[prow]

hello guys and girls.

i have some questions about growing coralline algae. let me give you the low down on my tank. it is a 72x18x20H tank.(approx. 115gal) have a 45gal sump. (total water volume is 150gal measure at startup). useing mericle mud. just added red gracilaria about a week or 2 ago. had 100lbs of fully cured rock during the last 2 months just added 65lbs of fresh live rock not cured with mostly green coralline and some red coralline.(hate the green). the new rock had been packaged and sent from indonesia i think maybe else where has been sitting about 2 weeks in the box all wraaped an still little damp(its tonga rock). placed the rock work so water flow moves through/within all the rock work. i have two pumps for my sump return a 1200gph and a 600gph(plus one 145gph powerhead in the refugium with a streamer bar to keep the gracilaria tumbling). in the main tank i have 3-300gph powerheads placed all around the tank(set up to grow coralline not looks will change once coralline is extablished).
the only animals in the tank are: 1 blue damsel, 4 green chromis, 1 eletric blue herrmit, 2 zebra hermits and 1 mex. red leg hermit.(plus many pods and thing) i am useing 2-40watt t12 lights atinics only. i did the tooth brush scrubbing thing on the red algae to spread it. my Ca+ is 410 and my Dkh is 11 currently will add more ca+ chlorinde to raise the Ca+ to 460 will let ride till dkh and Ca+ are at 430/8-9dkh. all other stuff is at correct levels.(temp 79)

my question is since the new rock was out of the water for 2 weeks, given a freshwater wash down and light brush scub to remove noticeable dead things, did the coralline live through all that.

will the crabs eat the new coralline growing.(i just found out about the mex. hermit loving new coralline). worried about it turnning grey. if i ever see the mex. red leg hermit i will remove him.

how long, about, will it take for coralline to establish some good growth on the old rock. will be doing 10gal water changes every 3-5days for next month. not useing a protien skimmer. will use carbon for 10 hours a week for 1 month.

what can i do to get the red coralline to out grow the green.

[prow]

ok i will answer my question with the help of other forums

Originally Posted by prow

my question is since the new rock was out of the water for 2 weeks, given a freshwater wash down and light brush scub to remove noticeable dead things, did the coralline live through all that.

yes it will live

Originally Posted by prow

will the crabs eat the new coralline growing.(i just found out about the mex. hermit loving new coralline). worried about it turnning grey. if i ever see the mex. red leg hermit i will remove him.

yes they will eat it but i only have one should be ok in my size tank

Originally Posted by prow

how long, about, will it take for coralline to establish some good growth on the old rock. will be doing 10gal water changes every 3-5days for next month. not useing a protien skimmer. will use carbon for 10 hours a week for 1 month.

still not sure with my light.

Originally Posted by prow

what can i do to get the red coralline to out grow the green.

light, the red likes higher lighting than the green.
idea given and followed by me, set up a small 15-20gal tank with a heater and power head a screen cover and let it sit outside in the sun. use the water from my big tank when i do water changes to maintain chemistry levels and change the little tank water with that. i thourgh in one blue damsel just because. will maintain this till i get my tank lights in 4 months. well thanks for the input.

[Reefland]

I'm not really sure that you have answered all of your questions.

There are many, many different species of coralline algae all of which will thrive under different conditions. You will notice that some coralline growth does better in shaded areas of your tank while others do the best at the surface edges of the tank. Different light intesities, different levels of water flow and most importantly, varying levels of calcium and alkalinity all play different roles in teh species that proliferate.

With that said, the best thing you can do right now is to ensure your calcium and alkalinity are balanced and maintained. Calcium of 400-450 and alkalinity of 8-12 dKH would be great. Secondly, you need to make sure there are some good healthy bits of coralline already growing to hel spread throughout the tank.

[kevinpo]

Pink/purple coralline algae will grow just fine with the actinic T-12's. Phosphate levels will need to be checked and maintained about .03ppm or less. Also magnesium should be about 1250ppm. Coralline usually starts growing in 90-120 days or after the nitrogen cycle is well established (0ppm Am, 0ppm Nitrite, and Nitrate 40ppm or less).

HTH,
Kevin

[Spick]

Just a note.... this is not proven and some ppl disagree, but i have heard that with a Protein Skimmer your Corraline Algea growth doubles in speed. I can say I beleive this "theory" because once i got mine going, the corraline hasn't stopped I've only been up and running for a little over 7 months now, and my whole back tank is covered and the sides are almost fully covered, the rock is bright purple.

Something to consider for sure. plus a Protein Skimmer SHOULD be part of your setup. Once you get one you'll know why. Make sure you smell the first cup you empty. CHEERS,

[prow]

tanks for the input guys. i got a little paranoid when i found out about the mex. red legged hermit crabs. everything is all good now. coraline "the green" is doing good the red is almost all gone. i do have one more question on the tank. i raised my Ca+ as indicated in my original post to 468. my dkh went to 12. now they are Ca+=444, dkh=11, however my ph is at 8.0. my understanding leads me to believe the ph around 8.0 is expected with the Ca and dkh at high levels. is my thinking right. i am thinking i should just let it ride and watch it but do nothing for now. i have an itch to raise the ph. any ideas about this. thanks again for all the help and advice you guy have given me here and in the past, been very helpful and informative.

[Reefland]

There is no need to raise the pH, 8.0 is ok. Just make sure it doesn't drop below 7.8 at night and I think you'll be fine.

[prow]

that is what i was thinking. just had an itch. thanks for the reply i will be watching it.