Coralline not growing

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

I have marine aquarium for 9 years now. I am at the fourth aquarium and 90% of my rock is live rock, bought 3 times and had some coralline algae on it.
This is the one thing that it always puzzled me. For the life of me I can’t make it grow, I even have less that I started with.
The corals are doing fine.
Salinity is 1.025
Calcium 460
Kh 8.9

Saltyreef · Jun 16, 2023

What are your nutrient levels as well as lighting par?

flashsmith · Jun 16, 2023

Consider yourself lucky then.

FrugalReefer · Jun 16, 2023

IME my coralline exploded when I increased my magnesium level.

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

Saltyreef said:
What are your nutrient levels as well as lighting par?

This is all the other tests I got besides the ones I posted.
PO4 - 0.7
Mg - 1185
Ph was in normal range but I can’t remember the exact number.
I don’t have a par meter, so I don’t know the exact numbers, but lighting is not the problem. I had 4 different lamps with a lot of configurations and I always had the problem.

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

flashsmith said:
Consider yourself lucky then.

I know what you say, I wouldn’t like it on my glass, but to be fair I really like the looks of it on the rocks.

NoohpyT · Jun 16, 2023

Azael said:
This is all the other tests I got besides the ones I posted.
PO4 - 0.7
Mg - 1185
Ph was in normal range but I can’t remember the exact number.
I don’t have a par meter, so I don’t know the exact numbers, but lighting is not the problem. I had 4 different lamps with a lot of configurations and I always had the problem.

Mag seems a little low, I usually run mine around ~1400 and have too much growth

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

FrugalReefer said:
IME my coralline exploded when I increased my magnesium level.

How high did you raised it?
It may be this because I can’t keep my magnesium close to the perfect range, it is on the low side.

Saltyreef · Jun 16, 2023

Azael said:
This is all the other tests I got besides the ones I posted.
PO4 - 0.7
Mg - 1185
Ph was in normal range but I can’t remember the exact number.
I don’t have a par meter, so I don’t know the exact numbers, but lighting is not the problem. I had 4 different lamps with a lot of configurations and I always had the problem.

I would raise your mag.

Heres a good thread.

Zero Coraline algae growth - solved

Awhile back I started a thread trying to figure out why my favorite tank has virtually no coraline algae growth. I recently solved the problem, and the results are pretty facinating. My entire scenario might have broader implications for LPS and especially SPS growers in general, but I'm still tr...

www.nano-reef.com

Saltyreef · Jun 16, 2023

Azael said:
How high did you raised it?
It may be this because I can’t keep my magnesium close to the perfect range, it is on the low side.

You need to dose as some salt mixes have low magnesium already.

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

NoohpyT said:
Mag seems a little low, I usually run mine around ~1400 and have too much growth

My magnesium seems to drop pretty quickly and I can’t keep it high. I couldn’t identify the reason.
I will try again to raise it since it looks like this might be the problem.
My SPS are not growing very quickly also and I suspected the low magnesium to be the culprit.

Azael · Jun 16, 2023

Saltyreef said:
I would raise your mag.

Heres a good thread.

Zero Coraline algae growth - solved

Awhile back I started a thread trying to figure out why my favorite tank has virtually no coraline algae growth. I recently solved the problem, and the results are pretty facinating. My entire scenario might have broader implications for LPS and especially SPS growers in general, but I'm still tr...

www.nano-reef.com

Thank you!

1979fishgeek · Jun 16, 2023

My experience with coralline algae:
You need to ‘seed’ your tank with a couple of different varieties, they can come on mature frag plugs or rock. You can also speak nicely to your local fish shop and see if they can spare a little chunk (where I work we always handing out plugs, rocks covered in coralline for peoples new tanks).

Coralline algae needs stable parameters and you will need to monitor Alk, Calc and Mag carefully. I noted that particularly magnesium gets used up very fast in the initial growth stages and can need daily monitoring for rapid drops. At one point my tank was consuming a extra 80ml a day or magnesium but this eventually levelled off to just using the 2 part dosing I was already using.

Coraline algae like a correct elevated pH. Mine grew way better at 8.2 and 8.3 and I had slow growth when it was at 7.9 to 8.0.

Coraline algae likes light, I’ve found it grows best in areas of higher PAR, but is not that fussy about spectrum, my sump has a outdoor floodlight which is very ‘yellow’ and it’s loves it as much as the more ‘blue’ light of my display.

Once it’s established it prevents nuisance algae from taking hold. It also gives off amino acids which allows settlement of beneficial critters and even coral larvae and is a great indicator if parameters have fluctuated, reacting faster than most corals to Alk, Calc or mag drops, it turns white!

This tank was only set up about 3 months ago, i transferred all my live rock and coral from a previous tank and coralline just loves it in here.

Dan_P · Jun 16, 2023

Azael said:
I have marine aquarium for 9 years now. I am at the fourth aquarium and 90% of my rock is live rock, bought 3 times and had some coralline algae on it.
This is the one thing that it always puzzled me. For the life of me I can’t make it grow, I even have less that I started with.
The corals are doing fine.
Salinity is 1.025
Calcium 460
Kh 8.9

Trace elements are low. Dose CheatoGro maybe.