Coralline algae in a bottle or just wait it out?

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I would like to gather current data from other users.

Should I get the pink and purple coralline juice or wait and see what naturally comes in my tank?

My reason for wondering this is they say it will come in on corals, inverts, ect.

My hermit crabs had some on them when they were introduced.

I definitely have coralline algae forming but it’s very light, practically white.

I won’t be introducing any on the bases of corals or plugs because I’m only doing branching sps and I always take them off the frag plug.

I don’t want to seed with coralline from another tank to prevent pests as much as possible.

I’ve also feel like I’ve read others have used the juice and it made the coralline go overboard.

So what would you do?

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

Or is patience the virtue since it’ll be primarily acropora?

 

[Naekuh]

You will get all the coraline algae seeds required when you get coral with frag plugs.
Unless the coral is fresh cut, and the plug brand new.

The bottle coraline is all snake oil gimic.
It will not speed up anything.
Coraline is a sign showing your tank has equalibium and near the end of maturing out.

This is not something a bottle can do, unless that bottle is Time itself.

 

[kdx7214]

I would like to gather current data from other users.

Should I get the pink and purple coralline juice or wait and see what naturally comes in my tank?

My reason for wondering this is they say it will come in on corals, inverts, ect.

My hermit crabs had some on them when they were introduced.

I definitely have coralline algae forming but it’s very light, practically white.

I won’t be introducing any on the bases of corals or plugs because I’m only doing branching sps and I always take them off the frag plug.

I don’t want to seed with coralline from another tank to prevent pests as much as possible.

I’ve also feel like I’ve read others have used the juice and it made the coralline go overboard.

So what would you do?

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

Or is patience the virtue since it’ll be primarily acropora?

I started my tank with dry, manufactured rock, so there was nothing to start coraline. I added the bottled form and in 3-4 months I had the stuff on every rock. Looks good too.

 

[slingfox]

I tried two different bottles coralline products in my tank when it was only a few months old. Either worked. Around month 9 coralline started appearing after my tank was stable for a few months. Now coraline is starting to spread all over.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Thanks OP. I am gonna start with dry rock as well. Had NO clue you could buy it in a bottle. Thanks!

 

[exnisstech]

I have had coralline in every tank I've owned. I have never added coralline intentionally.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Same as above, I have coraline in all my tanks, I have never added it.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Good amount of votes.

Patience is one of my specialties so I’ll use that.

I always get fresh cuts and no plugs from SPS.

That’s why I was curious about the bottle. It will just be a long time and that’s fine. Acros grow slow too lol

 

[BeanAnimal]

I started my tank with dry, manufactured rock, so there was nothing to start coraline. I added the bottled form and in 3-4 months I had the stuff on every rock. Looks good too.

It comes on its own - those bottles don't do anything but empty your pockets ;)

 

[GARRIGA]

Didn't work for me. Too many disclaimers to why it wouldn't. Get it from a plug or rock and then just wait. Snake oil in my experience.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

It comes on its own - those bottles don't do anything but empty your pockets ;)

Didn't work for me. Too many disclaimers to why it wouldn't. Get it from a plug or rock and then just wait. Snake oil in my experience.

I appreciate the serious feedback! I’ve never been one to trust juices. Well, amino acids is a different story for acros.

 

[Carni_Vora]

You'll simply never know. Now you will put in the bottle and next week it grows everywhere, was it thanks to the bottel or would it grow anyway?

And if you don't use the bottled stuff and coralin comes in a month, would it grow two weeks earlier if you would have used the wonder bottle?

You'll never know. Few months down the line it won't matter anymore and that's it. Just wait it out.

 

[kdx7214]

It comes on its own - those bottles don't do anything but empty your pockets ;)

I waited a year and had none. I added the bottles and in 3 months everything was covered. Anecdotally it does seem to work.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I waited a year and had none. I added the bottles and in 3 months everything was covered. Anecdotally it does seem to work.

So does putting on a new brand of deodorant and winning the lottery a few days later. Anecdotally the deodorant helps win the lottery!

Any frag plug or rock you added from a live system almost certainly had coralline algae on it. Those bottles of purple up or whatever brand whoever is hawking now are just calcium, alk, aragonite powder or whatever other snake oil they are filling them with.

Unless you are buying actual bottles of live coralline algae, you are simply wasting money on super expensive calcium or alk or ... sand and water. And even then, why buy a bottle that contains something that comes on any rock or frag plug imported into your system!

It just takes the right conditions for the stuff to grow and it can take a long time grow out enough to be noticeable. It may come and go depending on numerous parameters but is likely never gone. The stuff in the bottle really is just snake oil.

 

[AquaLogic]

The bottles are snake oil.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

You don't need it. I have used it and I have not used it. It shows up both ways. But if you have super glue and epoxy all over holding rocks together, I suggest adding it. It does come in way faster if you seed for coralline. But it will come in anyway. If I seed, I seed for purple. I have purple, red, white, and pink in a year old tank. Purple was the only one I used the bottle for. But the purple is so thick that after a year it's stacking on itself.

A good trick to get it spreading is to scrape everything that grows on your glass. Leave it where it lands.

 

[kdx7214]

So does putting on a new brand of deodorant and winning the lottery a few days later. Anecdotally the deodorant helps win the lottery!

Any frag plug or rock you added from a live system almost certainly had coralline algae on it. Those bottles of purple up or whatever brand whoever is hawking now are just calcium, alk, aragonite powder or whatever other snake oil they are filling them with.

Unless you are buying actual bottles of live coralline algae, you are simply wasting money on super expensive calcium or alk or ... sand and water. And even then, why buy a bottle that contains something that comes on any rock or frag plug imported into your system!

It just takes the right conditions for the stuff to grow and it can take a long time grow out enough to be noticeable. It may come and go depending on numerous parameters but is likely never gone. The stuff in the bottle really is just snake oil.

Ahh, you see I didn't have any frags or corals. Just a few fish for that year.

 

[BeanAnimal]

But if you have super glue and epoxy all over holding rocks together, I suggest adding it.

For what purpose? If there is coralline already in the tank or introduced via frags, etc. and if conditions are right, then it will grow and expand.

If conditions are not right then they are not right.

What (honestly) do you think is in these bottles that will make coralline algae grow? Out of all of the brands, most are just aragonite and water with some calcium. Snake oil.

One brand (Purple Helix) claims to have "spores" in it, but nobody can seem to prove this because coralline will not grow in an immature system and mature enough system to grow coralline typically means introducing organism from the outside world that have an almost certainty of introducing coralline algae.

So - coralline is basically in every system but a company wants to sell you a bottle of something to get it into your system and there is no easy way to prove it doesn't work because coralline is basically in every system.

People can buy and put whatever they wish in their tanks. However, lets keep what we can prove in one column and the anecdote in another.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I waited a year and had none. I added the bottles and in 3 months everything was covered. Anecdotally it does seem to work.

The fish and the water came in came from somewhere, almost certainly with coralline :)
It can take a system a long time to be right for it to thrive.

Likewise, the air is full of algae spores from all over the globe...

Fun fact. If you start a saltwater aquarium with just water and dry rock and add light you will eventually get (actually before long at all) strains of marine algae even if you live in Nebraska... without ever putting anything from the ocean in your tank.

So again unless you dumped in a product in that actually contained viable coralline (most don't at all and one claims to), then it was just liquid money.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

For what purpose? If there is coralline already in the tank or introduced via frags, etc. and if conditions are right, then it will grow and expand.

If conditions are not right then they are not right.

What (honestly) do you think is in these bottles that will make coralline algae grow? Out of all of the brands, most are just aragonite and water with some calcium. Snake oil.

One brand (Purple Helix) claims to have "spores" in it, but nobody can seem to prove this because coralline will not grow in an immature system and mature enough system to grow coralline typically means introducing organism from the outside world that have an almost certainty of introducing coralline algae.

So - coralline is basically in every system but a company wants to sell you a bottle of something to get it into your system and there is no easy way to prove it doesn't work because coralline is basically in every system.

People can buy and put whatever they wish in their tanks. However, lets keep what we can prove in one column and the anecdote in another.

You are a smart man. Coralline algea is a safe way to add life to your tank. Coraline algae is an indicator that your tank is ready for life. But it has to be introduced. If you use dry rock and bagged sand coralline won't show up until it's introduced. So if someone wants to seed and get their glue joints hidden or wants to wait for coralline grrowth before they add corals, this is a way.

I get you have your preferences. So do I. Mine is indifference. I clearly state I do and don't use it.

In my most recent tank, I wanted my glue joints on dry fake rocks covered better. I wanted them hidden. My tank wasn't ready for corals a week after the cycle. So I wasn't going to be introducing coralline algea with frag plugs. If I had another tank at that time I would have scrapped some Coralline out and dropped it in the new tank. I didn't have that option at the time. I could have gone to the LFS and had them scrape some out also. But my schedule made it easier to buy coralline in a bottle with home delivery. 3 months in my glue joints were getting speckles of coralline and I added corals. You can't see glue or epoxy in my tank.

While I now have 4 different colors of coralline algea, purple (the one I added) is by far the dominant color. I am just now at a year in getting specks of white, pink, and red. Those colors were brought in on plugs.

I don't even see how this is worth discussing to be honest.

The bottled algae works faster than just waiting. It's not needed. But it does work. Snake oil as said by others is quite a harsh characterization as it those products only claim to add coralline algae. There are no lofty claims on the bottle, it doesn't claim to do anything extra.

Everytime this question is asked, the only answer should ever be:

Yeah it works. You don't need it. It won't hurt if you do.


Instead it turns in to an ideological battle.... Complete silliness to be honest.