Why is my cycled tank not growing coralline?

[Ejreyes6]

How many people live in your house? Low ph could be from trapped co2 in the house. Open the windows for a few hour and see if you get a rise. If you do that the problem high co2 levels. If you are running a skimmer check out a co2 scrubber or run skimmer airline to the outside of your home.

 

[Jonreefer]

I hope your pH as measured by calibrated pH probe is wrong so buy inexpensive pH high test kit and get second opinion on pH as that is way too low for marine tank.

regarding coralline algae as measure or stability of tank yes good measure but after you seed could still take couple months to take hold.

get pH stable then seen tank with coralline algae.

nothing wrong with his PH.
mine swings from my calibrated Apex probe from 7.7ish at night and it will go back up to 7.9 or higher during the day.
7.7 isnt going to hurt anything at all.

 

[fishguy242]

How many people live in your house? Low ph could be from trapped co2 in the house. Open the windows for a few hour and see if you get a rise. If you do that the problem high co2 levels. If you are running a skimmer check out a co2 scrubber or run skimmer airline to the outside of your home.

if running skimmer outside air ,use carbon filter on air line ,if don't know how ,ask!

 

[Tom Stevens]

Seeding is the key. I started my cycle in April, and I already have coralline algae pretty much covering the bottom (no sand) and a good part of the marco rocks. I scrapped a bunch off from my other tank and sprinkled in the cycling tank with wave pumps off for a few hours... then just wait about a month. Once it starts growing you and join the rest of us scrapping it from the glass, lol.

 

[Ejreyes6]

nothing wrong with his PH.
mine swings from my calibrated Apex probe from 7.7ish at night and it will go back up to 7.9 or higher during the day.
7.7 isnt going to hurt anything at all.

If it’s a coral tank that’s low PH. Nothing will die , but grow will be slow. Once I fixed my PH problem my alk and Calcium plummeted. I had to double my dosing schedule. Higher ph is need for proper calcification to occur.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

I understand this and have always used live rock in the past, but this is my first bare bottom and dry rock tank. I setup going directly by the WWC/BRS hybrid directions.

I tried dry rock bare bottom on my first tank the ten gallon. I did not like the look of the bare bottom so a few months in I added live sand. Interesting enough corals started to look better. I watched a video about the owner of BRS who had a hard time keeping coral in a frag tank that was bare bottom till about the one year mark

 

[MabuyaQ]

If you can raise pH by 0.5-1.0 by opening a window for a couple of hours and your pH is 7.9 during the photoperiod (lights on), you have found the problem. Get more fresh air into your house.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

All I did was buy snails with purple on their shells and eventually it took off

Same here

 

[Tom Stevens]

I tried dry rock bare bottom on my first tank the ten gallon. I did not like the look of the bare bottom so a few months in I added live sand. Interesting enough corals started to look better. I watched a video about the owner of BRS who had a hard time keeping coral in a frag tank that was bare bottom till about the one year mark

That is why i put a bunch of rock in the sump along with the Brightwell Bio bricks. In any case, tanks need a good amount of time with/without sand IMO.

 

[jspuck25]

So I am having the same issues as you. Basically same set up. BB with dry rock. Mine is 1.5 years old. (125g) Same is going on in my coral qt tank wich is 2. (30g) Been searching around and some people are saying to try kalkwasser. My parameters are stable and skimmers are piped to the outside. Having some but little sucess with sps. Going to try kalk in the qt and see if that changes coraline growth. Seems like some have better luck with our set up and a calcium reactor. Or maybe just plain better at reefing. Going to tag along on this one cause I’m about to throw in the towel.

 

[dustinc]

Thanks for the input everyone. I’ve done the CO2 scrubber thing on this tank and it does pretty well and definitely raises the pH, just feel like it depletes quickly and when I run it through the skimmer lid it constantly gets soaked. As for opening the windows, it does help some but not significant.

Yesterday I did lower the skimmer pump power level to the 2 of 5 and my pH increased pretty significantly (just over 1 point) so that reduction in air injection seems to have helped as well. Unfortunately I have no easy way to run a line outside for fresh air. I also know our house is very “tight“ as it was just completed in July of last year and has spray foam insulation throughout.

 

[Tatumj96]

My tank was at a pH of 7.4 for a long time and I still had good coralline growth. Rapid even at times when my nitrates and phosphates were in check. It just takes longer for some tanks to mature. One good way to speed up the process is to get maybe some a small piece of live rock or some snails heavily covered in coralline from the store. Bring them home, then use a knife or hard brush or something to scrape a whole bunch of it off. Spreads those little pieces into your water, and that'll start a seeding to grow everywhere.

 

[X-37B]

I just looked at your build thread. Nice setup!
So....
The key is live rock and "stability".
Add a couple of pieces of live rock to tank and the process will speed up. Without it it is a slow process.
I started with 35 lbs live rock and 35 lbs caribsea in my 120 and it started around month 2.
I dosed esv 1&2 for 6 months and had great growth. Stopped at 45ml a day and went to a carx.
I also dose trace and run a no scheduled water change system.
Startup, 6 months, and now 1 year.

⁸

 

[monti mike]

If it makes you feel a little better I also started a new tank in February and used dry Marco rock - I have just a few little spots of coraline starting to grow on the rock. It’s growing pretty well on the return and VorTechs but not much on the rock yet. I’m personally not worried about it because in 6 months we’ll probably be complaining about it growing on the glass

 

[ReefHomieJon]

If it makes you feel a little better I also started a new tank in February and used dry Marco rock - I have just a few little spots of coraline starting to grow on the rock. It’s growing pretty well on the return and VorTechs but not much on the rock yet. I’m personally not worried about it because in 6 months we’ll probably be complaining about it growing on the glass

Exactly because now it grows EVERYWHERE!!

 

[ReefHomieJon]

Sorry, ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO CHANGE YOUR USERNAME ON HERE?!??
I don’t wanna be good Reefer anymore lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

nothing wrong with his PH.
mine swings from my calibrated Apex probe from 7.7ish at night and it will go back up to 7.9 or higher during the day.
7.7 isnt going to hurt anything at all.

I think there is an important distinction between

"I have a fine reef tank with pH as low as 7.7"

and

"7.7 isnt going to hurt anything at all."

Assuming you have a nice tank, I can certainly agree with the first sentence but I do not agree with the second.

If you have never run your tank with a higher pH for an extended period, you cannot really know what it would be like.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry, ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO CHANGE YOUR USERNAME ON HERE?!??
I don’t wanna be good Reefer anymore lol

You cannot. Report your post to moderators with the report button and ask for a user name change. Include your new name with it. The admins will decide if it is warranted (it is generally not always allowed).

 

[ReefHomieJon]

You cannot. Report your post to moderators with the report button and ask for a user name change. Include your new name with it. The admins will decide if it is warranted (it is generally not always allowed).

Ok well see what happens lol

 

[dustinc]

I think there is an important distinction between

"I have a fine reef tank with pH as low as 7.7"

and

"7.7 isnt going to hurt anything at all."

Assuming you have a nice tank, I can certainly agree with the first sentence but I do not agree with the second.

If you have never run your tank with a higher pH for an extended period, you cannot really know what it would be like.

Any feedback Randy on keeping a higher pH. I would absolutely like to keep a consistent pH above 8, but It doesn’t seem like there are simple options that won’t require consistent maintenance. I’m even open to getting something installed in our home to bring in more consistent fresh air if need be.