The beginnings of coralline?

[modom1207]

This is after 11 months .
Bubble algea was my last algea i had encountered . In this picture it was severe . My fox took 1 month to get rid of them

You have a beautiful tank!

 

[modom1207]

I echo other people that in my experience rocks are usually near the last thing to grow coralline algae. In my reef I have to scrape coralline off the glass about once a month to see anything. All the pumps and scrapers are completely purple. The rocks have maybe 1/4 to 1/5 covered in coralline, and even that has taken off mostly recently.

Tank rock is just progressing in my opinion. Tank looks great for 8 weeks!

Thank you! I have tried googling but I can’t find any other algae that isn’t fuzzy and slimy and green. If it’s not coralline, I kinda want to know what else it could be lol

 

[Sdoutreefer]

yeah, that’s exactly what mine feels like. Have you had any algae try to grow on top of it? I’ve noticed the cyanos will not grow where it is, so they’ve taken to the sand bed and all of the plastic stuff in my tank. I’m wondering if it’ll eventually completely suffocate them out

Nope, nothing is growing on top. My trochus snails can't even clean it off. What's weird, is the rock I'm using is from an older tank, so logically, there should be a layer of "dead" on top. That "dead" layer was completely eaten away by my trochus snails, leaving a very white rock behind. That exposed white rock ("dead" stuff removed) is the only areas I have this weird, hard algae.

 

[Lavey29]

Thats the same algea that i had the first few weeks of starting up . You can mark that as youre starting point . Al kind of algea's wil pop up from that point , that did happen to me . After 7-9 months i had seen some coraline pop up . Now almost all stones are covered in coraline after 12 ish months .

Exactly

 

[get-salty]

that is the "ugly" stage my man.
- green algae on rocks is prob due to lights on too soon.
- brown sand bed is prob diatom = new tank syndrome.

hang in there and dont rush anything in this hobby. cheers and happy reefing !

 

[modom1207]

that is the "ugly" stage my man.
- green algae on rocks is prob due to lights on too soon.
- brown sand bed is prob diatom = new tank syndrome.

hang in there and dont rush anything in this hobby. cheers and happy reefing !

The brown sand bed is from Cyanobacteria which popped up after I got rid of Dino bacteria a couple weeks ago. The diatoms came on by the second week of my tank’s life, but the dinos outcompeted them. So I know the algae is none of the three I just listed, and I know that it’s also not hair algae. Just wondering what else it could be, if not coralline and not the initial uglies.

 

[ScottJ]

Paragraph below taken from this article; https://arcreef.com/live-rock/coralline-algae/
Interesting info on their site, IMHO. I am in no way endorsing their product, OR saying it does not perform as advertised. (I have used both Purple and Pink Helix, for that matter)


Green coralline algae is usually something that is misidentifed by a newcomer into the aquaria hobby. Many times the hobbyist will purchase a new saltwater aquarium, set up his brand new reef tank and after 3 or 4 weeks go by will start to see diatoms on their new reef rock. Diatoms appear as a brown filamentous coating. These diatoms will be on the rock, on the glass, and will look like sprinkled cinnamon on the sand. After 1-2 months these diatoms will now die off without silicates present in the water column in which to feed off. After diatoms now will come different types of green algae. One green algae that does not need to be introduced is called. Remember, any coralline algae must be introduced to the tank, it will not grow on its own, this included green coralline algae. This type of green looking algae can appear almost neon in color. It is fast growing, and can coat your rocks in a matter of a week. This is usually the time where you may want to freak out, but don’t. This green algae is actually a precursor to coralline algae. It can be even taken as a sign that your tank is well on it’s way to being a healthy, mature, and fully cycled reef tank. This alga will 100% of the time, be replaced by actual coralline algae in time. People often confuse this alga for green coralline algae, it is not though. Green coralline algae is very slow glowing. It will never propagate over an entire reef tank like your common species of coralline. People often give misadvise, stating that if you have to scrape it, or if it can’t be removed with your finger then it must be green coralline algae. This is not at all accurate. This green algae will not turn to coralline algae either, it will be replaced and grown over by coralline, this will only happen though once your tanks water quality is up to par. If your water parameters fluctuate, your nitrates are high, or your flow is low then it can take up to 1 year to be replaced. Normally if everything looks good then the average timeframe will be 2-4 months for this phase of your tanks cycle. This is the last phase befor your aquarium officially graduated to a “mature tank”. It should be viewed as a confirmation that your tank is on the home stretch. Do not panic, do not acid wash all your rock and reef work. Be patient and enjoy this finaly stage properly. Green coralline algae does exist though but these species are extremely slow growing, they often only grow in small circles and will never spread over an entire tank. Keep an eye out for our next article, it is an in-depth look at Green Coralline Algae vs Purple Coralline Algae.

 

[SeaDweller]

I don’t totally agree with you. The pink comes from UV exposure. I’ve had strong, green coralline in the past.

Please someone correct me if I’m wrong!

I haven’t seen different colored coralline since the days of REAL, from the ocean live rock. Nowadays it’s mostly pink or at the very best, purple.

 

[biotex]

What you have is hard green film algae. It can't be scraped off rock because it is attached on the micropores of the rock surface, which is also why it feels solid and unscrapable. Green coralline algae has a white border around where it grows. It changes the entire surface of the rock to have a smooth, plating texture like the other coralline algaes. It almost looks like a green monti cap, but on a much smaller scale and not flourescent.

 

[modom1207]

Paragraph below taken from this article; https://arcreef.com/live-rock/coralline-algae/
Interesting info on their site, IMHO. I am in no way endorsing their product, OR saying it does not perform as advertised. (I have used both Purple and Pink Helix, for that matter)


Green coralline algae is usually something that is misidentifed by a newcomer into the aquaria hobby. Many times the hobbyist will purchase a new saltwater aquarium, set up his brand new reef tank and after 3 or 4 weeks go by will start to see diatoms on their new reef rock. Diatoms appear as a brown filamentous coating. These diatoms will be on the rock, on the glass, and will look like sprinkled cinnamon on the sand. After 1-2 months these diatoms will now die off without silicates present in the water column in which to feed off. After diatoms now will come different types of green algae. One green algae that does not need to be introduced is called. Remember, any coralline algae must be introduced to the tank, it will not grow on its own, this included green coralline algae. This type of green looking algae can appear almost neon in color. It is fast growing, and can coat your rocks in a matter of a week. This is usually the time where you may want to freak out, but don’t. This green algae is actually a precursor to coralline algae. It can be even taken as a sign that your tank is well on it’s way to being a healthy, mature, and fully cycled reef tank. This alga will 100% of the time, be replaced by actual coralline algae in time. People often confuse this alga for green coralline algae, it is not though. Green coralline algae is very slow glowing. It will never propagate over an entire reef tank like your common species of coralline. People often give misadvise, stating that if you have to scrape it, or if it can’t be removed with your finger then it must be green coralline algae. This is not at all accurate. This green algae will not turn to coralline algae either, it will be replaced and grown over by coralline, this will only happen though once your tanks water quality is up to par. If your water parameters fluctuate, your nitrates are high, or your flow is low then it can take up to 1 year to be replaced. Normally if everything looks good then the average timeframe will be 2-4 months for this phase of your tanks cycle. This is the last phase befor your aquarium officially graduated to a “mature tank”. It should be viewed as a confirmation that your tank is on the home stretch. Do not panic, do not acid wash all your rock and reef work. Be patient and enjoy this finaly stage properly. Green coralline algae does exist though but these species are extremely slow growing, they often only grow in small circles and will never spread over an entire tank. Keep an eye out for our next article, it is an in-depth look at Green Coralline Algae vs Purple Coralline Algae.

Hey, thanks for this! I thought about seeding my tank with some spores from ARC, but instead, I decided to introduce coralline through the purchase of a hermit that had pink coralline on its shell. I scrubbed the shell a little bit and hopefully released some spores into my tank…that was about two weeks before this green stuff popped up. Hopefully, then, the spores will soon replace the green algae. Unfortunately, the article jumps over the part where it names the algae that I have going on when the author stated, “one green algae that does not need to be introduced is called.” Wish they would’ve stated what its name is! I like googling things and learning more.

How was your experience seeding your tank with Arc?

 

[modom1207]

What you have is hard green film algae. It can't be scraped off rock because it is attached on the micropores of the rock surface, which is also why it feels solid and unscrapable. Green coralline algae has a white border around where it grows. It changes the entire surface of the rock to have a smooth, plating texture like the other coralline algaes. It almost looks like a green monti cap, but on a much smaller scale and not flourescent.

This seems correct! Is hard green film algae undesirable? It won’t harm my fish, inverts, and corals, will it?

 

[biotex]

Green coralline algae, notice how as it dies back it leaves a white encrusted calcium deposit on the surface:

Green film algae:

 

[biotex]

This seems correct! Is hard green film algae undesirable? It won’t harm my fish, inverts, and corals, will it?

Nope, totally normal. Actually the best outcome compared to hair algae, dinos, cyano, and diatoms, as it will compete with all of these for space on your rock, but will be out completed by coralline algae when that sets in.

 

[Monad]

Does it look similar to this at all?

I got this from the garage of the guy I bought my tank from. It sat there dry for god knows how long but it used to be in a tank.

I was rinsing the rocks with RODI water and the slight pigment on some of them suddenly turned dark green. It was strange.

It’s not slimy at all. Feels like regular rock.

It’s turned a lot paler over time. Now that it’s been in my dark sump for the cycle.

 

[biotex]

Does it look similar to this at all?

I got this from the garage of the guy I bought my tank from. It sat there dry for god knows how long but it used to be in a tank.

I was rinsing the rocks with RODI water and the slight pigment on some of them suddenly turned dark green. It was strange.

It’s not slimy at all. Feels like regular rock.

It’s turned a lot paler over time. Now that it’s been in my dark sump for the cycle.

Green coralline dies back to a really light pastel green color when dried and almost bleaches off when rehydrated. What you have there is film algae.

 

[Monad]

Green coralline dies back to a really light pastel green color when dried and almost bleaches off when rehydrated. What you have there is film algae.

Huh. It feels like rock and the rock was dry for a long time.

Here’s a photo I just took.

It’s been in a dark sump for weeks now.

 

[ScottJ]

Hey, thanks for this! I thought about seeding my tank with some spores from ARC, but instead, I decided to introduce coralline through the purchase of a hermit that had pink coralline on its shell. I scrubbed the shell a little bit and hopefully released some spores into my tank…that was about two weeks before this green stuff popped up. Hopefully, then, the spores will soon replace the green algae. Unfortunately, the article jumps over the part where it names the algae that I have going on when the author stated, “one green algae that does not need to be introduced is called.” Wish they would’ve stated what its name is! I like googling things and learning more.

How was your experience seeding your tank with Arc?

I really can't say one way or the other if it worked or not It didn't hurt, but it still took 6 or 8 months to have good corilline. Patience is key.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

OP, I 100% have coralline growing from the hard green stuff already. My tank is roughly 8 weeks old. I can’t get a clear picture but there is the tiniest little flecks of pink on several of my rocks. I’ll keep you updated!!

 

[modom1207]

OP, I 100% have coralline growing from the hard green stuff already. My tank is roughly 8 weeks old. I can’t get a clear picture but there is the tiniest little flecks of pink on several of my rocks. I’ll keep you updated!!

Please do! Fingers crossed mine will start turning soon!

 

[X-37B]

Green corraline grows in my system behind the Sweep in a lower light area. Tank started with 150lbs of live.
Tank is 5 months old.