Coralline algae!

[Charlie_11278]

I want to grow coralline algae on my tank ( fowlr) I think it'll add a nice touch to my rocks and background.

Any tips on how to promote growth?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Buy something with Corraline algae on it. (Snail Shell, Live rock rubble, frag plug, etc..)

And then keep your parameters stable. especially Alk, Calc, and Mag

Then its just a waiting game.

 

[biophilia]

It'll grow faster on surfaces that are free of other types of algae so having plenty of herbivores in the tank to keep the rock clean helps. Making sure your Mg. is on the higher end (like above 1300ppm) can help too because a decent amount of the mass of coralline algae is made up of magnesium. Also helps seed it by scraping the coralline encrusted shells, live rock rubble, frag plug, etc into the flow of a powerhead with a knife or razor blade. It also seems to grow better in bluer, dimmer light -- at least anecdotally.

 

[burninreefer]

They have coraline grow stuff if you want to dump fertilizer in your tank. I wouldn’t worry about it. It will grow on its own and it will become a problem and every time you scrap it off your glass your think to yourself. I wish I didn’t have all this coraline sucking up nutrients

 

[ChronicReefH2o]

You can seed your tank with some Coraline algae scrapping from a friends tank or even go to your local fish store. Ask if you can help clean the Coraline off their tanks for free in return for these scrapings. They will thank you and you will thank them back.

 

[fity2pounder]

You could try adding something like this:

Purple Helix® Coralline Algae in a Bottle contains both live coralline algae spores and nitrifying bacteria to help you quickly get your aquarium broken in and cycled. Contains a minimum of 7 different species of Purple, Magenta, and Lavender coralline algae. There is no faster way to turn your bare base rocks into beautiful and vividly colored live rock!

 

[Greybeard]

Coraline scapings from a friend's tank... Keep your Calc/Alc/Mag reasonably high. Decent lighting... I've got it growing in my refugeum, so it doesn't have to be that great.

I wouldn't be in any big hurry. Sure, it looks great... but scraping it off the glass every week SUX!

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Coraline scapings from a friend's tank... Keep your Calc/Alc/Mag reasonably high. Decent lighting... I've got it growing in my refugeum, so it doesn't have to be that great.

I wouldn't be in any big hurry. Sure, it looks great... but scraping it off the glass every week SUX!

I got some growing in my Algae scubber box! So it can grow off only reds to. crazy

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Coralline growth is a great indicator your tank is ready for coral. I went to my LFS and picked out clean up crew that had it growing on their shells. I scraped as much off and used it to seed my tank. As long as your tank is well cycled, Ca, Alk and Mag are stable you should be able to grow it. It takes time for sure. I have also noticed a rapid increase in growth when I added T5 lights to my tank.