Fastest Way to Get Coralline Algae Growth?

[Reefer33]

What is the fastest way to get good coralline growth established in a new tank. Any suggestions or opinions would be helpful. Thanks, Reefer

 

[-JB]

I think it starts with good LR with lots of coralline algea to begin with. Good circulation and high Ca. Also you need to wait a month or two for it to take off.

 

[olgakurt]

dripping kalk.to replace topoff water
_________________
chocolate chunk pics

 

[DaktariEd]

Don't forget good light and a sunny disposition!

Ed

 

[1Fish2Fish]

Take a piece of live rock that has a good patch of coralline on it and aim a powerhead right on it. After 2 or 3 weeks you should see new spots of coralline all over your tank. And yes, don’t forget lots of light and calcium.

 

[sandmanrieast]

What happens if you calcium level is already at 440????????? you cant top of lime water than ...can you/???????

 

[Reefer33]

Thanks for the posts and ideas

 

[hectina]

Melsandman,

450 ppm is the recommended minimum level for good coraline and coral growth. So yes, you can top off with kalk.

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

I too want to know about coralline growth. Garf and alot of other places recommend lower light levels at first and then increasing it as the coralline take off. Is this true, or should you just use intense lighting from the start?

The coralline in my tanks grows, but has never really taken over the live rock like some of the tanks I have seen. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott.

 

[raptor1]

Alkalinity and calcium&lighting contribute to the growth of coralline algae.You can seed your tank with coralline algae.You can buy it from Garf,IPSF,ect.Coralline algae seems to like the blue spectrum of light,of course it depends what type of coralline you have.

 

[Reefer33]

Thanks for the posts. I am trying out the not so intense lighting at first and running my lights 24 hours a day. The only bulb is an actinic 40 watt bulb. It seems to be working some what effectively. As I am already seeing signs of spotting on the undersides of the dry base rock.

 

[yznhmr]

my refugium has been up for a month with NO lights and it has tons of coraline in it, where it grows much slower in my main tank with the VHO and PC lighting
check out new pics of my refugium
REFUGIUM

 

[Jrsydevi1]

FYI..

I started a new tank as well, got some live rock with decent corraline coverage, 110 watts of PC lighting on a 29 gallon
(1 55w actinic and a 55w 10k).
I have kept Ca, Alk, SG as close to currently accepted parameters as possible, PO4, NO3 have been coming into check as well with time.. (using DI water and dripping Kalk) doing a 10% water change every 2-3 weeks or so..

After about 2 months I started seeing obvious spreading of corraline on the rocks. (Look for the bright white, verrry thin edge on a patch of corraline)
It has been exactly 12 weeks now, and I have many pea-size purple circles growing on my back glass and plastic tubes... It seems to like the plastic surfaces best..
As has been stated before, it seems to spread faster over the glass and plastic than the rocks, but hey.. you cant have everything..

 

[Jeff Hood]

My stupid 6 gallon walmart tank with a biowheel and one piece of live rock and a single NO bulb is growing coraline very well. My 75 gallon tank loaded with techno stuff and 250 watt 6500k MH lights, great Ca and alk is not growing the stuff hardly at all.

Jeff