 1300
I shut off my filtration at one point only leaving on circulation pumps. Scrape off some coraline from other surfaces, crush it up and reintroduce it to your tank in front of your circulation pumps getting it to spread through out. Let it settle back down before you turn your filtration back on. This should help a bit.
 
Windsor, I think your numbers are pretty good!

Good advice also about the scraping...I have never tried it but I have heard that it works.
 
i have been scraping..... it helps a little.. my 28 grows so much in 24 hours. i have to scrub every 48 hours to keep it off the froont and sides of the glass
 
MFISHGURU said:
i have been scraping..... it helps a little.. my 28 grows so much in 24 hours. i have to scrub every 48 hours to keep it off the froont and sides of the glass
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That's not coraline algae; that's red slime algae. Coraline grows much slower. Keep an eye on the phosphates and nitrates. When they are high, it inhibits the coraline and feeds the red slime. The growth rate indicates that it is red slime.

These articles will provide more understanding:
Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php
Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

Did you read the GARF links that I posted? (Something tells me that nobody did. :/ )
 
At concentrations below about 0.03 ppm, the growth rate of many phytoplankton species depends on the phosphate concentration (assuming that something else, such as nitrogen or iron, is not limiting their growth). Above this level, many organisms' growth rate is independent of phosphate concentration.1 So, to deter algal growth by controlling phosphate, aquarists need to keep the phosphate levels quite low.
Click to expand...

What this means is that .03 ppm is the growth limiting concentration of phosphate. Anything above this and algae can grow. Keep it at or below .03 ppm and you'll control all undesireable algae and all other nutrients will be available to the coraline (and corals).
 
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