No Corraline Algae

[Lil Puff]

Hey guys, I’m having trouble growing corraline algae in my mixed predator reef. All my soft, lps and sps corals are all thriving but I have zero corraline algae. Some may find me lucky but I really like the purple look of a corraline filled tank. I have seeded the tank multiple times as well.

Parameters
Phosphate: 0.03ppm
Nitrate : 30ppm
Salinity: 1.026sg
Recent ICP attatched

Thanks in advance!

 

[Johnd651]

What is the age of the tank?

 

[Lil Puff]

What is the age of the tank?

It is 4 years old but since running it has been through hypo and has been relocated. This was not recently though.

 

[Mattiejay6]

Dosing selenium really Seems to work wonders for growing coraline!

 

[56longroof]

What's your alk? Did you start with dry rock? You might try to add a piece of live rock covered with corraline algea. Im not too confident in the bottled stuff.

 

[Yooper Reef]

Looks like you have a tuxedo urchin also. Mine eats pretty much all of my coralline

 

[Lil Puff]

What's your alk? Did you start with dry rock? You might try to add a piece of live rock covered with corraline algea. Im not too confident in the bottled stuff.

I keep my alk 8-9dkh. I started with dry and live rock. I have never tried the bottled stuff. I steal HUGE chunks of corraline algae from my dad’s tank and break it all up.

 

[Lil Puff]

Looks like you have a tuxedo urchin also. Mine eats pretty much all of my coralline

I have 2 tuxedo urchins and 3 short spine urchins. One of my tuxedos is bigger than a tennis ball!

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have 2 tuxedo urchins and 3 short spine urchins. One of my tuxedos is bigger than a tennis ball!

And that is why there is no coralline algae :-)

The urchins are eating it as fast as it grows.

I had a tank with the back wall encrusted with layers of coralline, and one spiny urchin erased it in less than 2 months.

 

[BriDroid]

I didn’t start to get good coraline growth until I got rid of my urchin. He loved that stuff!

 

[fandaga]

Yeah, I have two tuxedos and they eat all the coralline as soon as it shows up, but they’re the MVPs of the cleanup crew. Plus I love their behavior. I think urchins are way better than coralline.

 

[kevgib67]

Same experience here early on coralline started taking hold and I added a tuxedo urchin. My tank has been up for over 3 1/2 years, not a spec of coralline algae.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys, I’m having trouble growing corraline algae in my mixed predator reef. All my soft, lps and sps corals are all thriving but I have zero corraline algae. Some may find me lucky but I really like the purple look of a corraline filled tank. I have seeded the tank multiple times as well.

Parameters
Phosphate: 0.03ppm
Nitrate : 30ppm
Salinity: 1.026sg
Recent ICP attatched

Thanks in advance!

I try to not have coralline. With coralline, age is often not even a factor but assure you have good calcium level and PH between 8.1 and 8.4 steady. Adding rock with coralline is actually the easiest way to introduce coralline opposed to the magic liquids which rarely work.
It can take months to acquire it based on water flow, occupants and cleaners such as urchin if present in your tank