What do I need to do to get coralline algae to grow like this?

[rock_lobster]

Time. It tends to really kick off and then you will regret wishing you had it.

 

[mitch91175]

This. Patients is the key to the kingdom. I didn't have coralline for almost 2 years, and then one day it exploded, my whole back wall and bottom are covered

Like said above, patience is definitely the key. If you do not have patience (at least when it comes to the livestock aspect) your gonna be in for a long road of stress. I said livestock because you can do what you want to with equipment, but when it comes to growing stuff inside the tank, you definitely want to just pace yourself and let nature take its course. Even with equipment, you still need some patience, but you can move a little faster with it than you can on stuff that is living in the tank.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

.

 

[Homelander]

Does it usally start in small areas and spread, or does it grow in the whole tank at the same time?

You'll start to notice little dots of it start to show up, then more little dots, and then those dots will start encrusting out
You'll go from this

To this

There is even more now, this picture is a couple weeks old

 

[Dana Riddle]

Light requirements of coralline algae vary. Some need very little light (we grew an unidentified purple crustose alga in 10 micromole/m2/sec) while others (many, if not most) are tolerant of much higher light intensity. In my old personal tank, coralline algae showed up first in areas of good water motion (this was in the days when powerheads were the best option we had.)

 

[acrylic2k]

In my opinion, there is also a need for some trace elements/metals.

My 100 gallon tank had started to grow some nice pink quarter sized spots of coralline on the back.
After ICP testing I found I also had crazy high levels of vanadium and nickel. I added a MetaZorb pouch and a PolyFilter.
Within two or three days the coralline was all gone......vanished!
Some elements that were removed were clearly critical to coralline growth, and I bet most tanks naturally have enough of these trace elements.

 

[Geebs19]

If you dont want to wait, you can always buy the Walt Smith Project Reef Rock 2.1

 

[mta_morrow]

While I like seeing a little bit of it, I always add a short spine urchin to begin eating it and keep it from encrusting my rock.

I’m in the camp of coralline seals the rock and hurts the bacteria population.

Don’t get me wrong, I like it! Just not totally covering and smothering!

 

[408Dartfish]

My tank is about 4 months old and I got coralline growing probably just luck really. I keep steady on water changes about 30% every 2 weeks. I also had quite a few snails and couple rocks with a little bit of coraline. I found odd that I have a remote fuge with a white light LED and I’m getting coraline in there also. Dustin

 

[Jeremy Lain]

My tank is about 4 months old and I got coralline growing probably just luck really. I keep steady on water changes about 30% every 2 weeks. I also had quite a few snails and couple rocks with a little bit of coraline. I found odd that I have a remote fuge with a white light LED and I’m getting coraline in there also. Dustin

Do you have any pictures of your reef tank with the coralline algae growth?

 

[Jeremy Lain]

Can yall post pictures of your reef tanks with coralline algae growing in it, I would like to see different colors if possible? I googled it and it says it can grow in the colors: pink, red, purple, yellow, blue, white, grey, and green.

 

[Reefland503]

Be careful what you wish for! My tank has so much growth its almost like a pest algae lol

 

[408Dartfish]

Do you have any pictures of your reef tank with the coralline algae growth?

Here’s a pic of some coraline growth on plastic parts in the tank. Along with all the other algae and bacteria I’ve got lol.

Second pic is coraline in fuge which has a white LED Zet light nothing special.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

Here’s a pic of some coraline growth on plastic parts in the tank. Along with all the other algae and bacteria I’ve got lol.
View attachment 843489
Second pic is coraline in fuge which has a white LED Zet light nothing special.
View attachment 843493

Awesome! Are you dosing calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium?

 

[Devin McBride]

Everyone has already said it already, but stability and good parameters (kh), I introduced hermit with coraline on their shells months ago, now my rocks are covering and I'm getting growth on the back wall.

 

[408Dartfish]

Awesome! Are you dosing calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium?

I dose nothing so far just keep my system stable with water changes 30% every 2 weeks. Dustin

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Light requirements of coralline algae vary. Some need very little light (we grew an unidentified purple crustose alga in 10 micromole/m2/sec) while others (many, if not most) are tolerant of much higher light intensity. In my old personal tank, coralline algae showed up first in areas of good water motion (this was in the days when powerheads were the best option we had.)

I second the good water movement being the spots to show first. Mine has grown first and strongest by the return inlet to my tank. I’m at the 6 month mark as well and after adding some new spectrum to the mix in lighting it has blown up over the past few weeks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

maintaining calcium level and some patience will deliver. Red sea has a good coralline accelerator but it is best to have it form naturally

 

[Heavymman]

Has anybody used this to seed a dry rock tank?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B078...line+algae&dpPl=1&dpID=410le1yjTXL&ref=plSrch

 

[keithdoc]

think of coralline as something to indicate stable tank parameters, instead of something to seed or grow.
Stable Alk/Calc/Mag and some light are all you need (it's the fluctuations that are BAD . In a new tank with aquaculture or dry rock it might take 6 months to a year or more.
Introduce change very gradually, don't slack on maintenance, you'll have a stable system.
Any frag or snail/hermit shell you introduce will have enough on it to seed your tank - don't worry about it happening too quickly.

If you spend years battling hair algae (Like I did), and finally figure out how to export waste in your system . . . with enough patience, coralline will just take over the rock. (some rock just wants to grow algae, and until crusted with coralline, will somehow keep going it).

Here's how NOT to get it:
overfeed your fish, leading to a LOT Of algae growth
introduce too much livestock, too early
slack up in your testing
slack up in your maintenance (pumps not working, skimmer not skimming well, etc)
slack up in your dosing (forget to refill 2-part, miss an unplugged dosing pump, not check that discharge hoses were in the sump)
make a bunch of changes quickly
don't setup a system for regular water changes / dosing
quit doing water changes - unless you're running Triton
let your DI Resin get depleted, and not test TDS coming out of wall
don't clean your skimmer every 6 months (amazing what you'll find INSIDE the skimmer, or stuck on/in the needle wheel impeller)