How important is coralline algae to you and how long did it take?

revhtree · Aug 12, 2021

"Coralline Algae is a type of red Algae in the order Corallinales. It is a desirable algae to have in a saltwater aquarium and its growth is an indication of a properly matured marine fish tank. It is commonly introduced into an aquarium by placing live rock into the aquarium. Coralline Algae enters the system as one of the many beneficial “hitchhiker’s” on live rock as well as on the shells of snails." - ARC Reef

Let's talk about it today!

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?

image via @trioledeployment

Jax15 · Aug 12, 2021

Coralline does suggest that things are moving in the right direction, and worth paying attention to early on in a tank’s journey, but I’ve never considered it the true measure of maturity. You can have thriving coralline, and still have a tank that doesn’t host SPS well. Coral growth and happiness is the true marker of maturity for me.

andiesreef · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

I'd say it is fairly important. It signifies a tank can probably support coral growth and it is becoming more stable. If you have coralline it's a good indicator of a maturing tank and that things are going ok.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

Coralline is only part of the story. It's only part of the maturity of a system. Other things like stability of parameters, microorganisms/bacteria, fish and coral health, and appearance of critters like sponges and featherdusters also show the maturity of a tank.

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?

Around 3-4 months I think I saw some pink specks. Now I am about 8 months in I think and the rocks are becoming covered in the stuff.

Saltyreef · Aug 12, 2021

No.... but its a good indicator of how lazy ive become....lol.

shwareefer · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

It looks better in the gaps than the other options to me.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

I think maturity is the wrong word. Balance is the correct word. You can have a mature tank that has no coraline because the surfaces are populated with organisms that prevent it.

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?

Less than two months but it was beautiful Marshall Island's rock that I cured myself.

Montiman · Aug 12, 2021

Coraline is only part of tank maturity. I think sponge growth is one of the best indicators of older more mature rock. When Live rock was a thing some vendors said the rock was 20-30% sponge by mass before cleaning and shipment. Many of my aquarium mentors have emphasized the importance of sponge growth as a maturity indicator.

In my tanks the urchins keep the Coraline at bay.

design.maddie · Aug 12, 2021

I judge the maturity of a tank by the type of interest it's owner still has in it. If it has been up for 4+ years, the owner will just walk you through everything with back stories to everything. New tanks will probably be excited about this brand new piece of gear.

Treefer32 · Aug 12, 2021

I think the first year, when spotting the first coralline growing is exciting. I've moved up in a level of aquarium husbandry. I would argue it's an indicator of the aquarist's maturity in aquarium husbandry and not tank maturity.

However, My mixed reef is 3 years old. Some rocks just don't take coralline. I don't know if it's flow, lighting, type of rock. But some of my rocks just don't get coraline while my glass gets it all over. And other rocks are covered in it. I don't know what the reason is, nor care, but I wouldn't argue it as a sign of tank maturity.

I have multiple SPS including Acros threatening to take over entire rocks. . . That, to me is tank maturity. But also the results of proper husbandry practices.

Jaden9933 · Aug 12, 2021

revhtree said:
1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

It’s important to me because I want to have the option to grow SPS coral in my tank, and this gives me a certain level of confidence, before doing so. As soon as I saw pink coralline in my tank, I knew a muy verde bird nest would be no problem.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

Although this can be one way to determine maturity, in many cases it is not. For someone with a softie only tank, or even some LPS tanks, the levels of calcium, alk, etc. may not be kept at high enough levels to support growth. In addition, many softie tanks allow higher nitrates, which coralline aren’t necessarily a fan of IME.

revhtree said:

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?
It took my tank about three months before it started to quickly grow on my frag plugs and rocks. As soon as I got stable conditions it took off. It actually just started about a little less than a week ago in my new tank.

Click to expand...

NoahLikesFish · Aug 12, 2021

Montiman said:
Coraline is only part of tank maturity. I think sponge growth is one of the best indicators of older more mature rock. When Live rock was a thing some vendors said the rock was 20-30% sponge by mass before cleaning and shipment. Many of my aquarium mentors have emphasized the importance of sponge growth as a maturity indicator.

In my tanks the urchins keep the Coraline at bay.

ikr like the urchins and things. i agree, i have sponge growth and bivalve growth in my tank so i consider mine matur

maroun.c · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?
Its nice to have but not really important to me.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?
No cause some.very mature tanks lack coraline and some newer tanks can have it. Curre t tank stayed couple years without any coraline till I noticed heavy coraline in crevices and figured out my large urchin was munching on it except in hard to reach areas.

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank? Less than a year

Goaway · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?
Very. It will never plate for me. I have an urchin who eats the overgrowth. It also helps me to know if my lights are dimming. Color of the coraline is very important as well. Reds love shaded low par areas. Purple loves medium to very high light. I don't know much about orange and pink.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?
as long as the rock is coated, i am fine with that. Many things use the coralline for food in my reef.

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?
I bought 15 lbs of live rock. Less than a month to seed my 60lbs of base rock.

Buckster · Aug 12, 2021

I do believe the amount of coralline is a measurement of maturity because everything in my 32 biocube is growing well which has coralline algae. My 180 is in 2nd as it was started two months later and I feel the coral growth is that much behind the 32!

M Stein · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?
Kinda very. I don't like the idea of painted rock, if feels unnatural. And coralline is my best defense against diatoms.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?
It's not the only marker, it's not even the best. The best marker is good coral growth.
But if your coral is growing well then you don't need another marker. So I would use Coralline is a decent indicator telling you if coral is likely to survive..

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?
A month or so. It took about another month to really spread and cover everything.

Doctorgori · Aug 12, 2021

1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

very: it’s presence means the displacement of less attractive or natural reef looking algae

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

yes and no…. obviously a very young reef won’t have any but neither will a unhealthy tank … too many variables

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?
coraline usually takes about 60 to 120 days to show up in a raw tank …usually on plastics 1st …rock could take 6 months before you see any

LexMueller · Aug 12, 2021

shwareefer said:
1. How important is having coralline algae present in your aquarium to you?

It looks better in the gaps than the other options to me.

2. Would you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

I think maturity is the wrong word. Balance is the correct word. You can have a mature tank that has no coraline because the surfaces are populated with organisms that prevent it.

3. How long did it take you to start seeing coralline in your first reef tank?

Less than two months but it was beautiful Marshall Island's rock that I cured myself.

Agreed 110%

LPS Bum · Aug 12, 2021

You know your tank is mature when you have a nice crop of Aiptasia and Asterina stars...

Just kidding. Coralline is nice but it's not the be all, end all. I'd look to stable water parameters and healthy corals as a better indicator of tank maturity.

brandon429 · Aug 12, 2021

Coralline algae performs one neat and core function in updated cycling science

the portion about spotting fully cycled reefs off tank pictures...any rock or rock set that has real live coralline are cycled rocks, they can't be partially cycled. the deposition time for coralline is orders longer than for cycling bacteria/clades that handle ammonia loading from our bioload.

The only way you're getting rocks that aren't cycled and still have coralline attached is if both gru and wiley coyote got together in an acme lab and treated the rocks with measured and sustained antibiotics then shipped them to you as false ready reef rocks. coralline equals full up on cycling bac, don't try and add more bacteria for redundancy there's no where to attach. coralline visually indicates this process. or any other attached item like a fanworm, algae, a foram, etc.

Lugubrious · Aug 12, 2021

Can anyone help me figure out how to get coralline off of my acrylic?

My coralline growth exploded and its taking over my viewing pleasures.

Tried acrylic scraper, flipper max ect.

I can say my SPS is currently suffering so I wouldn't relate coralline to maturity, I think we're figuring out maturity doesn't actually equal stability so, ill vote that my tank grows coralline like crazy, but im still fighting swings dialing in dosing.

Tank is probably 6 months old, I added pink helix about 5 months ago and didn't take off till now. But boy is it taking over the glass!