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

[Heavymman]

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)

Yea but if you cure dry rock for months, your not going to just magically get corraline, you will need a source to “seed” it.

 

[keithdoc]

Yea but if you cure dry rock for months, your not going to just magically get corraline, you will need a source to “seed” it.

True

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.

 

[Heavymman]

True

Misspoke lol... I still wonder though if you use this stuff:

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

Introduce nothing, if you would get corraline? Of course keeping water parameters and lighting correct.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

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)

Thank you for the information! I added a snail and a frag plug with coralline algae on it, and I scraped some of it off and put it in the water in the reef tank. Two weeks ago I started with the parameters at calcium 420, dkh 9, and magnesium 1320 and I am going to try to keep them close to the same. So I guess I will just have to have patience and hopefully I will start to see some coralline algae some time!

 

[Jeremy Lain]

.

 

[Ferrell]

Patience

 

[andyg1960]

You can use this stuff. If your parameters are correct and stable, and there is appropriate light, it will take off

https://arcreef.com/product/coralli...2-Mc2oWCa1gKA710I8ImSAphy8puwYWIaAglAEALw_wcB

 

[Billldg]

I introduced frags into my DT and it just started to grow, I also use Kalk which I heard also promotes growth. Watch out for lighting though as I found out when I started to raise my light for the SPS, it killed half the coralline growth, thankfully its starting to grow back,their are low light and high light species of coralline algae. As is has been said several times I'm sure, be patient as it seems to grow faster for some than others.

 

[biophilia]

Keeping magnesium higher (1300ish or 1400ish) can possibly help (Mg makes up as much as 20% of the mass of crustose coralline under some circumstances)
Keeping PO4 very low can possibly help if it functions as a limiting nutrient in you tank. Coralline has a hard time establishing itself on surfaces dominated by other species of algae.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

My tank is just over 3 months old, used cooked live rock and I am just starting to see coraline growing.

 

[Susan Bates]

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.

Is the white spots the start of it?

 

[airmanv05]

I agree with other posts. Stable water parameters and proper light spectrum will give you wall to wall coralline algae. My 90 has plating coraline at present. It falls off glass at times as it gets too thick!

 

[408Dartfish]

Is the white spots the start of it?

The pics are bad it’s more of a light purple.

 

[427HISS]

We all like coraline, pretty colors and can help with algae control getting a foothold on rock, but it can be a pain in the butt too.

Hard to scrape off things you don't want in on.
Powerheads, propellars, glass/acrylic, heaters, sump parts, skimmers, overflows, thermo's etc...
Basically, only want it on our rock.

Calcium is the biggest factor. Try scraping several different colors into a cup etc, make up some calcium chloride, put it all in a blender, then you can add some everyday.

 

[Jet915]

Like everyone else said, stable parameters, I noticed when I started dosing magnesium to keep it >1300 it really took off around the 8 month mark. I also used live rock from the beginning.

 

[Centerline]

Low PH can inhibit growth.

 

[NY_Caveman]

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.

I can show you mine. It came in on live rock (system 2.5 months old). Mostly purple, pink and a little orange. It died off a little when I added it, but then came back strong, especially the pink! Right now I am having a second mini die off. Had my first Alkalinity drop and just started adding Kalkwasser hoping to compensate.

First month

Second month (flash only)

2.5 months in

 

[vetteguy53081]

Maintain good calcium levels and temperatures and wait it out.

 

[madweazl]

Time! This talk of spectrum just doesn't hold water for me as it grows in my sump under a Kessil A160 in "grow" mode and almost no PAR in some areas. My lighting is around 14k, I do not like "blue" looking tanks.

 

[WallyB]

I think everyone is repeating the same thing.

Takes Time and Patience. (Even with Good Parameter like ALK, CALCIUM and MAG and Reasonable LIGHTING)

If you try to add stuff (other than Coraline Scrapings, or nice Pieces of Coraline Covered Rock), you could run into problems that are worse than NO Coraline.

I love the look of Coraline myself, that's why your post caught my attention.

BELOW IS the EXACT Same Pile of Rocks over time. LONG TIME.

You won't need to wait years, but as each rock get more Coraline covered. Things will speed up.

In my case I rebuilt tank 3 times (Starting from Scratch, but SAME ROCKS), so each time rotated rocks it helped the coralline build up on all sides.

My last tank which I started few months ago, had Coraline Take off very quickly. (2nd Coraline Progress Compare PHoto)

These photo's might put things in perspective, and help you with the WAIT GAME.

I have a different kind of Wait GAME now. Growing SPS Corals (If they survive this time)