Back glass still not covered in coraline...2 yrs old

[sanzz18]

Tank is over 2 years old and my back glass is still not covered in coraline algae. I know a lot of people don't like it but I personally like the look. I have never cleaned my back glass in the time my tank has been up. My rocks were once covered but my tuxedo urchins have been tearing it up; seems to be not growing back much. It grows well on plastic like vortech wetsides, sicce pump, on my overflow box where the weir is, etc. It just doesn't seem to want to cover my back glass. I think I am more concerned with the thought of, "is there something wrong?". What do you guys think? What can be the issue?

Alk - 8.0-8.5
Cal - 440
Mag - 1375

 

[102ttran]

do you still have the sea urchin? and do you dose 2 part or anything to keep your tank stable? Because my tank is only 3 months old and im starting to see coraline on my back wall and bottom since my tank is bare bottom tank.

 

[haitian_reefer]

Consider it a blessing. Less time spent scraping your glass and cleaning equipment

 

[gbroadbridge]

Tank is over 2 years old and my back glass is still not covered in coraline algae. I know a lot of people don't like it but I personally like the look. I have never cleaned my back glass in the time my tank has been up. My rocks were once covered but my tuxedo urchins have been tearing it up; seems to be not growing back much. It grows well on plastic like vortech wetsides, sicce pump, on my overflow box where the weir is, etc. It just doesn't seem to want to cover my back glass. I think I am more concerned with the thought of, "is there something wrong?". What do you guys think? What can be the issue?

Alk - 8.0-8.5
Cal - 440
Mag - 1375

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I would consider myself lucky.

I have to scrape the horrible stuff off the back glass every month

 

[sanzz18]

do you still have the sea urchin? and do you dose 2 part or anything to keep your tank stable? Because my tank is only 3 months old and im starting to see coraline on my back wall and bottom since my tank is bare bottom tank.

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I still have the sea urchins, plan on keeping them especially because of the hair algae I am fighting. My calcium and mag has pretty much always stayed the same, haven't had to dose a lot of 2 part yet.

Consider it a blessing. Less time spent scraping your glass and cleaning equipment

lol I hear you. I just really enjoy the look of the back glass covered, I wouldn't touch it if it was covered on mine.

I would consider myself lucky.

I have to scrape the horrible stuff off the back glass every month

I would not be scraping mine lol

 

[Pistondog]

Whats your ph?

 

[sfin52]

Tank is over 2 years old and my back glass is still not covered in coraline algae. I know a lot of people don't like it but I personally like the look. I have never cleaned my back glass in the time my tank has been up. My rocks were once covered but my tuxedo urchins have been tearing it up; seems to be not growing back much. It grows well on plastic like vortech wetsides, sicce pump, on my overflow box where the weir is, etc. It just doesn't seem to want to cover my back glass. I think I am more concerned with the thought of, "is there something wrong?". What do you guys think? What can be the issue?

Alk - 8.0-8.5
Cal - 440
Mag - 1375

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Consider that a blessing. That coraline will suck up alk and calcium

 

[sfin52]

I still have the sea urchins, plan on keeping them especially because of the hair algae I am fighting. My calcium and mag has pretty much always stayed the same, haven't had to dose a lot of 2 part yet.



lol I hear you. I just really enjoy the look of the back glass covered, I wouldn't touch it if it was covered on mine.



I would not be scraping mine lol

Get a urchin that's what I didn't

 

[102ttran]

Because you have the urchin in your tank and thats what they eat to make your tank clean. People who have a lot of coraline algae have them in there tank so it can help them clean the tank and less scraping the coraline on the glass.

 

[Lavey29]

I have 3 urchins and they really munch down the coralline so it's just very spotty on my back glass and rocks now. Also when I water change the coralline exposed to the air dies off every time.

 

[sanzz18]

Hey y'all. So I wanted to reiterate on this post. I know I was concerned mostly about the coraline not growing on the glass. I also noticed that any coraline algae that my two tuxedo urchins have at this past year is not really growing back. I have lost 1 urchin so there is only 1 urchin for a 6 ft tank. I really miss my rocks being purple. My levels have been stable and not moving much. Not sure how to get the coraline growth ramping up again. I WANT this problem lol. Not sure if its not growing because I am battling a bad GHA infestation and maybe it is consuming whatever the coraline algae needs first? Let me know what you guys think.

 

[killer2001]

I don't think coraline will grow if other nuisance algae is taking up the space. So if your back wall is constantly covered with other algae, coraline will have a hard time setting up shop.

 

[102ttran]

Hey y'all. So I wanted to reiterate on this post. I know I was concerned mostly about the coraline not growing on the glass. I also noticed that any coraline algae that my two tuxedo urchins have at this past year is not really growing back. I have lost 1 urchin so there is only 1 urchin for a 6 ft tank. I really miss my rocks being purple. My levels have been stable and not moving much. Not sure how to get the coraline growth ramping up again. I WANT this problem lol. Not sure if its not growing because I am battling a bad GHA infestation and maybe it is consuming whatever the coraline algae needs first? Let me know what you guys think.

You can try to ask your local reefer who have a bunch of coraline in their tank and ask them if they can scrape them off and put it in a cup for you. And you can seed your tank with that water.

 

[fish farmer]

Hey y'all. So I wanted to reiterate on this post. I know I was concerned mostly about the coraline not growing on the glass. I also noticed that any coraline algae that my two tuxedo urchins have at this past year is not really growing back. I have lost 1 urchin so there is only 1 urchin for a 6 ft tank. I really miss my rocks being purple. My levels have been stable and not moving much. Not sure how to get the coraline growth ramping up again. I WANT this problem lol. Not sure if its not growing because I am battling a bad GHA infestation and maybe it is consuming whatever the coraline algae needs first? Let me know what you guys think.

When I started dosing kalk again I got faster coralline growth.

 

[MrGisonni]

I am almost 2 year in with my mixed reef and it's only growing in small patches here and there. I wouldn't worry about it. Your urchin is eating it.

 

[sanzz18]

So I beat GHA thank god. It is officially considered “managed” and there is not a speck of GHA on the rocks, sand, or glass that I can visually see. I am starting to notice more and more small specks/patches grow on the rocks again. I also noticed that I have a lot more asterina starfish in my tank then I once thought.

Can they, on top of the GHA competing for nutrients/space, be the reason why my coraline algae was originally wiped out?