best products to promote coraline?

[OhsCC]

I went throught a ton of information from websites and searchs from other previous post, however I am still confused on what is the best way to promote coraline growth. I am buying LR from gulf view this week but want to get on the right track so my LR doens't die out. The tank is a 55 gal tank and is only going to be a fish only tank. I have a huma huma trigger and a miniatus grouper in there now and am done adding fish. I have another tank with LR but I have never been impelled to promote coraline growth. I have learned you need a calcium level between 400-450 and an alk. level of 3.5 and 5.5 meg/L or 10-14 dkh ( in fish only tank).
My first question is, will this hurt the fish in there currently?
Also, What are the best products to use in order to buffer and raise both calcium and alk. levels? (don't want to do a reactor)

I have read the recipe on the www.garf.org page and am considering doing that setup but i don't know if that is the best for the dollar.
And many people run kalk or b-ionic.
So basically what is the best for a 55 gal to promote coraline?
(product names and company made buy will help alot)
Thanks for your time and help!!!
tank has been up for over a year

 

[danmhippo]

One of the key attribute of pink/purple coralline is dimmer lights. I don't see much Metal Halide tanks with lush growth of pink purple coralline. In fact, on LRs where you see the coralline growing on it, it is usually the coralline side that is facing down in the sand (no light).

 

[tomheo]

things that promote good coralline growth are:

-good water flow
-properly oxygenated water (e.g., usually provided by a protein skimmer or lots of water surface agitation)
-indirect lighting (as danmhippo mentioned)
-decent alkalinity levels (the range you listed seems about right)

if you don't want to go the calcium reactor route (which by the way are easy to build), i'd recommend either kalkwasser or one of the 2 part additives (though these can get pricey in the long run). i've tried both b-ionic and c-balance and both seem comparable.

hope this helps and good luck.

thomas

 

[john f]

Sorry I just notice this.

Im not sure where this idea keeps coming from that coraline does not like metal halide or bright lighting.
There are tons of species of coraline algae. Some like bright light and some don't.
What you really need for coraline growth are calcium levels around 400ppm, alk greater than 3.0 meq/l, lots of good current, low organics, and plenty of types of coraline species.
If you only introduce 1 or 2 types (like from a low light tank) you may not have a species that likes bright light.
Typically the bright light species can be aquired as hitchhickers on high light corals, provided thay are mounted on rocks.


Here are a couple pics from my system at 7 months.
The second pic is at the water surface directly under a 1000 watt Radium, although it was a 400 watt Sunburst until a week ago.

The first picture is a rock covered in purple coraline that sits directly under a 400 watt Radium, maybe 18 inches below to bulb.


John

 

[Anonymous]

low organics

It is my understanding that high DOC are about the only things that coralline doesn't tolerate.

 

[tomheo]

yes, you are correct...i think the myth of "bright light = no coralline" comes from peoples' coralline usually bleaching after switching to brighter lights and then what used to explosive growth suddenly stops (this relates back to your comment about the high-light species vs. low-light species). i've seen many brightly-lit reef tanks with explosive growth (generally seems to be the bright pinks, greens, and whites). hence, that's why i said "indirect light" and not "weak" lights...sorry if that was misleading. i think 18" would result in indirect lighting....

thomas

 

[karlas]

different colors will grow in different lighting. seems like pinks and purples grow in brighter lights, where greens, blues, burgandys seem to like lower lighted to shaded areas. these are the ones i have found in my tank. ive heard of white, orange, and yellow also. a good balance of ph and alkalinity and good calcium levels help it grow. corraline is a calcium based alge.

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/algae_page/algae_gallery.htm

 

[jamesw]

The best thing you can do to promote corraline algae growth is replace all of your evaporated water with Kalkwasser. This will help lower your phosphates (which slows corraline growth) and raise your pH and alkalinity.

That's what I do. I use a Nilsen reactor (kalkwasser reactor) to replace my evap and my tank is a corraline growing machine.

Mystery "products" that claim to promote corraline growth are a trick to entice newbies that want that "purple look." Hang in there, you'll get it in time.

Cheers
James

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with James as far as "product". I hav dual 400W 6500K over my 100 and have no problm with coralline growth. Just different colors in different aras of the tank depending on just how much light is in the area.

 

[saltnut]

My saltwater store in my area sells a great calcium, pH up, alkalinity booster and a pH stable products.

I've been using his products since I set-up my 180 gallon reef tank, I have 5 different colors of coralline algae growing on my rocks.

Check out his web site.

www.gettankedaquariums.com

Come back here and post your opinion.

 

[reefland]

For my 55 gallon tank I found two part additives like B-ionic did a fantastic job at increasing coralline growth. (I also used kalkwasser).

For my 180 gallon tank, I've found kalkwasser, calcium reactor and urchins are best way to promote coralline algae. With the urchin showing the best improvement. I use a Blue Tux urchin. Not only does it open up new areas for coralline to settle but seems play some role in getting the coralline spores all over the tank.

As to coralline not doing well with halides, IMO, that is only true of 400w iwasaki lamps. And even then a few tanks using them still grow it well. But just about any other bulb used coralline will do fine.

For example, I use 250w HQI lamps:

The entire back wall is covered with various coralline. You can even see a few white patches where the urchins have been recently.

 

[Anonymous]

I've never had to do ANYTHING to promote coraline growth besides seed the tank with a few rocks that already had coraline on them. No additives, no suppliments, just a water change now and then. If anything, I'd like to find a way to slow it down.
Also, I disagree with the "bright light = low coraline growth myth.
Regards
Jim

 

[fishpoo]

just got some rock from FF and it was void of coraline or so it seemed. two weeks later and the rock directly under 250mh is pink. The rock lower in the water isn't covered yet.
but what contributes to growth, i believe is quality water, good movement and light.

 

[Anonymous]

Kalkwasser may be good. It never worked for me. My tank wasn't growing any CA at all until I started using seachem's reef builder and reef complete. And no, I do not have any affiliation with seachem...

Alk is important, your Ca must be at least in the mid-300's and I can only say there's more to it than that, since the additives worked and the kalk didn't. I won't begin to guess what else it is in those additives that is important as I am no chemist.

djp

 

[DK]

Keep in mind that Gulf View rock is collected from 30 to 35 feet. So that collaline will probably grow under halides.

 

[Anonymous]

Coraline never really took off in my tank until I started using b-ionic and kalwasser for make-up water. I used Seachem products prior to that. They worked fine until the number of sps go out of hand.

When I get a larger tank I will definately look into getting a calcium (or Nielsen) reactor.