need tips for growing coraline

[bongobrian]

I have recently set up a new tank (about 2 months old now) and so far I've had some coraline growth but not as much as I would like. I know that the stuff grows slowly, but I wanted to make sure I was doing everything to make the perfect conditions for it to grow. I know that alkalinity and calcium levels are extremely important in growing coraline. I'm also adding reef DNA daily which has also helped a ton in growing coraline. Does anyone have any other advice on how I can make my conditions better? I know that coraline also grows better at first under low-light conditions so I'm wondering if I should maybe start by reducing my photoperiod? right now I'm at 8 hours per day with 2 55w PC bulbs (one daytime and one actinic). I know I need more lighting but right now I'm still battling with a micro algea problem and I think stronger lights would probably ruin my tank at this point. So am I missing something? should I be doing anything different? I purchased two new chunks of live rock (fiji type 2) about two weeks ago, and I havn't noticed hardly any coraline growth yet. It's kinda disappointing. Any help would be appreciated. ;;

[mastaJ]

Just keep your calcium levels up and chill

[organicreefer]

what exactly do you do to keep alk/ca up to par?as mastaj said though ,you need to chill .it usually takes about 8-9 months before everything starts to really get covered ime(others how long for you?im curious)but i guess it depends how much is on youre rocks to begin with.if you look on ipsf.com,they sell corraline boosters,and they reccomend some techniques to get it going i beleive.i think they reccomend to put the corraline in good current to help spread it around or something.

[bongobrian]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice. Basically I am just adding Reef Builder which helps keep the alkalinity where it should be, and Reef Advantage for calcium. So far I have been getting steady coraline growth, but I was wondering if there was anything I could do to make the conditions more suitable for faster growth. I am trying to get some pieces of micro-algea-covered live rock to start growing coraline. So far I have been pretty successful. I have taken a few pieces out and scrubbed the algea off, and after a day or two the rocks are turning pink and purple! maybe I am doing better than I thought I was. I really want to see the micro algea disappear from my tank and see every rock covered in coraline. Maybe someone can recommend a certain type of scavenger to help clean off the green micro algea (I think it is bryopsis algea). So far I've been using emerald crabs and sally lightfoots and I've been fairly happy with them. I was thinking of purchasing more snails to help clean the glass and what not. It's quite a challenge to get rid of the micro algea and have coraline start to grow. They are constantly competing with each other in my tank.

[organicreefer]

brian ,if you do indeed have bryopsis,youre in for one hell of a battle i have been battling it for about 8 months,and im about to ditch the liverock thats its on .pull out bryopsis it comes back stronger.......nothing eats it......i hate this stuff .
so it grows in clumps,has feathery ends,perhaps a blue irredescent sheen,is this what you have?

[bongobrian]

Hmmm most of my algea is dark green and grows in a kind of thick mat. It's fairly smooth.. not really feathery or hairy. I'm not sure if it is bryopsis, someone at my LFS told me that's what they thought it was. My emerald crabs eat it all day long and the sally eats it occasionally. My tang likes to go around and pick at it as well. On some of my rocks, the coraline is taking over the micro aglea. It's very exciting to see this. I still have a long way to go before all of the rocks start looking like that. When I take rocks out and scrub them manually, there is a ton of coraline underneath the micro and when I put them back in the tank they become completely pink and purple! that micro algea is a ***** to get off though.

[organicreefer]

bryopsis grows in clumps and will have a little hieght to it about an inch or a little more.if you have seen youre crabs/fish nibble it ,id bet its not bryopsis.

[scubadude]

I take it that you dont have a refugium....If you dont thats ok...here is what I would do....try to grow some macro algae thats a tad more appealing, My thought is to outcompete the pesky macro with some macro that can be more eye appealing and possibly food for the tang....even if you have a sump where you can put a small piece of LR to weight down some macro algae and throw a regular light down there on Reverse daylight (which will help stabilize your PH, and also may help with your Coralline growth) This would basically be the same concept as a refugium....but it needs to be in an area where it is away from the tangs and predators that love to eat it so it will grow...and suck up the nutrients that is making the pesky algaes grow and outcompeting the coralline? Once you get the pesky macro out of the way then I would go to the LFS and if they have coralline starting to buildup on the sides of the tank, offer them a buck or two for them to scrape off the coralline off the side of the tank...get as much as you can....Take about a cup of tank water and put your scraped coralline in the blender with the tank water, and blend it....then dump the mix into the tank with all current off....wait about 15-20 min then turn your current back on....This is how I seed my homemade LR with coralline and it has been VERY fast growing....However your tank needs to be mature to do things like this, so you may want to wait a few months and deal with your problem algae blooms first...Good Luck

[bongobrian]

Wow very interesting advice.. I will definitely consider seeding my tank that way. You would be correct that I don't have a refugium but I have been thinking about starting one since I can't keep my macros in the tank very long without my fish messing with it. Whenever I plant some macro either my tang eats it or my clown will move it (he's a bastard and likes to rearrange my tank grrrrrr) I'm having a hard time getting any macro to start growing permenantly in my tank. I'm assuming it is best to put the macros up high in the tank near the light. That's what I've been trying to do. I do see a noted improvement in the tank when I put new macros in the tank.

[organicreefer]

have you tested your phosphates?phosphate can act as a poison to calcification process by interfering with the ability to deposit ca.since you have micro-algea,and are worried about corraline growth this is something to look into.
the scraped corraline idea is a good one,i have read from others how much it can help.like i said the more corraline you have,the more you will have

[bongobrian]

Actually I have thought of that too but I havn't ran any tests on my water for phosphates. I thought I'd be pretty safe because I am using all distilled and RO water. Unless there is some other way phosphates can slip into my water.. I thought I shouldn't have to worry about them. The only other organic I am adding is Omega flake food once a day which is totally consumed by my fish. I think I'm going to try the blended coraline idea.. It sounds promising.

[organicreefer]

well actually phosphate can/will enter the aquarium in alot of ways......
top off water
food inputs
airborne dust
and even some activated carbon

[bongobrian]

Well for the past couple of weeks I have been seeing a film on the surface of my water. It looks like a combination of dust and oil. Maybe that is causing phosphate in my water. My plans were to purchase a surface skimmer to get rid of this dust. I'm going to purchase a phosphate test just to be sure. I think I am doing pretty good though because the growth of micro algea in this new tank has been VERY slow. The liverock that is covered with algea came out of my old tank which was an algea farm. I'm trying to revive this liverock because I didn't know what I was doing before and I caused huge outbreaks of algea by not doing all the research on water quality.