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

[RtomKinMad]

We put in a live rock from LFS and now 3 years later whole tank even crushed coral sand bed is covered, over flows and back wall. We Lov it. Adds color. You can see it on the sand too.

 

[jroescher]

Be careful of what you add to your tank. I had a healthy amount of corraline until an infestation of asterina stars wiped out every trace of it.

 

[madweazl]

Be careful of what you add to your tank. I had a healthy amount of corraline until an infestation of asterina stars wiped out every trace of it.

I just don't buy this at all; I've seen a lot of critters get blamed for things but I cant support this one in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Shooter6]

I personally question the lighting suggestions. I have coraline growth under my rock, and in the unlit areas of my sump. Areas that are blacked out on purpose have coraline growth on the glass. I thing water quality and flow are the most important. As others said find a source like a shell, rock ,or friend who will scrape it off the glass. The finer the scrapings the better. Broadcast them into your tank with a wavemaker and in a few weeks you will satrt getting spots.

 

[WallyB]

There is one creature that you don't want in your tank if you like Coralline on your rocks.

AN URCHIN.

When they travel across a rock and do their scrubbing, they will remove the Coraline too.
My rocks were all rich purple coralline covered, and like tire marks, there were white tracks where ever the Urchin Traveled.
I hated the white zig zagged streaks look so much, the Pencil Urchin was removed.

 

[Oshengems]

I have done 3 tanks so far all took about 4-5 months to grow coraline didn’t do anything especial my 2 fellow reefers same thing they started with dry rocks and seeded with pieces of LR from my tank(wasnt super matured but had coraline) but even with the Piece I gave them they didn’t see it on their dry rocks until about 4-5 months of their tanks being established. You will start to notice lil specks or dots of purple but trust me after it start it will bother because that thing grows everywhere

 

[Oshengems]

Someone told me then seeded their tank with a single trochus snail he scrapped a bit of from the shell and that was it

 

[Sea MunnKey]

My very first system back in 2004 never had coraline algae at all. Ice storm back in 2013 killed my entire livestocks except for 2 indo Goniporas (still alive) & then I went on a semi retire hiatus for about 2 - 3 years. Re-booted my old system about 2 years ago and guess what I got tons of coraline algae ... could that be a blessing or a curse?

 

[jdpeters]

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)

My system is 2.5 years old and has minimal corraline growth. Started testing to find out I had drastically low alk. It was at 5.8 yikes. 490 cal which is odd and 1290 msg. Got done magnesium and part b coming tomorrow. I will continue to keep testing and monitoring. Will be interesting to see any positive transformation

 

[Ghost25]

For me it was keeping alk, calcium and magnesium elevated. I was dosing kalk in my ATO and I was adding vinegar because I was reaching saturation. I also wasn't bothering to dose magnesium. I stopped adding vinegar to the ATO because I thought the carbon might contribute to my ongoing dino issue. I also added magnesium which had dramatically dipped. Once I removed the vinegar the alkalinity spiked to 10.5 up from ~8. Coraline just exploded.

 

[WallyB]

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)

Well put, and I agree on all that practical advice. "HOW NOT TO GET IT"
Excellent advice for proper tank maintenance, keeping Corals and avoiding problems with Sensitive Corals like SPS.
However Coraline is a bit more forgiving (so long as you keep water parameters reasonable, and things like ALK/MAG/CALC not too low, and some lighting but doesn't have to be much).

One thing I will add, is once you have Coraline on your rocks , the rocks will actually resist Algae.
I know, since I had a algae Scrubber with Screens covered with Coraline and Algae wouldn't grow anywhere on Coraline Covered areas.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

Now I have this brown algae growing on the glass and

Some black algae on the the rocks

And Some Green Algae

My questions are :

I left the brown algae around the heater and it has turned to what looks like it might be green coralline algae; is it, and if so is purple coralline algae going to do the same?
Should I scrape the brown algae off the glass or leave it there?
Can the black algae turn to coralline algae?
How much coralline algae needs to be seeded to a tank for it to start growing?

Is there something you know of that I can do to get it to grow better and faster?

 

[Jeremy Lain]

I think that the green stuff growing is coralline algae that looks like this. Has someone else has green coralline algae growth that looks like this in there reef tank?

Now I have this brown algae growing on the glass and

Some black algae on the the rocks

And Some Green Algae

My questions are :

I left the brown algae around the heater and it has turned to what looks like it might be green coralline algae; is it, and if so is purple coralline algae going to do the same?
Should I scrape the brown algae off the glass or leave it there?
Can the black algae turn to coralline algae?
How much coralline algae needs to be seeded to a tank for it to start growing?

Is there something you know of that I can do to get it to grow better and faster?

 

[JDtimk]

It sounds like your tank is only a couple of weeks old correct? I would set your goals on having coralline growth at the 6 month plus range. Everyone else has given you the recipe for success already. Steady parameters and patience.

You are probably going to grow some diatoms, cyanobacteria, GHA and in general nuisance type algae for the first few months, IF you are following average husbandry practices and are starting from scratch with dry rock and sand. It's a normal and healthy balancing act that occurs as the tank stabilizes and matures. With experience you will learn how to adjust your parameters if needed to address a particular type of pest algae or cyanobacteria after the break in period.

You have to have a long term perspective to have a successful reef tank. slow and steady wins the race!

 

[427HISS]

I think that the green stuff growing is coralline algae that looks like this. Has someone else has green coralline algae growth that looks like this in there reef tank?

Good question. Have you tried to scrape it to see if it's soft or hard ?
If it's coraline, scrape some off, put it in a vile and send it to me !

 

[Jeremy Lain]

It sounds like your tank is only a couple of weeks old correct? I would set your goals on having coralline growth at the 6 month plus range. Everyone else has given you the recipe for success already. Steady parameters and patience.

You are probably going to grow some diatoms, cyanobacteria, GHA and in general nuisance type algae for the first few months, IF you are following average husbandry practices and are starting from scratch with dry rock and sand. It's a normal and healthy balancing act that occurs as the tank stabilizes and matures. With experience you will learn how to adjust your parameters if needed to address a particular type of pest algae or cyanobacteria after the break in period.

You have to have a long term perspective to have a successful reef tank. slow and steady wins the race!

I have had my tank since I think 2/8/18. I have been learning about calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and I now have the tests consistent at calcium 350- 450 ppm alkalinity 8-12 dkh and magnesium 1250 - 1350 and staying that way.

I have had some algae growing from time to time that looks like diatoms, but I think that was because of the increase in ammonia in the water and nitrite. (I am now trying to keep these levels down.)

Hopefully coralline algae will grow now and not so much of the brown algae.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

Good question. Have you tried to scrape it to see if it's soft or hard ?
If it's coraline, scrape some off, put it in a vile and send it to me !

I don't want to touch it, I don't want to stop it from growing! lol :/

 

[427HISS]

Take a knife and scrape it. Sure is pretty hue's of green.

I MUST HAVE SOME !

 

[JDtimk]

I have had my tank since I think 2/8/18. I have been learning about calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and I now have the tests consistent at calcium 350- 450 ppm alkalinity 8-12 dkh and magnesium 1250 - 1350 and staying that way.

I have had some algae growing from time to time that looks like diatoms, but I think that was because of the increase in ammonia in the water and nitrite. (I am now trying to keep these levels down.)

Hopefully coralline algae will grow now and not so much of the brown algae.

I am definitely no expert on growing coralline algae, but I would say that when people talk about stability of tank parameters they mean keeping alk, calcium, magnesium, temp, salinity steady within a relatively narrow range to avoid dramatic swings in relatively short periods of time.
Some parameters are much more vital to keep stable in a narrow range over a given time period than others, but if you are saying that your tank parameters regularly fluctuate alk range between 8-12 dkh, that is not what I would consider stable or conducive to strong growth and health of corals. Not sure if those alk swings would affect coralline algae like it does SPS per sae, but it is usually agreed that the conditions that grow corals well also grow coralline algae well. Calcium is less vital to be dead on with stability and range of measurements than alk by a long shot, but even that 100ppm swing in calcium levels on a regular basis is not ideal.
Just for general stability, I would aim for less than 1 dkh swing in your tank per day and less than 25 ppm calcium swing per week. Calcium is much slower to move than alk and much less detrimental to your tank inhabitants when it does move.

 

[Jeremy Lain]

Take a knife and scrape it. Sure is pretty hue's of green.

I MUST HAVE SOME !

You got any purple or pink coralline algae, I'm going to let it continue to grow for a while but maybe later if I have a lot I might trade some I scrape off so I can have some different colors? It's has grown more since that last picture. It looks like it is growing up the heater and it's starting to grow on my circulation pump so maybe it will start covering a lot of things in my reef tank!