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

Do you measure the maturity of a reef tank by the amount of coralline present in the tank?

  • YES

    Votes: 254 37.7%
  • NO

    Votes: 283 42.0%
  • NOT SURE

    Votes: 126 18.7%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 11 1.6%

  • Total voters
    674

Tyler Flynn

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I personally hate coraline algae and wish it didn’t grow in my tank.

judging maturity on coraline can be deceiving, i had a hair algae outbreak that covered and killed a large portion of my coraline. My tank was 4 years old at the time.
 

scattered

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Maturity is a deceptive term. A ten year old tank, while technically mature, may have garbage chemistry and see little to no coral growth.

I think of tanks as ‘hardened’ when they become balanced in terms of nutrient export which includes algae growth. Coralline in and of itself is not a bellwether for a hardened tank, but, it does indicate that it is able to outcompete less desirable algae for nutrients. The cycle of algae blooms seemingly inherent to new tank syndrome are a definite indicator of a tank that has not become ‘mature’ or balanced yet, but presence of coralline can be concurrent with problem ‘algae’.

Regardless of semantics I’m a fan of coralline growth for aesthetics as well as for the potential indication of a hardening biome.

I can’t recall the last time I was waiting on coralline but it started growing within a week in a tank that suffered a total collapse after a windstorm in January of 2021. Granted that tanks had been stable and hardened prior to loss of power. A fresh tank with established rock and seeded with substrate I set up took a few weeks to start spotting glass. For a new build, fresh cycle with dry rock, I wouldn’t worry if it took 6 months to see the levels balance to where coralline blooms noticeably.

I think a sustained ‘pod population is a better hallmark of tank maturity.
 

outhouse

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I have professionally grown coral, but coralline is hit and miss over 28 years in my tanks. Sometimes it covers everything and often I loose it all. Its not important to me and has nothing to do with maturity at all. I think it does show a healthy tank, but I currently have a healthy tank with a lot less then one should have
 

Emanuel Refer

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I have a 7 months old nano reef tank. I don't see any coraline growth rather the coraline from the live rock. But even on the live rock it dosen't grow. It just stays the same... About 3 weeks ago i saw some dark green spots on my main rock. Since then the spots started to expand i dont know what is it but if it helps i can post some pics here. What do you think is my problem with coraline, why it dosen't grow and what are those green spots?

The greeen spots :
 

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sixty_reefer

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IMO if you going to have a pest algae I’d rather have coraline in comparison to the others options available. It’s not a sign of good water parameter in my eyes it’s just a good option to keep others away.
 

attiland

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I didn't have coralline for nearly 4 years
I think your aquarium missing something if otherwise coralline sores present. There are products increasing growth if you want to have it. I have used some Brightwell Aquatics BoroChrom Purple Coralline Algae & Red Coral Enhancer which is a lot of minerals helping the process. I will never know if this has done the trick or I would have had it anyway
 

G Santana

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Right now I have coraline envy, my tank years ago was started with live rock and by the 6th month I had purple gold.
Now 7 plus months in and I've got nada.
I feel that it is a good indicator towards a mature tank but not an end all.

But still, I'm always peeking the pink in other folks tanks with my green friend Envy!!!
 

Aldrinlights

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Coralline algae is the bonding agent of the reef. It literally holds frags in place. if you have it then you have a mature tank that is cycled. If it's growing all over the place then you are most likely going to have it help keep your frags in place after a few months of placing a new one. It's very important.
 

raullozano3

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For a while I was battling turf algae and I was almost ready to nuke the tank and start again, but well I decided just to dip the rocks that were affected more with the turf algae with hydrogen peroxide (I know, I know but desperate measures), After that and of course making sure NO3 and PO4 were on the right levels, My rock got covered with Coraline to the point that now I am seeing how it sucks ALK and CAL which it really sucks, but on the other hand there are no nuisance algae growing on the rock since the Coraline is already there. So I think it is a good thing and also a bad thing since I need to tune my CaRX and sometimes even dose ALK!
 

schooncw

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Coralline algae is NOT necessarily the mark of a mature tank. My 120 softie tank has hardly any and it is packed with rock, most of it being 20-30 years old-no question that it is "mature". It is overstocked, overfed and nitrates-100 or so- and phosphate-1.5 or so- are sky high. BUT it looks fantastic, is very stable and all of the inhabitants are healthy and fat. My high nutrients are what keeps the coralline at bay.
1628951488233.jpeg
 

X-37B

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Its not important but It is found in most mature system.

Mine started at around month 2 because I used live rock.

I now use urchins to keep it under control now.

Here is a pic at 7 months from startup.
It is starting to dominate the system. This is when I added 2 urchins.
20200201_110200.jpg
 

Sshannon

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I think your aquarium missing something if otherwise coralline sores present. There are products increasing growth if you want to have it. I have used some Brightwell Aquatics BoroChrom Purple Coralline Algae & Red Coral Enhancer which is a lot of minerals helping the process. I will never know if this has done the trick or I would have had it anyway
Oh, I tried, trust me. I took coralline scrapings from at least 10 different petstores over the years to get spores going. But nothing happened....until these last two months.
 

attiland

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Oh, I tried, trust me. I took coralline scrapings from at least 10 different petstores over the years to get spores going. But nothing happened....until these last two months.
I will be honest I am not 100% sure what has really kicked it in. I had a few pea size pink spots for month and than all of the sudden it has kicked in. At the time I have also dosed the brightwell stuff because I have promised to my wife she will get pink rocks. :)
 

Gedxin

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I had coralline growing within 3 weeks of starting my tank. I stocked coralline covered asterea snails and within literally two weeks I had coralline on my walls and powerhead.

That said, I absolutely do not consider it a mark of tank maturity (obviously considering my tank age.) It should be considered a mark of maintaining the correct parameters though. If you've got coralline growing, you've got decent water params.
 

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